Well I have had a long and interesting weekend. Not bad but quite the cause of introspection. I will start at the source then the beginning and then on to the rest of it.
This last week was the first week of November. That means that it was Alison’s birthday. Last year we went to Zion for the fall colors for her birthday. I was afraid I was putting her out by wanting to go camping on her birthday. She was excited. I really have an amazing wife. People just don’t realize that I am the one that is treated well. They think that I treat her well in actuality I am trying to keep her from realizing I am a bum and don’t deserve her. Who would drag a girl camping on her birthday?
Last year was such a pain that Alison informed me this year we would be going back for her birthday. The fall colors were amazing last year and honestly if they were half as good again then we would be there because it was worth it.
So we decided to go camping. It was also quite fortunate that my siblings (all except Robert who is on his mission currently in Jamaica) were there. We had a fun time with other people there especially because they took care of our children. We got to relax and only had to change a diaper and hold a kid once and a while. They did all the rest of the work. They all enjoyed Zion I think. Jenny says that it was actually her favorite national park she has been to. This is her third national park the first two were the Grand Canyon and Grand Tetons. I guess they weren’t as grand as Zion.
Anyway, Alison, Zach, Andrea and I got there Thursday afternoon and had a good day setting up camp walking around and relaxing. My siblings got there late that night. I waited up for them to let them know where they could sleep without waking up Andrea or Zach.
That night getting Zach to sleep was a chore. He was scared of the tent to start with and then wouldn’t lie down at all. So I played a video short I had of baby and mother polar bears. It’s a cute video and after 20 times it did the trick. He relaxed enough that he began to go to sleep. When we turned the lights out in the tent he freaked out. But not the he degree he did the next night. It took about an hour or so before he was actually asleep and doing well.
My siblings got there okay and we all got to bed with no problems. Nathan and Keven slept in Nathan’s new tent and I named it the snore a torium. I was glad that they were in the other tent because I may not have been able to stand it.
Well we all slept well until about 6 am someone started screaming in the camp next to us. It was an older woman and at first I didn’t know what to think. Then I heard husband needs CPR and she was frantic. So I jumped out of my sleeping bag and thought I woke up Alison to come with me (she was actually awake, and wondering if she would be in danger if she ran toward the screaming, in Vegas that is actually a real issue).
As we ran out of the tent I saw the Park Service Policeman trying to find where she was because she had given bad directions. I originally thought I was dreaming about the police lights that passed the tent twice. I saw where she was and directed him to them. Alison and I ran in and she helped the wife and the officer and I started CPR. The man (Ray Lynn Hyatt) wasn’t looking good at that point if he was still alive. Then the volunteer paramedics arrived and took over. The officer and were there for about a minute before they arrived. Then I helped Alison to keep Linda (the wife) calm while they helped him.
Thank the Lord she was LDS. Nathan and my brother gave her a blessing of comfort and after that Alison did all the work of sticking with her and helping her out.
The paramedics and volunteer paramedics were able to get his heart going again but only under constant effort and after he had been without air for more than 20 minutes. Linda told then to taken him off the machine and let him pass after I gave him a blessing. That is maybe the oddest blessing that I have ever given. To a person that was going to die in moments.
The whole morning just made my head spin. In all honesty my head is spinning still now as I think about it. The back of my mind tells me that I could have done more and been there faster. I don’t know what to think. I don’t feel overall that I failed in anyway but I have been stirred up for sure since.
After that we helped Linda until her family came and took her home. Later when we were out hiking they came back and got her truck and trailer. Wow then that evening there was somebody that had no idea what happened camping there. That for me was when the weirdness hit. For Alison it was when we went to bed and she was thinking about Linda who didn’t have her husband to go to bed with. Wow.
Overall thought the weather, leaves and hiking was wonderful. It was even more fun with my siblings there. We drove through a tunnel that was 1.2 miles long and was the longest tunnel in America for quite a while. I believe it was built in the 1920’s. That is a cool tunnel. We did the Canyon Overlook Hike, and Hidden Canyon Hikes. Two of Alison’s favorite. So we did them for her birthday. That night we had brownies for her cake, and steak and Caesar Salad with biscuits, potatoes, and grilled chicken. It was lots of fun. Nathan and myself did lots of the cooking while Alison did most of the actual prep work before we came camping.
This night Zach went to sleep okay but woke up about 7 times, once each hour almost all night. It was really weird. We could not figure why but he would wake up screaming and kicking and thrashing all over. It would take forever to calm him down and then he would plop back to sleep. At the worst time he either kicked me of head butted me (I don’t remember which) and made my lip bleed a bit. I lost most patience and put him in his sleeping bag and he just fell asleep. Why didn’t I do that earlier?
The next morning Jenny, Nathan and I went and did Angels Landing. It is a serious trail that requires a 5 mile round trip and 1500 feet elevation change. We did it in about 3 hours. It would have been much faster if I wasn’t taking pictures. Jenny is good about that. Nathan went as high as he wanted to. He skipped the foolish part of climbing up the narrow saddle of death. Basically you’re scrambling over rocks for ½ mile while climbing about 400 feet and having a drop off of over 1000 feet on both sides. It is a lot of fun but actually if you think about it quite silly. At some points the neck you’re climbing gets as narrow as 20 feet. And sometimes it is very windy. The ironic thing of the hike was that it was not windy at all on top.
Later we went to an art gallery and did a few more hikes and fun stops before doing the Emerald Pools hikes. Those are amazing and usually have great fall colors, but this trip it was that Hidden Canyon that won the prize for coolest colors.
Maybe the best part of the trip was that Alison and I found a child carrier at Deseret Industries and bought it for 5 dollars it worked wonderfully after a 99 cent buckle and dusting off. Zach loved it. He was proud to be on my back as I did all the hiking and picture taking I wanted. Plus he fell asleep fast while in the seat. That was an unexpected benefit.
After a great trip we headed home and now face a few days later a mess resulting from the trip. Oh well. That is mainly because Alison is so good to help me with papers I had due for school. Anyway, that is the story of my trip. I am glad I went and took my beautiful wife to Zion. I hope that we can go again next year. That would be really nice.
