Porter Rockwell Turns 200

Orrin Porter Rockwell was born on June 28, 1813.  On the 200th anniversary of his birth, we picked up Chad from work a little early and went on a Porter Rockwell celebration road trip! 

This is Porter's Pony Express Marker near the prison!

Awww!  5 Rockwell descendants all in a row!

This business center is near the original location of Porter's Hot Springs Hotel and Brewery.

Porter seems more friendly and less deadly in this artist's rendition!

When we arrived at the Hutching's Museum, we found a room full of kid's activities including coloring pages of Porter Rockwell.  What would he think of himself as a cartoon I wonder?

It took a while for us to convince Joseph to pose by the horse and sorta creepy Porter mannequin in the Rockwell room at the museum. 

Real Porter Rockwell artifacts!  The glassware came from the Hot Springs Hotel.

The kids wanted to know why Porter Rockwell had a chair with no seat to sit on!  Only wusses need chairs with seats!!

No Porter Rockwell room is complete without a jail to put your freshly caught outlaws.  Here Merritt and Grant hang out in prison with a random girl we met.  Grace wouldn't put a toe inside the jail because there were totally creepy mannequins in there.

After the museum visit we ate complimentary birthday cake...

and then posed at another statue.  This one is in the "heroic" style.  I personally think Porter would punch this statue, but that's just me.

Finally it was on to Porter's Place for ice cream and a peek at all the look alikes competing for the $1000 prize.

We listened to really neat saloon music played live while waiting for shakes/malts/sundaes, etc.

It was a fun end to our road trip!  Happy 200th Birthday to Porter Rockwell.

The Prophet Joseph Smith said of his friend, "Orrin Porter Rockwell...is an innocent and a noble boy. May God Almighty deliver him from the hands of his pursuers. … Let the blessings of salvation and honor be his portion.” (History of the Church, 5:125.)

At his death, Elder Joseph F. Smith (then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) said, "He had his little faults, but Porter’s life on earth, taken altogether, was one worthy of example, and reflected honor upon the Church. Through all his trials he had never once forgotten his obligations to his brethren and his God.”

My children are very pleased to be the descendants of Orrin Porter Rockwell and I hope that they are as true to the prophet and the Church as he was!

Vacation Sidetrip - Eureka

Who would go to Erueka, you might have wondered as you looked at the post title?  We would!  Porter Rockwell's cabin, built in 1865 and located in Cherry Creek, was moved to Main Street Eureka and fixed up.  You can go inside, sign the register, and look around.  I can't vouch for the authenticity of any of the furnishings, but it all looks very old timey.  The kids were rather obsessed with the bear skin on the top bunk.  Merritt dared me to touch its eye, which I totally did!

 Here is the cabin.  As old as it is, its in waaaay better shape than most the buildings on Main Street.

Here we are at the doorway the divides the two rooms of the cabin.  Square footage is a wondrous luxury!

Finally, here is a video just because it is funny.  

Yes, I really did try and spit shine Grant's face.  It's funny how things come full circle...I hated it when my mom did that to me but now I see that sometimes spit and a thumb is all a mother's got!

Our Amazing Vacation - Bryce Canyon

The final leg of our trip took us to Bryce Canyon National Park.  I remember being very impressed with Bryce as a teenager.  We passed through the park in the wintertime and the hoodoos were dusted with snow; it was beautiful.  In the past, we just drove to the overlooks and enjoyed the scenery...this time I was determined to "hike the hoodoos" or in other words, actually go down into the canyon itself.  This was my FAVORITE hike of the whole trip.  There was something new to see around every corner and the rock formations were fascinating.  I loved, loved, loved it!  The hike was over a mile, all downhill for the first half and all uphill the second, but it was so worth it and the kids did a fabulous job.  We'll have to go again in a few years, though, not only to do longer hikes and see more of the canyon but also because Joseph slept through the whole thing!

 Here we are at the trail head.  It was a gorgeous day!

 Looking down into the canyon we could see that we would be descending quite a ways.  The trail we followed is called the Navajo Loop Trail.

 Right off the bat you pass Thor's Hammer...I think it looks more like a person!

 The trail was a series of switch backs that went all the way down, from higher ground it makes the trail look like stairs.  At the bottom the walls of the canyon towered above you.

 Looking down we could see three little caves.  The kids hurried down and each laid claim to one.

Merritt liked his hidey-hole.

