My mother was born in South Central Utah in the small town of
Escalante. Family lore says my grandparents went out there to raise sheep and she was born there in 1914. Maybe they lived in a cabin like this reconstructed one in town built in 1890. After driving there, my a
dmiration for my grandmother has increased 10 fold! Escalante is way in the heck gone out there! We traveled over the Boulder Mountains and through some of the beautiful Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. (Highly recommend seeing both!) We stopped several times as Roy was hoping to see a new bird that lives in that area, the rosy finch, but sadly it wasn't to be.Escalante is a small town with a population of 818 in the 2000 census. We saw the turn off to the Hole in the Wall that the pioneers traveled 60 miles overland from town down to the Colorado River and then continued on to settle the Bluff area, but didn't think the rental car owners would appreciate that rough road. A great book about these courageous pioneers is Gerald Lund's new book: The Undaunted. I need to re-read it, now that I've seen some of their route.
From there we meandered towards the St. George area, stopping at the P
etrified Forest State Park just outside of Escalante where Roy did see a new bird (black-throated gray warbler)! That is a petrified log Roy is sitting on! 
This is just outside Bryce National Park. (already been there, done that.)
We stayed with a wonderful fishing buddy of Roy's just E
ast of St. George; thank you Bob! We were able to enjoy his beautiful home and blooming cactus garden. We had a 
wonderful evening
on the patio watching the stars come out in the desert and enjoyed a session in the beautiful old St. George Temple - the first Temple built West of the Mississippi River.
All in all, nice trip to visit friends, see some beautiful country and we really felt good about Alex starting his mission.
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