from the rushes: when I pass through the pearly gates will my gown be gold instead, or just a red clay robe, with red clay wings, and a red clay halo for my head.

continuing on our journey, i found a mystery dead animal. i wasn't sure if it was a buffalo (because i am always filled with hope it will be the most magical thing), a cow, an elk, etc. but i got really close and it smelled really bad.

it was still wearing its creepy little life-shoes.

and from death to the cemetery.

and a little bun-bun.

the cemetery was beautiful, and well cared for.

i love these little lambs, usually reserved for children.

poor little bun-bun, soaked from the rain. he wanted to come in our car, and get warm and dry, and eat shredded wheat, but we had to say no (well, judd said no) because this was his home and it was going to be a long drive.

since it was so close to memorial day, flowers were slowly trickling in from local families.

and look, little cottontail!

the fog was really beginning to roll in as we drove through the winding hills.

we stopped at a beautiful mountain overlook, and this boot was the first thing i saw. it was left, just like this, on this rock. it was at once incredibly creepy and beautiful.

ghost tree! looming over the forest.

the rain was really coming down, but it sort of made it feel more beautiful, and special, since it's utah, and it's not supposed to rain that much (flash forward 6 weeks and it's still raining).

judd, looking at some sort of map or atlas or information guide thing. what a dork.

couple picture! (self-timer on the shotgun seat)

we pulled off after seeing a tiny sign saying there were anasazi ruins, and walked through a small museum full of artifacts. then we got to walk through a restored anasazi home, and community.

i learned all about the religious significance of this ladder, and room, but now i don't remember it...

no, the houses aren't melting, it's just really rainy.

the anasazi houses were leaking a little through the roofs, and the sunlight was trickling in beautifully.

couple picture (camera balanced in the adobe brick)

as we drove more windy road, i looked down, and it looked like there was a rushing green river where the trees were growing.

at a little pull off, there was an enormous raven type thing perched on the rock.

it hopped down, and started shaking the water from its feathers, and in this moment i noticed that the back of its neck was bright white! if it was a "white necked raven," or a "white necked crow" it was a very very long way from home. this blog is just me guessing at one bird after another...

here it is, being practically hand-fed by a tourist from a motor home. i couldn't bring myself to feed it, as much as i wanted to get close to it, because i couldn't stand the idea of it getting a little tummy ache.

we drove on.

we passed another cemetery down below.

and entered more redrock.

it was deceptively freezing outside.

but absolutely magical.

and, a little outdated.

judd and i both love the open road. it's like our baby in this weird little family.

and judd's other baby, of course, is the atlas.

here's judd @ the site of the mountain meadows massacre, trying to determine from his history book who road in from where and where what was supposed to have occurred...

and here i am on a fence.

there were two monuments. the first that we visited was the one provided by the LDS church. the wrought-iron fence surrounding the monument was absolutely beautiful against the sun, which came out for us by this point, and the grass, and the monument.

VOGUE + massacre site.

i was really hoping this was a mormon cricket. it was not. but that would have been so cool, to be at the mtn meadows site, surrounded by mormon crickets...

oy.

here's judd, explaining the history to some tourists.

here is the grave marker inside of the monument of the 29 or so bodies they were able to find and bury.

and the... delicately phrased?... plaque on the monument, provided by the LDS church.

here is the entire monument, as viewed through the wrought-iron gate i am obsessed with.

a view of the killing fields.

and the second monument, higher up on a hill, provided a list of everyone in the traveling party, including those killed and those who survived. there were also viewfinders pointed at where the ambush happened, and where the original grave was (i think).

overlooking the fields, able to place it better through the viewfinder, i couldn't help but notice there were several farm residences placed basically ON the site of the massacre now. that must be sort of strange...