The Epic Journey Part 3

Look at this road. See how it curves? It does a couple of S shapes and there is no side of the road beyond here as it's pretty much straight down for a mile if you look on either side of the road. This is called the Hogs Backbone. It's between Escalante and Boulder UT. And I always have to complete my trips to Escalante by driving over it. (Tiffany this is our little secret that we weren't going to tell you until we took you over it.) There is another area on another road close to here that is even worse. It's called Hells backbone.


The next best part of this scenic Hwy 12 is Boulder mountain. My favorite time to drive over it is during the summer when all the Quaking Aspens have leaves. It is so beautiful the way the light flickers through the trees. The view from the mountain is amazing. (Kind of like the views up here in Alaska. All of you really need to come visit me. You really don't know what you are missing!)

We left Escalante and made the drive up to Ogden on the Sunday morning after the funeral. I had hoped to stay longer but as everyone was leaving it was kind of pointless. So the kids and I headed up to see their other Grandma (Paul's Mom). I had been talking with my parents previously and they had mentioned that the Mortician had said to them that funerals always come in 3, which I had heard before but really was hoping I wouldn't see now. No sooner did I get done talking with them than Paul called and said that his Mom's Aunt had just died. There was number 2. We didn't get to see Lois much the first couple of days as she was busy with the funeral, viewing, and cousins. I decided not to go and take the kids as they had just been through one funeral and 2 in less than a week is asking a bit much of a 3 and 4 year old. But the kids and I went to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden. They had some great new stuff- my favorite part- The cow that you could actually milk! It wasn't real but the udder for being fake gave a very realistic experience of milking the cow. Daniel's favorite of course was still the fire truck, and Reagan fell apart when we had to leave Beatrix Potter's cottage. Darn that missing camera!
After the funeral was over with Lois took us out to eat at Olive Garden which might not be that exciting to all of you who live in the lower 48 but I live in Alaska and they make us watch the commercials up here and there are no Olive Gardens in Alaska. So my 2 goals while on the outside (that is what we call outside of AK up here), were to go to Olive Garden and the Beach. So my two objectives were accomplished! Thank you Lois and Aunt Diane!
The next day we took the train to Salt Lake and went to Discovery Zone. Again DARN THAT MISSING CAMERA! They loved riding on the train as well as the tram. Then to get to play to their hearts content! Happy day! The following day we went and saw the movie Tangled. Great movie!In my opinion one of the best that Disney has made in awhile. Though Daniel about took me out by jumping into my lap every time he thought it might be scary. He doesn't wait for it to get scary. He anticipates it. They loved seeing Grandma Lois and all too quickly it was time to start back (or so we thought).
So the next day we started back to Travis AFB. It's about a 13 hour drive (or so it says). One thing that this trip decided for me was that I NEVER want to live in Nevada. There's nothing but ugly desert and casinos in the state! That was a long drive. There's really nothing there on I-80. The kids would be wanting something different to drink and I'd be saying look outside! Do you see a McDonald's anywhere? Once we hit the California border though, it was gorgeous! Can I say that California just makes me happy! Maybe its because I was born there, or because I only have good memories of there (Okay there were the times when Erin got car sick but I try not to remember those.) They may not be able to balance a budget, have crazy politicians, and many other quirks. But it just makes me so happy to be there.
There were no hotel rooms at the base hotel so we stayed in a lousy Motel 6. It was so bad I wrote to the company. Anyone want a voucher for a free hotel room? I would have gone somewhere else but I was so tired and the kids had to get out, I figured what's one night. But then we found out that the runway was closed and our flight would not be going out...
What to do??? Luckily I have lots of family in CA. Next post- On to Bakersfield CA.