Grant wouldn't smile because he was pretending to be a bear.

Grace wanted to stay in her cave, she said it was very nice in there.

And Joseph slept through it all.  Good thing I slathered his face with sunscreen!!

 I loved all the twists and turns this trail took.  The rock overhung the trail and made a lovely shady spot.

 I had to make sure Chad ended up in some of the pictures!

We took pictures of some random guy just to remember the trail features.  This portion of the trail led to the next picture...

a really cool small tunnel, which is behind us.

We are nearing the top!  Looking back the way we came, the trail zig zags down and curves between the rocks.

 We made it!  Here's the view from another of the overlooks.

 After all our hiking fun we stopped for ice cream in the little tourist trap town outside the park.  The had a "jail" and the kids wanted to eat their ice cream in it.

Now they want out, but I locked the door and threw away the key!  Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!!

We had such a great time on our vacation and have now already started to wonder, "Where will we go next year?"

Our Amazing Vacation - Zion National Park

So, even though we had lots of fun on Wednesday at the Sand Hollow Aquatic Center, there's no proof cuz we took no pictures.  It was fun though, there was a great water slide and a fun kids area with lots of water squirting and falling everywhere.  The kids didn't want to leave.  It eased their pain that we were headed for McDonald's (Grace's birthday wish come true) where there was a play land, but it was still tricky to herd them all out of the water.

Thursday dawned cloudless and sunny.  We hit the road and arrived at Zion Park around 11:00.  They have the neatest shuttle system there: you park your vehicle in the park (if you get there early enough) outside the park entrance or anywhere in the town of Spring Dale and just catch the free shuttle.  They depart regularly from the Visitor's Center and as you travel to different points of interest, you listen to a pre-recorded description of the sites you are seeing.  The shuttles are comfortable and well ventilated, and its nice not to have to worry about driving or finding parking.

Joseph on the shuttle.  He's so cute!

 Our first stop was the Court of the Patriarchs.

 

Chad got a picture of us at the overlook, but had to get a wide angle shot to get all three peaks in.

 

The peak on the far left is Abraham.  The center peak is Isaac.  You'd think that the peak on the right would be Jacob, but that is actually Mount Moroni.  Jacob is the white mountain peeking out behind the right shoulder of Mount Moroni.

After picking up the shuttle again we headed deeper into the canyon to hike the Emerald Pools Trail.

These pictures were taken on the bridge at the beginning of the hike.

Our little hikers did a fantastic job.  When their energy started to lag we would sing songs.  "My Aunt Came Back" and "I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly" were their favorites.

When we reached our destination we found the trail wet... 

 with water that fell like rain from the rocks above.

 These are the "Emerald Pools" that the trail is named for.  As Merritt pointed out they are more brown than green, but you can see the algae in the middle of the water that would give the pools their namesake color.

After a much needed lunch break we set off again, this time to Weeping Rock.  Daddy the Pack Mule had a tired back by this point so I took a turn carrying Joseph around on my back.  He seemed to like the easy access to my hair.  :)  I thought I'd have an easy time of it because the Emerald Pools trail was over a mile round trip, Weeping Rock was way shorter, but, as luck would have it, the Weeping Rock Trail was very STEEP!  It was so worth it though.  It was my favorite view of the entire day.

Even though it was mid-afternoon by the time we took this shot, it actually looked like a misty morning because we were standing behind a fine curtain of water droplets and spray.

Merritt took the opportunity to stand under the dripping water and get very wet.  The moisture felt wonderful in the heat.

I just like this picture!

This one too!

This is the shelf of rock that "weeps".  Because of all the moisture, there are actually hanging gardens of flowers and ferns that grown right out of the bottom of the overhang.  It is incredible to see.  The water comes from far above and slowly travels down through the sandstone layers over the course of thousands of years to finally drip down at Weeping Rock.  Amazing!

Our final hike of the day was the Riverside Walk.  The north fork of the Virgin River that carved out Zion National Park is accessible from this trail, so that meant we got to play in the water.  We walked the trail for a bit and then turned back and took one of the river access points so that we could play around and cool off.

We had a great day in Zion and look forward to going back someday.  I wanted to throw in one final picture cuz I think Chad took a good one and because the name is cool...

This peak is called the Great White Throne.  I really appreciated all the unashamed religious references to be found in Zion National Park.  The people that settled the area sensed the grandeur and glory of God in all that they saw and named things accordingly.  Love it!