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Gone for 26 hours

By Merrill Ogden - | Apr 26, 2023

Last weekend, I was gone from Sanpete for 26 hours. Technically, it was twenty-six and a half hours. But I didn’t want to write that more than once. We were celebrating our 44th wedding anniversary with a little getaway.

Some of you congratulated us for the occasion. Thank you for that. I think my wife posted some of our wedding pictures on Facebook or Instagram. I had some people say that I looked like a fuzzy hairball. I told them that was a popular look in the ’70s. And I reminded them that many of our marriageable age youth are pretty hairy these days as well.

We took off from Sanpete on our quick trip at 3 p.m. last Friday. We were back home at about 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Weirdly, it felt like we’d been gone much longer, but in a good way.

Where did we go? Those of you who have known us for a long time would probably be able to guess. Yes, it was an overnighter anniversary trip to Bryce Canyon National Park. It’s one of our “go-to,” over and over again favorite destinations.

The morning of the day we left, I told a friend where we were going. He scoffed at me, “What are you going there for again? You’ve been there a million times. It’s just a bunch of boring rocks! You may as well just stay home and look at pictures of it.”

I said that being there live and in person was a different, superior experience than looking at pictures. Each trip has different twists to it, even though it is a visit to the same national park.

I don’t know how apt the comparison is, but I tried this type of logic on my friend. “Suppose that Marilyn Monroe was alive now. And suppose that you’re a fan of hers (he is). Suppose that you’d seen her in person one time. Now, further suppose that you had opportunities of visiting with her live and in person again. Would you be fine with just seeing pictures of her rather than being able to see her in person?”

My friend got a mystified look on his face and then shook his head. “I think that example may be different. Remember, Bryce Canyon is rocks.”

Upon approaching the big Bryce Canyon entrance sign Friday evening, I told Diane that I thought we should stop and get a picture of us at the sign. She said that we have pictures of us there. I said, “But we don’t have one of us there on April 21, 2023.” She replied, “Good point.”

There is a little parking lot there and we pulled in. It’s a tiny bit like being at the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada” sign in… well, you know, Las Vegas. Everyone wants to have a picture taken there.

There were a couple of women by the sign and I offered to take their picture together. They said they were fine, but asked if they could take our picture, which, of course, was what I was hoping for. (I would have asked, had they not offered)

Longer story shorter, the women were Ukrainians – a mother and grown daughter. The daughter lives and works in Las Vegas. (I didn’t ask if they have pictures at the Vegas sign yet) The mom was visiting from Kiev. Diane told the mom, “You should just stay here!” Her response was sort of a resigned, “I need to be in my country” kind of thing. We ended up taking a picture of the two of them together before we said our goodbyes.

We ran into lots of international visitors while at the park. Diane always likes to practice her French when we’re there. This time was no exception. There were quite a few French speakers around.

Since we were celebrating what we felt was a significant anniversary, we had dinner in the Bryce Canyon Lodge Dining Room. It’s “fine dining” there. I had the salmon. Diane had tortellini.

Ed, from Phoenix, was our server. He’s doing his third season at the Lodge this year. When he introduced himself, he said that we could remember his name by thinking of the old TV show “Mr. Ed.”

I told him that I knew the theme song to the “talking horse” TV show and started to sing it. He stopped me and told me I’d missed the very beginning. He demonstrated the “horse exhale snort” which evidently is how the song begins.

I haven’t fact checked him yet, but I gave him a decent tip for the excellent meal anyway. I’m telling you this, so that if you have a meal there and Ed is your server, you get the song right and won’t embarrass yourself.

To finish this little report, I’ll just say: We visited several of the many points in the park. Inspiration Point was inspirational. Sunset point was not “sunset’y” at sunset. Sunrise Point might have been “sunrise’y” at sunrise. I wouldn’t know, as we were there about noon time. (Hmm…Why isn’t there a “High Noon Point” at the canyon?)

Walking Archer, the wonder Sheltie dog, along the Rim Trail is always fun. So many people want to meet him and ask to pet him.

It was a fun getaway. Sanpete seemed not to miss us during those 26 hours. It’s always good to go – and it’s always good to come back.

— Merrill

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