Trip to Utah Part 1 - Road Trip to Las Vegas: Cove Fort and Mountain Meadows

We arrived in Utah earlier than usual this year and there was still a coolness in the air and plenty of snow on the mountains.  Because of the busy summer, we were not going to be able to see all of my sister Mican's family at our reunion in Payson later in June. Our daughters would miss seeing their cousin, Emma, who they really love a lot - especially after we lived down the block from them in Las Vegas for a year.  We decided that we would take a road trip down to see them.  We arrived on Monday afternoon, Tuesday I spent the day getting the car tuned, inspected, and registered, and Wednesday morning we left for Las Vegas.

The drive was beautiful.  Everything was green and the sky was dark blue and partly cloudy.  We decided that we would stop at historic Cove Fort.  It was a fort built to protect travelers going from northern Utah to Southern Utah and back. It operated for a number of years, but was never used as a fort since the pioneer settlers in the area had good relations with the native Paiute tribe in the area.  I had been before and taken a tour, but when we stopped with Yulia last time it was a Sunday afternoon and we only walked around the outside.

We had a very nice tour guide and we took the full tour.  We watched a video about the fort and the family that settled it - the grandfather of LDS church President, Gordan B. Hinkley - and how the Fort was built and how it operated.  Then we took a tour of the restored fort itself, including the barns and outbuildings.  It was very interesting and the girls had a wonderful time.

A beautiful drive - Yulia took this picture while I drove.

The girls getting ready to roll iron hoops - a pioneer pastime.

Looking through the Fort.

View inside the fort.

The kitchen. Meals were prepared for the family and for the travelers that stayed.

Looking down into the fort.  Look at that beautiful sky!

The girls up on the ramparts of the fort.

This was the station where the oxen were shod.  They had to be lifted since they couldn't hold up one foot like a horse during the procedure.

This was the hay crane, used to make haystacks and move hay into the top of the barn for winter.

This was a rock hauling wagon.

Inside the barn looking at tack. A riding saddle foreground and two pack saddles in the back.

The girls with their spinners.  They got to keep these and had lots of fun in the car with them.

Rolling hoops.

We stopped for lunch in Cedar City, Utah and filled up with gas.  Then we went around the back way and took the kids to see the different Mountain Meadows Massacre sites.  The Mountain Meadows Massacre was one of the great tragedies in Utah history and in the history of the LDS church. We spoke to the girls about the tensions that existed, the looming threat of the Utah war, and about the decisions that people made that ended up killing a whole group of Arkansas pioneers.  John D. Lee was executed for his role in the massacre, but for many years there was silence about the whole episode.  I recommend Jaunita Brooks book to understand the event.

It was a solemn afternoon, but a good learning experience for our girls.  The back valleys of southern Utah were beautiful and we had a very nice drive from Mountain Meadows through the Dameron Valley, Gunlock, the Paiute Reservation, and out to Beaver Dam in Arizona where we met up with I-15 and drove into Las Vegas.

One of the sites.

Talking to the girls.

Hiking up to the monument and overlook.

Looking down on the site.

At the gravesite.

Driving. What a gorgeous view!

This reservoir with waterfalls at Gunlock was awesome.  If we had more time we would have gone in!

Driving through the Paiute Reservation.

The desert was green sage, moving into Joshua tree desert.

We arrived in Las Vegas and had a wonderful greeting and a nice meal waiting for us.  The kids had a great time playing games and just hanging out together.

On Thursday our adventure was to go bowling at one of the Casinos.  I think it was Texas Station, but I can't remember for sure.  The kids had a lot of fun and we bowled two complete games, so we wore them out after a couple of hours of bowling.

On Friday we drove over to Henderson to a pool there.  It was a pool that we used to all go to when we lived here.  It is nice because it is indoors and usually not too crowded.  We all swam for a couple of hours and then on our way home we stopped and ate at a place called the Chicken Shack.  The food was pretty good and we all got plenty to eat.

We woke up on Saturday and got ready and drove back home to Payson.  We were glad that we could make it down to Las Vegas to see the Mayo family and to have a little adventure.  It was a nice way to start our vacation!

Playing games

Bowling!

Chicken Shack!

Fun times!

Mount Timpanogas as we are coming up over the ridge into Santaquin on our way home to Payson. I told you it was beautiful!