The Long Road Home

The day after the marathon we started our little caravan back home. Leaving at noon, we were planning on being home by around 4:30. However, we decided to take the back route out. We retraced the men's marathon route. It still amazes me how long 26.2 miles really is. Even when you drive it.

We made a couple of stops along the marathon route. Not wanting to drive all the way through Snow Canyon for the sake of time, we stopped atop it. It is amazing to see the colors and the dimensions of that canyon. The kids loved looking at the sand and we had to enlist everyone's help to keep Kaeson from running off a clift.

The second stop was at the Veyo hill. This is an amazingly long and steep hill. The pictures do not do it justice. Harvey offered $10 for anyone that would run up the hill. What is wrong with him. We wouldn't do it for $10,000 let alone PAY to do it. We did make one other stop at the starting line. It was a bright sunny morning. Lou was a bit ticked and said to us "It did not look like this yesterday."

Further down the road we stopped at the Mountain Meadows Memorial. It brought sorrow to our souls to read the accounts of what had happened there. We tried to use the moment to teach the kids about respect and reverence. It was a very sombering experience. It made me feel very lucky that I have my children and that we live in a safe environment. Leigh and Lou took their kiddos to the grave site. We were afraid that ours wouldn't understand and be respectful so, we stayed in the car and watched from a distance.

Later, we stopped by Cove Fort. Originally, we stopped as a joke. My dad has a tradition that any time he passes the exit for Cove Fort, he and whoever else is in the car, stops to take a picture. So, we stopped to take a picture. No sooner had we gotten out of the car than a missionary came out and wanted to take us on a tour. Stating that we were in a hurry and we just wanted a picture, we snapped our picture and concented to small tour.

Having said that, what a great experience. The kids loved every minute of it. Our guide had such a sweet testimony. He showed us several of the rooms in the fort and explained how the Hinckley Family was connected. At the end of our tour, he gave our children a sharing toy and connected the toy to the Gospel. It was a neat moment. While passing a row of Books of Mormon in different languages, he spun Bryan around and had him place his finger one one of the books. The book he touched was where he was to serve his mission. So, Bryan is off to Norway.

While walking back to the car, Leigh explained that she was to see President Monson the following day for a family affair. He asked to report to President Monson that "All is well at Cove Fort."

What started off as a funny picture to text to my brothers and dad turned out to be the most fun part of our trip for the kiddos. It is something that they won't soon forget.

Our biggest compliment came from Leigh at the end of our trip, "We aren't even sick of you guys yet." What a great remark. Isn't it great when you don't make your travel buddies sick of being around you. Well, Leigh, to return the compliment, we didn't get sick of you either. Let's do it again.