2020 - August 1st-4th - Eric's 43rd Birthday and Utah Day Trips

Both of us tested positive for the Covid-19 antibody blood test which we thought would happen after hospitalization and positive corona virus. My doctor said we should be immune for at least 90 days from giving or getting the virus. With that settled, we decided to go to St. George and visit Eric, Shirley and the grandkids for a few days. We hadn't seen them in person since Christmas!!! We drove out on Thursday arriving around 5:30. Friday we enjoyed catching up and staying around the house, grocery shopping and errands as Eric was at work. The community pool got a workout from everyone before dinner. Then we settled in to watch some movies and binge on some other TV streaming offerings.

Saturday morning we headed over to the Tuacahn Cultural Center for the Saturday Market. Many home vendors displayed their crafts for sale. Eric and Shirley hope to have a booth there in the near future for their home business, Personal Matters2Me. The path is lined with vendors with unique crafts. On the second level of the complex there is a retail store with many unique and interesting items scanning a wide range of gifts, décor and clothing. A truly fun morning!

Tuacahn Cultural Center

Tuacahn Marketplace

Tuacahn Retail Store

After a full day and surviving the 107 degree plus heat outside, it was time for Eric's dinner celebration. He chose for all of us to have some great Lone-Star State food at The Texas Roadhouse. Utah still has indoor dining with safe practices in place for social distancing and plexiglass booth separators. We have not eaten in an inside restaurant for about five months ... it really felt a little strange! It was great food and a good time was had by all!

Mikayla, Papaw, Taelor, Debbie, Ethan, Evan, Eric, Ella, Jordan, Kendall, Grandma, Shirley

Back at Sonoran Lane we celebrated more with Eric on his 43rd Birthday. Kendall found a great bakery with cheesecake that is her Dad's favorite thing (as well as a lot of others!). The plain large cheesecake was specifically for Eric with bite-size flavored topping cheesecakes for all of us to indulge. Shirley crafted a "Child" (i.e., Baby Yoda) topper and the letters ERIC for the top of the cake.

Ohio State Hawaiian Shirt

The Child (to be added to Eric's work office decor!)

Walt and Mickey hat

On Sunday, Eric and Shirley wanted to take us to The North Rim of The Grand Canyon. We have been to the South Rim a few times, but never to the North Rim. It is about a three and a half hour ride from their place to the park. Along the way we saw a lot of varying roadside landscape, from desert to forest. We had a good trip, some shut-eye for a few of the kids on the way there and/or back. Eric was a great driver for the trip ... I could get used to this! The rental 12-passenger van was great for the ten of us. 

Before getting to The North Rim we passed through a few miles of burned out forest. The blackness of the trees and the burnt-out ground were haunting.

We arrived at The Grand Canyon National Park - North Rim entrance

Eric, Shirley, Evan, Ella, Jordan, Kendall, Ethan and Mikayla

Papaw, Grandma, Evan, Ella, Jordan, Kendall, Ethan and Mikayla

The Grand Canyon from The North Rim

Panoramic Views taken by Shirley

An awesome day at The North Rim and sharing it with family. Then the drive home with some exhausted youngsters ... and that adult Kendall wide awake!!!!

Our Monday adventure was to take us to Duck Creek Village. One of Shirley's friends had told her about it and sounded interesting and we're always up for an adventure. It was about an hour and half drive from St. George. On the way, we decided to take a slight detour going inland for about twenty minutes to Cedar Breaks National Monument. Crowning the grand staircase, Cedar Breaks sits at over 10,000 feet and looks down into a half-mile deep geologic amphitheater. Cedar Breaks resembles a miniature Bryce Canyon. Some visitors even say its brilliant colors even surpass Bryce. The Native Americans called Cedar Breaks the "Circle of Painted Cliffs." Millions of years and erosion have carved this huge amphitheater.

We continued our journey onward to Duck Creek Village. It's quite a little village with lots of ATVs to rent, restaurants and bars. The countryside is beautiful. There are quite a few rentals here, especially for the winter. From the internet: "Duck Creek Village, Utah is a spectacular place to visit. The community of Duck Creek sits at 8,400 feet just off Utah Scenic Highway 14 on what is commonly known as Cedar Mountain. This area is also known as the Markagunt Plateau and is part of the Dixie National Forest. Close by are a myriad of scenic attractions and areas for a wide range of activities. In the winter the region around Duck Creek Village is a snowmobile mecca." We drove around looking at the spectacular large log cabin homes. We had a fun lunch at Aunt Sue's Chalet Café ... and great food! These are some of our views as we drove around Duck Creek Village:

On the way back to St. George, Eric drove us through the back entrance to Zion National Park. We got to experience the one mile long Mt. Carmel Tunnel through the red rock mountain. The Zion-Mount Carmel Highway was constructed 1927-1930 at a cost of $1,896,000. In the early 20s, engineers started looking at various routes, ultimately picking one up Pine Creek Canyon, which included steep switchbacks climbing 800 feet over loose rock. They then designed a tunnel that followed the profile of the Pine Creek Canyon wall at a distance of 21 feet from the outside face of the rock to the center line of the tunnel. Big windows were carved out of the rock, not only for light and ventilation (and spectacular views), but as places where loose rock could be dumped into the canyon below.

 (There used to be parking at the tunnel windows or galleries, but eventually the tunnel became so busy that parking at the tunnel windows was closed for safety reasons.)

We had a spectacular four days. We will try and prevent so much time from separating us ... keep out any future national disasters or pandemics!!! The complete captioned photo album can be opened by clicking this link.