Brian Head

The drive alone was worth the trip. 

Something about being in your car alone for an extended period of time. 

All the family, taking 4 different cars. . 1.89 in gas and you don’t even care about the air quality!

Escaping to a place where the red rock mountains have snow caps. 

In this versatile Utah mash-up of adventure that never ends, always something new to discover without even crossing a state line.

Bryan Haed, a town that pretends to big bigger then it is with piles of hotels and spaces to rent, yet dirt roads and no places to eat other then the one pizza place, who claims to be the highest serving elevation pizza place in the US. (did that make sense?) 

I don’t think it is a proud claim to fame, would’t high elevation mess with the way you cook it? The yeast or something?

Anywho, the pizza was alright, the company was the best. 

The snow was hard and icey and mostly muddy.

The hotel was glamourus with a sauna and pool and fireplaces and a little mini dish washer that RaVoe swooned over.

The boys made this SICK boarding video

And we shuffled over along with the other traveling families to the bottom of the ski lifts at night where they had telescopes set up and we could look at the stars. Seeing Jupiter’s rings and it’s moons. . It was so calming and almost eternal to stand there with perfect strangers and muffle about in the blue snow, hot chocolate in hand.

But my favorite part was Parowan. 

That old slow town, where my roots are. Well, where some of my roots are. 

And what better way to look at the roots but by a Cemetery? 

This is Dad with his sun burned face, and diet coke in front of his Grandpa Claude and Grandma Ruby’s grave. The Ortons seemingly had a wonderful family, my Grandpa was a spunky wonderful man, I can only imagine the family life he grew up in. 

This is RaVoe, looking at the cemetery map, trying to figure it all out. 

And I guess she figured it out, she found this guy. . . 

This is Sam, with a headstone of his name. . . 

(well, almost, Sam Taylor Orton vs Samuel Taylor Orton. RaVoe didn’t believe in naming her kids something you weren’t going to call them, a simple ‘Sam’ would do)

This is a man killed in Cold blood. . .

This Man wanted “Life’s a bitch” forever carved into his headstone. . . Among other things.

This is Topher and Andie being awkward around each other (But in a cool way). . . . 

And then Dad showed me the house his Grandpa lived in, the plot of land he had his garden on, he pointed out were the irrigation ditch was and talked about how Great Grandpa wouldn’t go on vacation if that meant missing a day to use the water. 

He showed me the spot of land that used to be the garage where his dad’s room was. 

It was funny, because I remember seeing the house eailer that day when the boys were in my car, I even slowed down to point it out because I thought it was cute.

Funny how later I find out it was my great grandpa’s house.

And then (are you boerd reading this yet?)

We went to my Grandpa’s house, that he build after marrying my Grandma. 

Crazy.

Crazy that all these people are gone, and the people in the house how have no idea Claude and Ruby were or how funny my Grandpa was, and maybe are wondering who is standing in their front yard taking pictures. 

Time moves too fast. 

I sure do love my family. . . 

We missed you Whit.