Tiny Turquoise Trailer

Friday, March 4, 2016

The Maiden Voyage

 I've had a request from my family to post more.  Because I am now way behind.  I am really a terrible blogger.

Soooo, this trip is way back in June 2013. Eons ago.  But, I want to document EVERY journey that we have gone on with our tiny turquoise trailer.  And as many of the details of the restoration that seem pertinent. Or fun.  And there has been a lot of fun details.  If you don't believe me, ask my hubby since he had to help me with them. Fun.  I keep telling him that that is what it is.

So, we had the trailer painted inside and out and decided that we needed to take her on a road trip. Maybe a short one where a minimal of things could go wrong. What's a few hours away?  Mmmm...The Manti Pageant, that's what.

For those of you who don't know.  The Manti Pageant is a holy spectical of Mormon-ness that needs to be seen to be believed.  My older two kids had been to the Manti Pageant in a whirlwind of overnight camping with my sister that involved barfing kids and our tent blowing away.  That's what happens when three women take twelve kids to do stuff that is kinda out of their wheelhouse. But, it was really fun. Except for the barfing.  I could have done without that.


We figured that this awesomeness was something that Elizabeth needed to experience firsthand.  The first thing we needed to get was a campsite.  This is easier said than done since Mormons can be really wholesome and what is wholesomer than camping? or cheaper?  So, they tend to snap up campsites at Palisades, which is close to Manti (and has a awesome lake) realllyy fast.  I didn't think that we had a prayer of getting one, but lo-and-behold! there was one.  Somebody obviously canceled at the last minute.  But, who cares! we snagged it, loaded up what we could basically scrap together anything that resembled camping items and headed out.

Winging it- that's what we were doing

.This little trailer pulled like a dream.  A tiny bit of sway but that just made her look extra happy

We pulled up to our campsite.  It had partial hook-ups which was really dandy.  We really just needed electricity to run our fan.  Because it was 103 out and the closest tree was a hundred yards away.  The funniest thing was seeing our tiny turquoise trailer next to the behemoth of a motor home in the next campsite.  It was like in  A Goofy Movie when Pete pulled up next to Goofy's little trailer in his RV with a bowling alley on the roof.

 Palisades State Park is really very nice.  The upper campsites have hook-ups and the ones on the edge of the lake do not.  But, the ones along the lake also have trees, which the ones with hook-up do not.  It is a tit for tat kinda thing. You can rent canoes to explore the lake.  We didn't do this this time, but on the infamous barfing trip, we did, and it was a lot of fun.

We have always loved Manti and Ephraim, which is 10 minutes away from each other.  Has anyone ever noticed that Utahns measure distance in how long it takes to drive there? I couldn't tell you exactly how far Salt Lake is from where we live but I do know that it takes 60 minutes to get there.  Hmmm...this is weird to think about.  Maybe it's a western US thing.  Anyway, Ephraim is where Madisen went to her first two years of college.  GO SNOW COLLEGE.  She more than loved it.  It's also where she met her husband, Vic.  That might have something to do with it.  He was the Badger mascot. She was the business senator.  Match made in Heaven.


Since it was just too damn hot to hang around in the trailer, even with the fan running full blast, we went to loiter around Ephraim.  The Malt Shoppe is a great place to get something to eat.  Like ice cream.  And french fries. THAT is a match made in Heaven.  At first, my family thought that I was gross to pair those together, but they have come around to my bizarre way of thinking.

 Elizabeth thinks that this is a fantastically hilarious picture.
It was so bleeding hot outside, I thought that I was having heat stroke inside of the Malt Shop

On our way back, we got to herd some sheep, which was awesome.


Manti Pageant was great.  The folding chairs that they made us sit on weren't.  They used to let us lay on blankets... but I guess that took up too much room.  I remember this because that is where my nephew, Kevin, started throwing up.  On the blanket.



Returning from the Pageant at 11:00 at night to a trailer that sat in the fun all day was not awesome. So excruciatingly hot.  I also forgot how much I hate the sound of sleeping bags...scratch, scratch.  Scratch. I'm making some proper bedding when we get home. And curtains. Because getting dressed in the dark stinks.

The whole trip was a success.  I didn't have to cook and the trailer didn't fall apart so it was a win-win.