Vacations and Holidays

On the 7th of June, I traveled to Moab to meet my family for our annual Turner Enterprises meeting and family reunion. The drive itself was glorious, mostly because of the great things I listened to while I was traveling. I listened to my new two-disc set of “This American Life” that I received as a gift for pledging to National Public Radio and KUER. I was laughing my head off one minute and crying my eyes out the next. I have let Kjersti borrow it, so you can ask her how good it is, if you don’t believe me. The trip was also fantastic because I got to stop every so often all along the way and take in the view. One view was of a canyon where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid would hide from the law in their day. The information display said that someone stole a herd of 1500 horses back then and hid them in that canyon. No one ever found them again. From looking at the terrain, that was not hard to believe. Even though it is rugged and harsh, that part of Utah is beautiful and amazing. (I can hear Chelsee saying, “YOU’RE beautiful and amazing.”) It was good to see my brothers and sisters, as well as my nieces and nephews during the next few days. We can be a pretty crazy group when we get together. We laughed and had some good conversations. I liked getting the latest news from everyone and hearing how all the kids were doing. I also liked bragging about all my own kids. During my time in Moab, I hiked in Arches National Park, went on some scenic drives and enjoyed the view from Dead Horse Point, which looks a lot like the Grand Canyon. I mentioned before that I love to stay in hotel rooms. For this trip, I took my tape player so that I could listen to Pride and Prejudice on tape when I was in my room. I also got started on the James Patterson series of murder mysteries that Danae and Chelsee gave me for Mother’s Day, finishing 1st to Die and beginning 2nd Chance. In short, I pretty much got to do what I wanted to do, so I really enjoyed my trip.

To celebrate Independence Day, Wes invited us to go with him to visit the gravesites of the three Medal of Honor recipients buried in Utah. Chelsee, Geoffrey and I drove to Provo together, listening to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on tape. (Chelsee wants to finish it before the movie comes out next week.) Kjersti, Jay and Kameryn followed us in their car as far as the Point of the Mountain, but poor Kameryn got sick, so they had to turn around. (See Kjersti’s blog for details.) We met up with Wes, Joy, their friends, Joel and Carol, and their new Kling-On, Dakota, at Wes’s house. Our first stop was Springville, where Edward Stanley Michael was buried. He received the Medal of Honor after being severely wounded in an air battle over Nazi-occupied France and then crash-landing his crippled plane in England in order to save one of his men who couldn’t jump out because his parachute was damaged. It is quite a story and one run-on sentence can only give you a hint of what actually happened. Anyway, we had a picnic under a big tree in that cemetery, took some pictures and then the whole group drove back to Salt Lake. The other two Medal of Honor recipients, Marvin Sharp Bennion and Frederick Jarvis, were buried in the City Cemetery located in the Avenues. We eventually found their graves, planted flags and read their citations. Kjersti, Jay and Kameryn joined us for the last one. We talked for a short time before Wes and company had to get back to Provo. It wasn’t as elegant a day as we had planned, but was still meaningful and I, for one, had a good time. After Wes and company left, the rest of us came back to my house and enjoyed ice cream, Mormon Bridge and Scrabble. After Chelsee, Kjersti, Jay and Kameryn left, Geoffrey and I stayed up another hour or more playing Text Twist on the computer. And even though Harry Potter spent a week in detention with Professor Umbridge, it was still a very fun day.