Thanksgiving in Utah

With one month to go on her maternity leave, Rachael and I packed the car to the gills and headed out on a little Western states road trip with Josef.  Since I didn’t really take any time off for his birth, I was able to get December off as it’s a slow month for film and television anyways.

We departed Santa Monica at 10 pm the day before Thanksgiving (for reasons that I now can barely grasp) and made a good go at it throughout most of the night.  Grabbed a couple hours of sleep at a casino hotel in Mesquite, made a fruitless search for breakfast, and were on our way through the incredible Virgin River Canyon as the sun rose ahead of us.  That is definitely the most stunning part of the drive to Utah; I’m told it was the most expensive stretch of American highway ever built.

Josef needed to stop every 2 or 3 hours to stretch his legs and see some scenery, and one of these stops coincided with a visit to Cove Fort.  This is one of those historic attractions  for which I always see the sign but decide I’d rather get to my destination quicker and thus bypass.  But Josef was quite adamant that he wanted to explore it, so we stopped, and I was glad to have the opportunity to check it out.  I am always fascinated by living history displays and re-creations.

Alas, we missed Thanksgiving dinner, but Gramnette had all the fixings ready and on display for us at her house in Ogden.  She was quite delighted to see her grandson, as you can imagine, having had to fly home the day after he was born.

With Gramnette’s hand on the tiller I availed myself of a 14 hour snooze, and felt perhaps a small return to the clear-headed and rational man that I was only 3 months ago.  The 10  days that followed were some of the most relaxing I’ve ever enjoyed, as we were now in the hands of a premiere baby-soothment and -entertainment savant.  We managed to feel completely relaxed and just kick about with no real plans, and yet we went on a whirlwind tour debuting the new member of our band.  Josef was introduced to 35 new family members, went on a couple on hikes and walks, and enjoyed many home-cooked meals (vis a vis his mother of course).  It really could not have been any nicer, and we probably would never have left had there not been a persuasive contingent of fans clamoring for a visit in Oregon!

Here are some photos of the trip.  I’ll add some videos soon.  Next up, the journeys in Idaho…