Highway 12, Kodachrome Basin and Salt Lake City

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers (and mother substitutes) everywhere! We send our best wishes for an enjoyable day.

We certainly had one of the best RVing weeks ever. The State of Utah has some of the most exquisite scenery around. As we mentioned before, we traveled off of Highway 12 to the Kodachrome Basin State Park about 20 miles from Bryce Canyon. It is a relatively small area, far from any civilization and surrounded by red-orange natural rock towers ranging from six to 170 feet in height.


We stopped for a bit, took some pictures and then moved back on to Highway 12 to Escalante, Utah where we planned to spend four days. The first day, we walked to the Petrified Forest about 2 miles from camp. We climbed to the top of a hill (remember, the altitude is still over 7,000 feet) where most of the petrified rocks were. Again, another day of good exercise!

However, we couldn't get the peace of Kodachrome Basin out of our mind. So we packed up and drove back 30 miles to the Basin -- only to find that all 27 camping sites were taken. But, lucky for us, the host offered us the Host Site, the only one with electricity and water. It was set away from the other 27 sites, so it was if we were alone out there -- no cell or internet coverage. This was our back yard behind the RV.

Jerry grilled the dinners and we ate outside every night. The weather was in the 60s. On Thursday, Jerry decided that we would bike the area. I wrongly assumed that we would be biking on a bike path around the area. NO -- it was a two-foot wide dirt path with rocks and tree stumps, hills and valleys -- and certainly not my idea of biking. Even he agreed that I shouldn't do that again.

On Friday, we drove to Salt Lake City for Mother's Day weekend. Yesterday, we spent about 3 hours at the Family History Library. What an amazing operation! There are five floors and millions of records on the internet and microfilm. I had a chance to copy the 1910 and 1920 U.S. Census relating to my grandparents on my mother's side. We were told that the Library is in the process of digitizing the records and that 100,000 people from all over the country are currently working on the project. Jerry also found out information on his mother's side of the the family. I guess just about everything anyone wants to know about family history is archived there.

Last night an old friend, Mike J., joined us for dinner. It was good catching up with him.

Then today -- we had a once in a life time experience! The RV Park where we are staying provided shuttles to downtown Salt Lake for us park attendees to attend the weekly live Mormon Tabernacle Choir television and radio performance. With 360 people in the choir from ages 25 to 60, including a full orchestra, the Choir is the longest running radio show in the world -- 80 years. This was its 4,156 show.

We sat fairly close to the front in the balcony and absolutely enjoyed the whole proceeding. The music was so powerful in the hugh dome, and the voices blended with precision.

In the audience was David McCollough, the Pulitzer Prize author of John Adams (made into a miniseries on HBO). I am 75% finished reading the book, after which Jerry and I are planning to watch the HBO miniseries on DVD. In honor of Mr. McCollough, the Choir sang their Grammy winning rendition of "Battle Hymn of the Republic." I don't think there was a dry eye in the audience. It was a great way to celebrate Mother's Day. (We even dressed up for the occasion!!!)

Have a wonderful week, and thank you for following our blog.

Jerry and Mary