Nash Bash 2017 Pt. 2: A Very Vernal Vacation

The drive from Aurora, Colorado to Vernal, Utah is about six hours. About one-third to one-half of the drive is on the freeway; the rest is on state highways or more obscure roads (about 20 minutes of the drive is on an unpaved "mine road"; driving that route is what true loneliness & isolation feels like).  In my formative years, I lost count of how many times I made that drive with my parents. And this summer, I finally made the drive as an adult with my own family...even though I was still driving my parent's car! (We had to borrow their Toyota Avalon, since we'd flown into Colorado.) It was a little boring and a little crowded, but otherwise it was smooth sailing (other than the many cellular dead spots along the way).

On the way to Vernal, Nathan suggested we drive over Loveland Pass (it only adds a half-hour or so to the drive). Nathan's family took this narrow, winding mountain road many times in his childhood, when they were headed for the ski slopes. Nathan was excited to do this drive with the girls; he wanted them to feel how chilly and thin the air could be even in the summertime.

Snow! In June! Hooray for Colorado!

The view atop Loveland Pass was spectacular. The girls were impressed that there were still patches of snow everywhere. They were less impressed by Nathan's suggestion that we get out of the car and hike up the barren mountainside. I was excited to do it, but my ears and lungs were burning after just a few minutes of walking. I'd forgotten how bitterly cold the thin atmosphere can be! Living in Arizona for so many years has made me soft.

 

It didn't help that we had no jackets, coats, or even long pants. Realistically, we weren't equipped for a lengthy winter hike. After much complaining, Nathan and the girls went a little ways up the hill, and then back down again to the car. It was still an exciting experience, albeit an uncomfortable one.

After that, the rest of the drive felt toasty warm, and this was especially true when we arrived in Vernal. The city sits on a dry, desert-y plateau, and its average daily temperatures are usually several degrees higher than Denver's. It wasn't as hot as Arizona, of course, but it was still fairly uncomfortable if you sat outside for too long. At least Grandma & Grandpa's house had lots of shady spots to sit in outside!

Even though it was a little weird to be back at the old Nash "farm" without Grandma & Grandpa present, I think they would have been pleased by our gathering. At times, it felt like they weren't that far away from us (this effect was probably amplified by the old portraits of "Grammy" and "Gramps" that still hung over the old fireplace in the house.

 

During this reunion, we often didn't do much except sit around, eat yummy food, and talk to one another. It is always good to catch up on everyone's lives and hear special tidbits about what's new in their world. On our first night together, Jocelyn, Ray, & I all went to Wal-Mart together to go shopping for our outings and our group meals. It was so great to just hang out with my siblings again, even if it was in a mundane setting (alright, Wal-Mart at 10:30 on a Friday night in Vernal UT is not totally mundane).

Our first big outing was the very next day: we all climbed into our cars and drove to Flaming Gorge dam (about an hour's drive away), where a day on the lake awaited us! Grandma & Grandpa rented two boats (a pontoon boat and a motorboat), and we had the use of them for the whole day.

 

 

It was a lovely warm day, and it was great fun to drive the boats through the cool water, or to just sit on the deck, take it easy, and watch the beautiful scenery pass by. We boated along for several hours, finally stopping at a port for a picnic lunch.

 

 

Uncle Ray, lookin' like a boss as he drives the motor boat

 After lunch, some of the more adventurous among us hopped into the motorboat to attempt some wake boarding. I am sorry to say that most people who tried wake boarding were not successful. With one exception:

Celeste actually got upright, and managed to stay upright for about 30 seconds before tipping over. That's a better showing than most of the adults who attempted it! Confession time: the Nash family stinks at water sports! Oh well, at least everyone had fun trying, and Celeste got to gloat about her success (which she only did a little, to her credit).

The next day was Sunday, and after a long day out on the water, we were all sunburned and tired. For the most part, this was the "quiet day" of our family reunion. A short visit to church was all the activity most of us could handle for that day.

