Grafton Ghost Town

GHOSTS? Say what? We're going to see a town full of ghosts? No, no, NO, NO! I don't want to meet any ghosts!

Grafton Ghost Town, founded in 1862, is in Rockville, UT, and was used in several movies including "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". On their website the buildings look old and damaged, but apparently there's a historical organization the has repaired them. They're not so haunted looking in person. 

Information about the town from their brochure: "The so-called Dixie Region of Utah was settled by Mormons at the direction of Brigham Young, who thought the region would yield a profitable cotton crop. The town of Grafton was settled a few miles south of Zion National Park on the Virgin River in 1859 by five Mormon families, but they soon had to scale back cotton production in favor of food crops. Then in 1862, the Virgin River flooded and washed away the entire town, but the tenacious settlers reestablished Grafton about a mile upstream.

"In 1866, conflicts with the Black Hawk and other native peoples led Brigham Young to call on all settlements to combine into towns of at least 150 people. Grafton was abandoned, but the farmers still came to tend their crops. Two years later, settlers returned and built the adobe schoolhouse, which still stands today. The population of the Grafton shrank as young people moved away in search of new farmland or other livelihoods until it was completely abandoned again in the 20th century."

"Today Grafton is a ghost town, and one that has enjoyed a few moments in the spotlight. Several movies were shot in this abandoned frontier settlement, including several scenes from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the 1929 film In Old Arizona, the first talkie filmed outdoors. Descendants of the people who lived here still gather for an annual reunion to keep the spirit of this frontier village alive though only four buildings and the cemetery remain. The graveyard is a picturesque reminder of the hard lives of the Old West settlers below the grand sandstone spires and blue skies of southern Utah."

"Killed by Indians"

As we were leaving we were struck by the beauty of the mountains, not only in the distance, but by the side of the road we were on. And just so you know, we didn't see any ghosts!

--Sammy

Merry Christmas

Deb and Andy Knowlton with Tansy

Christmas Day was only in the 40s here in Hurricane, UT. BTW, that's pronounced Hurrican (without the silent "e" making the vowel say it's own name). When we first got here Mom kept saying the long a and she sounded like a tourist, but she has since learned to pronounce it like the locals.

We had Christmas dinner with some friends who live just east of us in NH, on the other side of Dixville Notch. They spend all winter here in this same RV park and Mom keeps saying she came here because her friend told her it was so nice and warm. Brrrr! It's been in the 40s and low 50s ever since we got here. Granted that's warmer than the usual weather in northern NH this time of year, but not quite what she was looking for. I guess the term warm is according to individual opinion!

If you remember, Dad's bike got stolen while we were in Shiprock, NM. The insurance company already reimbursed us for the bike and Mom ordered a replacement. It came in a couple of weeks but it's been too cold to ride. Hopefully that'll change when we get to AZ.

We went to see the Christmas lights in St. George. The city park was all lit with holiday cheer. But just a few minutes away in Santa Clara, UT, there's a few neighborhoods that go all out. A house in one of them was absolutely spectacular. They have several open houses during the season when they open the gates and you can walk through the display, buy homemade cookies, popcorn, hot chocolate and other treats, with the proceeds going to support Cooper's Christmas Project which provides shoes, warm clothes and other essentials to those in need.

Other houses in the neighborhood were decorated as well, but this one from the house next door is definitely worth seeing. They received A+ for creativity!

Here's a few pictures of St. George city park, and some other houses that were spectacular. The Griswold's would be jealous!

It felt as if you were in a wonderland as you walked through the pathways.

Merry Christmas, everyone! --Sammy

Toquerville Falls

Torqueville Falls

We had a visit from another former missionary who served in Colebrook, NH. Jake Beck and his wife, Whitley, and their young daughter took us out in their RZR to Toquerville Falls. First we tried to get to the falls by the back country but we ran out of road and couldn't figure out how to "get there from here". So we decided to take the route from the trailhead, which was still pretty rough. The views were spectacular, often overlooking the sheer drop to the canyon below. Although you can swim in the pools of water created by the falls, it was rather cold that day, as you can tell by how everyone was bundled up. Fun day, good friends.

