July 24, 1990

July 21-24, 1990

The Lee Family with Aunt Trisha, Sarah, Daniel and Matt arrived early Saturday afternoon and Aikens joined them in the evening after visiting the Shakespearian Festival in Cedar City. Once everyone had arrived we remarked how the front of the cabin looked like a used car parking lot with all of our dusty vehicles. Aunt Trisha prepared a dinner, one of her ever creative dishes; it had rice and creamy chicken broth with curley noodles, celery, pineapple, coconut, and other tasty toppings. To make cooking a bit easier the cabin now has a propane stove so we don’t have to stoke up a fire in the big stove all the time. The cabin looks good and the roads were not good but not terrible. There were no flowers in sight and everything was quite dry. Even the spring was completely dried out. We saw many squirrels and lizards and a few deer.

On Saturday evening the kids played softball for a while in front of the cabin. Daniel, Matt and Jana turned out to be pretty heavy hitters but Jim was a bit sluggish in the outfield and Josh couldn’t stop a semi truck. The kids stayed in the little cabin. Sarah, Jodi and Jennie set up an elaborate cosmetics counter on the picnic table and always came to breakfast with lovely hairstyles and make-up.

Saturday night the troops armed themselves with large walking sticks to go out and kill the dangerous, devious cling-ons. General Lee (Roland) led the troops from his vantage point on the road since he had his thongs on. The brave soldiers scattered out in the brush and furiously smacked down every dead lambs-ear plant in sight, ruthlessly invading their encampments and taking no prisoners. General Lee proved his merit as he demolished nine cling-ons in one stunning blow. It was a glorious victory for the allies.

That night the stars put on one of their most spectacular shows. There were no clouds and the entire Milky Way Galaxy was visible from the deck. This night was unusual because the stars twinkled with unusual brightness. The sky looked like a blinking 4th of July sparkler.

Sunday morning Aunt Trisha filled everyone with cereal and hot chocolate. Then Uncle Jim took all the boys and Ashley into Zions to hike to the top of the Great Arch (and to take a load of trash to the dumpster). It was a perfect, sunny day for hiking. On the trail we saw visitors from all over the world. In fact on about two of the groups we passed even spoke English. There were many Germans and some Israelis and possibly Italians. The view from the top was of course spectacular. We climbed around on the rocks and for a long time until someone spotted a little promontory that jutted out clear to the edge of the cliff and practically to the facing wall by the window to the tunnel. It looked completely unapproachable but for some reason the boys decided to try. It didn’t take that long before they were all six out on the precarious spot at the edge of the

[Photo of Aunt B, Aunt Trish, and Aunt Nell on Canyon Overlook]
[Photo of precipice by the tunnel]

cliff. It was frightening to look at. I took a picture and Josh and Jon tried to throw rocks into the tunnel window. Another hiker and his girlfriend saw the boys out on that ledge and he wanted to go out their so bad his toenails itched, but his girlfriend was too scared. It was awesome looking.
On the way down the mountain we met Aunt Nellie, Trisha and Barbara on their way up. On the way home Uncle Jim bought cold drinks for everyone at the Indian store. After our taco salad lunch everybody went their own way. Some of us hiked around or played Mad or No Peeky, almost everyone had a good book and spent time reasing and lying on the deck. Everyone also took many naps.

Sadly, the Eves family and Jim had to leave us on Sunday because the Eves had dentist appointments and Jim had to go back to work at the lumberyard early Monday morning. After a real down-home country breakfast with all the sausage and pancakes and eggs, and thanks to chef Jon, toast, we could eat, we bade them goodbye and then the rest of us prepared for a hike. Uncle Roland drove us in the truck to the edge of the park and then we started on the trail to Echo Canyon. After about one mile the trail diverges and one fork goes up Cable Mountain, while the other one leads to a fantastic steep canyon that drops right out of a small meadow. It was an amazing view. We hiked until the trail started dropping down to the bottom of the canyon and then we turned around. Josh carried the water and we all helped ourselves.

Upon returning from our hike, Jon checked his hand-made wire trap to see if any creatures wandered in while we were away. He used all that all-purpose wonderful bait, peanut butter; and was pleased to find that a bushy tailed squirrel had fallen for it. After the squirrel had been inspected by everyone and made its debut in front of the video camera, Jon let it go.

After our pita sandwich lunch, nearly everyone decided to sit down in a cool place and read. About an hour later I walked through the cabin and absolutely everyone was asleep with their open book on their face. Aunt Nellie was out by the deck re-weaving an old lawn chair, Uncle Roland enjoyed walking around with his video camera and taking unflattering pictures of everyone. Aunt Barbara will die when she sees the movie of her asleep on the couch. Uncle Roland went out to inspect Nellie’s handiwork on the lawn chair and suddenly they both jumped. A rattlesnake almost three feet long was slithering up the porch and heading for the cabin’s front door. Roland dashed across the deck and into the cabin just in time to shut the front door.

The newly-awakened nappers inside the bedroom thought he said “rat” and not “rattlesnake” but when they came out front they got their eyes full. Unfortunately, Jon was not around to advise what to do. He had taken a hike down to the spring. After a few moments of confusion, Uncle Roland got a big rock to throw on the snake. It was backed up against the house and curled up and rattling and it scared a little lizard right into paralysis. The rock wounded it and then Uncle Jim took a shovel and, after whacking it about 7 times, managed to chop its head off.
When Jon returned, he skinned and cleaned the snake, preserving the skin by rolling it up with salt. Uncle Jim decided that, for an adventurous culinary experience, he would cook the snake meat on the outside fire and we would eat it. Everyone felt that Uncle Roland’s grilled hamburgers were much more appetizing, but those of us who tried the slightly overcooked snake meat thought it tasted like tough chicken – with too many bones.

For out evening entertainment we played Family Feud. “One hundred people surveyed, top 5 answers on the board, here’s the question: Name a Nusery Rhyme.” Jon Lee: “Old Mother Shoe.” BUZZ! We came up with some pretty interesting answers; but we concluded that the one hundred people people who had been surveyed for this game were pretty feeble-minded if not downright dumb.

On Monday Uncle Jim, Josh, Ashley, Jennie and Jon drove down to the park to take a hike. They walked up to the bottom of the Zion narrows which is a beautiful lush, almost swampy place – very unusual for Zion. The Virgin River was very muddy as usual. Isn’t it ironic that the “Virgin” is the dirtiest river in Utah? There were hundreds of people on that trail, again most were visitors from foreign countries. They also hiked to the famous weeping rock.

We all packed up, cleaned up and headed out on Tuesday morning, leaving behind some fabulous bows and arrows that Jon and Josh had made, but not much else. Once again the flag was retired from its spot on the ponderosa tree and we all went home after a lovely holiday.

– Ashley Aikens

[picture of all the cousins by the steep canyon]