 

Before church, the younger cousins all got straw hats and lots of crafty knick-knacks with which to decorate those hats. Celeste & Aurora proudly wore their hats to church, and looked very cute doing so.

 

Well...the cousins did eventually find enough energy to ride on Grandpa's old tractor!

My dad still loves this tractor; I can tell he enjoys driving it around!

 

 

Another "Sunday craft" was this cute poster the grand-kids made for Grandma & Grandpa Nash. It was a "family tree" made out of all our family's handprints. It was designed by Jocelyn's daughter Elaine, and we thought it looked really awesome.

The cousins had a little fun that night, putting on a short skit that my parents wrote for their Primary class. It was the story of Nephi & his brothers as found at the beginning of the Book of Mormon (including the collecting of the brass plates, the journeys in the wildnerness, and the family's boat journey).

Each kid had their own part, and it was pretty funny to watch! Some of Ray's daughters were playing Laman and Lemuel, and hearing their lines spoken in adorable little-girl voices was very funny and adorable.

It was another day trip on Monday, with the family caravaning to Dinosaur National Monument. This park is only about a half hour's drive away from my grandparent's house. It's quite barren and dry, but it has a really cool dinosaur bone quarry that you can walk right up to and take a look at.

 

The kids had fun looking all over the rough rock wall, which had bones from dozens of dinosaurs stuck inside. It's a fascinating discovery that is still being unearthed, bit by bit. Dinosaur skeletons found in this dig now rest in museums across the United States and even around the world.

 

Also in the park's boundaries is an old farm homestead, that used to belong to a fiercely independent pioneer woman. The park left the homestead standing as a site of historical interest. Since water from the nearby Green River is routed into that area, there was extra vegetation surrounding us; it made for a lovely walk.

 

Late that afternoon, I had to pack up Nathan's things and then I had to drive him to Salt Lake City. Nathan's work schedule didn't allow him to stay at the reunion any longer (he had to be back to work by July 5th). We were able to stay the night with our friend Dan Wells; he & his wife Dawn generously lent us a bed to crash on for the night. It was fun to catch up with Dan, even for a short while. That night, the girls were all split up into various hotel rooms and spent the night with their cousins. Nathan and I were very grateful for the help!

I was up bright and early the next morning (July 4, 2017! Happy Independence Day). Dan would take Nathan to the airport so he could fly home to Tucson; I would hop in my borrowed car and drive quickly back to Vernal, just in time for the city's annual Fourth of July parade. My, our travel plans were strange on this vacation! Fly from Tucson to Denver; drive from Denver to Vernal; drive from Vernal to Salt Lake; fly from Salt Lake to Tucson; drive from Salt Lake to Vernal. Whew! And we're still not done!

Where was I? Oh yeah, the parade. I drove back into town less than an hour before the parade was to begin. I was lucky enough to find an available parking space just across the street from the Vernal Utah LDS Temple, which lies just off Main Street. After parking, I walked a few blocks before finding the rest of the family. I was glad I made it in time!

It was a hot morning, but the kids still enjoyed the parade for the most part. We saw lots of the usual city organizations & business-sponsored floats, but there were also a few nice surprises, such as this huge troop of women unicyclists...

You definitely don't see that sort of thing every day! A fire truck rolled by not too long afterward, blasting the parade-goers with a refreshing gust of water.

After the parade concluded, I walked with the girls back towards our car, pausing long enough to admire the temple. This temple, much like the Provo City Center LDS Temple, was once a tabernacle that was later converted into a temple.

 

I love the old-school exterior and I love the gorgeous interior. I don't know when (if?) I will ever get to see the inside of the Vernal Temple again, but I am very grateful I was able to at least see it one more time. I visited this temple with Grammie & Gramps shortly after being endowed, and it is a happy memory I will always cherish.

