Monday, May 28, 2012


May 28, 2012

This morning we awoke to a beautiful sunny day with a blue sky and puffy clouds, the dark rust colored mesas behind the campground looking very colorful in the sunshine.  Our view here is very pretty and I am not really a southwest kind of girl.  I need mountains and trees.......lots of trees.  However, here I can really appreciate the beauty of the rock formations and the colors are my favorites...browns, oranges, reds and corals.....I even had to buy the really cool sweatshirt in the gift shop because it had a cool saying and it was the perfect color for me!  Pam decided she had to have it also and she and I are twinsies.....we had to take a picture last night at the North Window.....

being a light to an evolutionist Ranger.....


Well, today we went back over to the visitor center at Arches so that the kids could turn in their completed Jr. Ranger books.  The ranger was very thorough and had to go over every single question with each one of them....it took a while.  Finally, after some in depth evolutionist explanations of dating (no worries, our kids were trying to ask challenging questions and they know the truth) they got their badges and are smarter for it.  The explanations from the ranger led to good conversations in the car on questions and responses to give when conversations go this way.  Our kids have learned a lot this trip and this is just one thing that they are getting bolder at.  Praise the Lord!  They know the TRUTH and they aren’t afraid to state it.  I am proud of them for that.    



We filled up our 5 gallon water bottle and made our way to the highway to continue on our journey west. Along the way, we saw terrain that was very different than Moab. It changed to a drab landscape, very desolate with very few plants.  
here you can see the layers of colors in the soil....caused by the differing levels of iron

nice landscape in Utah.....
There weren’t even cactus....just dirt, rocks and scrub brush here and there. It’s hard to see how any life can live here in this nothingness. We went over a small rise in the road and finally began to see some trees and then slowly the small rises became hills and mountains with vegetation on them. There was a river that ran along the highway with a double train track and tunnels. We could see there was still snow scattered up on the very top peaks of the mountains. 

lots of snow in Utah at the end of May...


Next stop:  Salt Lake City....you may wonder why.  We told the kids about the world famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir and where our beliefs differ.  We had a great conversation about different faiths and what some believe compared to what the bible says.  We got out and walked around the beautiful gardens in front of the temple and the visitor center.  As we entered the visitor center, I felt a strange feeling come over me.  The building is very nice and there is a nice display of the history of the Mormon community and how it was settled but it felt like we were in a mortuary.  The music was reminiscent of what you would hear.  There are pictures of their current prophet, video clips of children talking about family, and even bible verses here and there.  The women working there seemed friendly but as we listened to conversations here and there we all felt the need to leave.  I do want my children to recognize false doctrine and I want them to know that the devil uses half-truths to tempt us and pull us away from the Lord.  We talked about this as we made our way out of the building and around the statues and plaques in the garden.  I felt sad for the millions of people who will fall prey to this teaching and pray for their true salvation. We prayed and thanked God for his protection over us and for him to help us to always reference the bible when we have questions.   

We left in search of a Starbucks and found one in the Gateway open air downtown shopping mall.  It is a lovely “leftover” from the 2002 Olympics.  Sadly, most of the other shops were already closed for the day so we looked in some windows and traveled up the highway in search of the Willard Bay State Park where we will spend the night, and then drive on to Promontory tomorrow to see the Golden Spike National Historic Park.   We are right on Willard Bay that is a part of Salt Lake.  The campground looks pretty clean but the mosquitos were biting!!! 

Dinner tonight was turkey burgers, potatoes and green beans.  Mmmmm...can hardly wait to cook at home again!!  Christian and Brookie had fun cleaning up the kitchen after dinner........Internet here leaves a lot leaves a lot to be desired...... 




















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