Chilly ride

Gorgeous views

Jake and Whitley

3 seater motorcycle on display at Lonny Boy's BBQ in Hurricane, UT

--Sammy

Old Friends

Bill and Mom

Last week was a busy week. We went to see Bill and Nan Mead in Salt Lake City. Bill was the missionary who taught and baptized Mom way back in 1971. They have remained dear friends for all this time. On Sunday their daughter and her kids, and a friend visited and we all had a church meeting in their home. Bill talked about his experiences when he was teaching Mom about the church. Then Mom talked about some of the experiences she's had because of being a member of the church, and the lives that have been influenced by that. She especially talked about her friend, Marlene, and the difference the gospel has made in her life. You see, when you decide to go on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints you never know how that will affect the lives of people you have never met.

Mom and Bill back in 1971, almost 50 years ago!

Rich Draper

While we were in SLC area we also had lunch and visited with Greg and Becky Putnam who served a mission for the church in the Colebrook, NH area.

And speaking of old friends, an old friend of Mom's, Rich Draper, came to visit us. It's always good to see old friends to revisit old times and catch up on new ones.

We got to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square, although there aren't as many as usual because of the construction going on there.

It seems construction is going on in lots of places. The St. George temple is a year into a 3 year renovation. Since so many things are closed due to Covid-19 it's certainly a good time to close some of the temples to do maintenance, upgrades, and renovations. 

St. George temple, (back view)

St. George temple

St. George temple, (front view)

Here's an odd thing we saw while in St. George - a dog and car wash. Good thing they keep the areas separate!

--Sammy

Technical Difficulties?

If you follow this blog through our FB page, you just click on the link and it will bring you right here.

If you follow us by signing up to have it delivered to your email, there's a few things we've discovered. Folks have said they can't see the videos and their comments don't show up. For both of those things you have to go directly to the blog page. The videos are viewable there. Same if you want to leave a comment. You can't do it by hitting reply on your email. It can only be done directly on the blog.

Hope this resolves a few issues for the folks that have been having trouble. Love all my followers. And I love to read your comments!

--Sammy

Cruz Update

You may all remember my buddy, Cruz, the Vizsla that actually started this blog. He absolutely loves his new family and is still such a mama's boy. Every night when his new mom reads bedtime stories to the kids he climbs up in mama's lap, pushes the kid off, and is sure she's reading to him.

He likes tonight's story selection.

He also is a frequent visitor in his boy's zoom classroom.
After all, remote learning is for dogs too, right?

He told Santa he wanted a new bone every day.

But it's not all good news where Cruz is concerned. He started favoring his back leg so his Mom took him to the vet. Xrays showed he has bilateral congenital hip dysplasia. He has an appointment next month with an orthopedic vet to discuss the options for treatment. I'm hoping he's going to come through this OK. I pretended not to like him, but, truth be told, he was kinda cool. I'll keep you posted when I know more. Meanwhile, he and his family could use your prayers.

--Sammy

Hurricane, Utah

We left Shiprock, NM, on December 1st and headed northwest to Hurricane, UT. Mom said she was glad to be out of NM. Because of Covid-19, NM has a limit of 75 people in a store, apparently the size of the store doesn't matter. There are long lines outside Wal-Mart and Home Depot so Mom went to a Family Dollar to stock up on what we needed. Per square foot there were more people in there. Here in UT they apparently go by square foot. When Mom went to Wal-Mart today there was an associate at each door keeping track of how many people were there. The person told Mom that they were allowed 767 in their store based on square footage. There were currently 728.

But I digress. Back to our trip from there to here. Although it was only about 5 1/2 hours according to the GPS, it took us about 6 because of stopping for gas and potty breaks. However, Mom said it seemed way longer because of the terrain we passed through. It was miles and miles and miles of desert, sagebrush, sand and rocks. Some of the rocks were interesting but after you've seen a few it gets all the same after a while. See for yourself.