The rest of our July Fourth was filled with food, food, food (we grilled for what seemed like hours)...

...throwing Frisbees around the house (including up onto the roof! Uncle Ray then proceeded to climb onto the roof and rescue the Frisbees, simultaneously thrilling and frightening all the cousins)...

 

...fun in the kiddee pool and in the hotel pool (it wasn't a huge pool, but it was enough to refresh everyone and let them have some fun)...

 

 

...and fireworks! We set off a few of our own on the driveway, and then quickly drove downtown to watch the city's display. It was a hectic evening, but still lots of fun. The little cousins in particular loved it!

The days that followed Independence Day were a little less structured, but still had lots to enjoy. We took all the great-grandkids to pay their respects to Grammie & Gramps.

 

This was one of the hardest parts of the trip for me. I still miss my grandparents very much; I am so grateful for all the love & kindness they showed me over the years, and all the things they taught me. Being at the cemetery was somewhat painful, but also sweet. It made me feel like they had been in Vernal waiting for me to return & pay them a visit!

I bought flowers for their grave, and felt very grateful I could show my children the final resting place of two people who meant a lot to me.

The rest of that day was spent in more light-hearted pursuits; the family took a trip to the Uintah Community Center, a large indoor recreation center with a large water-park; a climbing wall; a gym; a game room; and many other cool perks.

 

We spent the majority of the time in the pool. There was a lazy river and a few waterslides, which the girls all loved. But their favorite thing by far was the diving boards!

 

None of the pools the girls have ever visited has diving boards, so this place was a revelation for them. Each of the girls was a little nervous at first when trying the diving board, but they all quickly grew to love it. They literally couldn't get enough of the diving board, and they jumped off of it over and over and over again.

I was especially impressed at Aurora's bravery; I am such a wimp that I wasn't able to dive from that height until I was an adult! Once again, my youngest daughter proves that she has got real guts.

Lorelai got more and more creative as the day wore on; she was starting to try backwards dives & the like. She also had great fun at the waterslides.

The girls swam for hours and then begged to return the following day. In fact, we came back to the community center just a few hours later; this time, however, it was because the girls wanted to try their luck at the climbing wall located inside!

This adventuring went on for almost an hour; it was great luck for the girls that it was a quiet day at the community center, and they could use the climbing wall as much as they wished! They all had varying degrees of success, but they all still had fun.

Before we left, the girls also spent some time playing on this large electronic game. It was like a human-sized Simon toy; it involved the players copying or chasing patterns of flashing lights. However, it was designed for one- or two-player use, so the girls had fun playing both against each other and on their own.

 

Overall, we thought this community center was a great find, and it helped the girls burn off a lot of energy, so that's always a plus.

That night, all the cousins met together to destroy a pinata, eat pizza dinner, and play games together. It was the last night all of us would be together, so we wanted to make the most of it.

My siblings and I also took a short tour of the neighborhood that stands where the farm used to be. The neighborhood, unsurprisingly, is named "The Farm." Even though I had a lot of bittersweet feelings about this visit, it made me happy to see such lovely homes sitting on a patch of land I loved; I hope those people are as happy living there as I was having adventures as a kid in the same spot.

The next day was the last morning we were all together as a family; Ray & Ade's family had to drive back to Salt Lake City to prepare for their flight back to Massachusetts the next day. The Carlins also started to head back (they came in multiple cars; Jocelyn would stay behind and help clean up the farmhouse). The "official" part of the family reunion was coming to an end. It is always so hard for my girls to say goodbye to their cousins, but we are so grateful for the time we spent with them this summer!

But before we all scattered to the winds, the cousins all spent the morning checking out some dinosaurs.

 

Ever since I can remember, Vernal has had a natural history museum; it's their way of capitalizing on their proximity to Dinosaur National Monument. The Field House of Natural History is on the town's main street; when I was in college, it moved down the street a bit to a larger location and was expanded & heavily renovated. Today, it's a small but pretty good museum that is worth a couple of hours of your time.

My favorite part of the museum was always the large dinosaur sculptures. They always sent my imagination running wild. Today, many of those statues are probably considered inaccurate representations of dinosaurs by many paleontologists, but for nostalgia's sake, they remain! It was fun to watch the kids react to these statues that I loved from my childhood, as well as a few newer statues representing newer discoveries by scientists.

 

After the museum, we had to say a tearful farewell to the Nash cousins, and to Paul & Simon Carlin. And then what do you suppose my girls wanted to do?

 

That's right...we headed back to the community center for more high-dive hijinks! I don't know where the girls got this energy; I was exhausted just watching them. But they had so much fun! It was also quite hot that day (in the high 90s), so it was refreshing to get a little wet.

That evening, the girls and I (along with Grandma & Grandpa) had one more Vernal tradition to enjoy before wrapping up our vacation...

...we attended the Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo! I attended this rodeo a couple of times when visiting Vernal in my youth. After thinking on it and realizing the kids had never been to a rodeo before, I thought they might like the opportunity! It was very hot, and our seats weren't the greatest, but overall they had a good time.

 

 

 

The kids were impressed by the cattle roping, steer wrestling, and bucking bronco riding. They also got a huge kick out of the "mutton busting," which is when a small child attempts to ride on a sheep without being thrown off! There was also a separate kid/sheep event that was even more chaotic.

 

A whole herd of sheep was released on the rodeo grounds; many of those sheep had red ribbons tied to their fleece. Then, a whole mass of children (there had to be at least 30-40 of them) were sent racing after the sheep. Every kid who managed to snag a ribbon got an award. It was a crazy, disorganized mess, but it was hilarious to watch the sheep run from all the uncoordinated kids.

The kids were getting pretty tired out by the end of the night, but they woke up for the bull-riding, which impressed them greatly. Then, when the last bull rider was done, the audience got even more energized, waiting for some other event. I had no idea what was going on; what could be more exciting than bull-riding?

As it turns out, rodeos have added some new events since I last attended one. The final event of the evening was called "freestyle bullfighting," and it was nuts. Basically, it's man vs. beast; one man on foot, and one aggressive bull, sharing the same confined space. The man has to dodge, duck & dance around the charging bull (with no special gear or assistance) for up to one minute. I thought these people were absolutely crazy. And I thought it was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen (even if it felt very redneck to me!).

It was a pretty exciting end to the rodeo. Afterwards, we were all tired, but we went out for a quick snack at Sonic, then back to the hotel to bed. The following morning was just "cleanup time"; we all met at the farmhouse and cleaned up after ourselves.

Afterwards, we all met for a breakfast out before getting back on the road. Our drive back to Colorado was uneventful (if a bit long, due to some road construction). After that, it was one more night sleeping at Grandma & Grandpa Nash's house in Aurora before flying home to Tucson the next morning. We were tired, but very satisfied with our trip!

This is how all of us felt that weekend back: happy to be home, but VERY TIRED.

As I helped clean up the farm house that Friday morning, I felt myself getting a little sorrowful, even though I was only sweeping floors & vacuuming. Deep inside, I sensed this might be my last time in Grammie & Gramps' old house. My father and his brothers rarely use it any more; and with the land rapidly selling out to the subdivision, there is talk in the family that the house will be sold. It is hard to imagine that house not being part of our family any more (or the house not being there at all!).

That thought made me realize that Vernal, while it was still fun to visit, is not the "home base" that it was for the Nashes when I was a kid. We have changed, and the city has changed. While it is still a good city, it doesn't feel like I belong there any more. It feels like I may be "done" with Vernal, at least for now. That is indeed a bittersweet feeling. However, I am so glad I was able to spend a little more time there with people that I love dearly; it was nice to be there without a funeral being involved! If this family reunion was my last time in Vernal, I thought it was a wonderful way to say goodbye.