Yup, pretty much the same for the whole trip. And no cell reception for much of the trip so Mom couldn't even occupy her time.

Some of the rock formations are called mesas. According to Wikipedia a "mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain." Some of these mesas had whole towns built on top. Wonder how they get up there.

Trading post where we stopped for gas

So now we're in Hurricane at Willow Wind RV Park. The scenery here is about the same but at least there's some things to do. Almost every day we've been going to a very nice dog park about a 7 minute drive away. Dora and I have lots of fun meeting the other dogs and enjoying some off-leash time to investigate. Dora runs around like an idiot, a black and white flash as she races around playing chase with the other dogs. I mostly wag my tail and enjoy getting petted by the people who own the other dogs. Since I'm old I wear out pretty fast and when I do, I let Dad know to pick me up and let me take a rest in his lap.

Mom has been talking about a really awesome dog wash area in the RV park. So today we checked it out. Well, I'm here to tell you her idea of awesome is much different than mine! It's a raised tub for dogs to get a bath! Dora and I both got one and we didn't think that was very awesome at all. In fact, on a list of 100 very awesome things in life, getting a bath would be 101. The steps to get up into the tub looked like we were walking up to the gallows platform and we both refused so Mom had to pick us up. You know, it took us a long time to get this dirty and we smell almost the way we like. The only smell that would be better would be if we'd found something really stinky to roll in. Now we smell clean and like shampoo and conditioner. Not fun at all. Dora and I made a pact that the first chance we get we're rolling in the dirt!

Torture device, aka dog wash station.

Bye for now. Will write more later.

--Sammy

Shiprock, New Mexico

We're still making our way to Hurricane, UT and stopped in Shiprock, NM for a 4 day hiatus from traveling. Strange name for a town, right? It's named after the huge stone monument which is a sand-colored column that was named by Anglo settlers. It reminded them of a clipper ship, hence the name. The Navajo call it "Tsé Bit' a'í",

or rock with wings. The peak is 7,178 above sea level and 1,583 above the surrounding desert plain, and is the center of three volcanic pressure ridges that pushed the rock skyward thousands of years ago. 

Shiprock is a sacred mountain to the Navajo people. There are quite a few stories about it's significance. One story is that flesh-eating Bird Monsters lived atop the Shiprock. One of the two Warrior Twins, Monstery Slayer, killed two of the Bird Monsters and turned one baby Bird Monster into an eagle, and another into an owl. The rock is even mentioned in various chants and ceremonies. Another tells how a great bird carried their ancestors from the far north to their current homeland in the American Southwest.

The town of Shiprock is on the Navajo Nation land and is called "Naat’áanii Nééz" by the Navajo people, meaning "tall leader", after the San Juan Indian Agency superintendent William T. Shelton who settled Shiprock for the U.S. government.

While we were there we became acquainted with the local police department. We're boondocking at the Bethel Christian Reformed Church, who are kind enough to allow RV travelers to stay in their parking lot for a short time to rest up on their travels. In the wee hours of Sunday morning someone stole Dad's e-bike off the bike rack on the truck. He reported it to the police department and they took down all the information, took pictures of Mom's bike which is almost the same but a different color, and are currently keeping an eye out for it. Mom jokingly accused Dad of hiring someone to steal it so he has an excuse for not going out biking with her. When Mom called our insurance agent to report it he couldn't stop laughing. You have to admit that it's kind of funny that our bike gets stolen from a church parking lot on a Sunday morning. He said we win the claim of the month award for originality!

The Navajo people have many customs revolving around their belief in spirits. One of their practices is to bless homes and businesses against evil influences. Mom saw this sign on the wall at the local laundromat. The name "Dine' " means "the people" in Navajo.

We leave today for Hurricane, UT, where we'll be for the whole month of December. It'll be nice to settle down for a month and get to know the surrounding area better.

--Sammy

Road sign in front of a farm

Mom says they don't look too fat to her