A Capitol idea

My county seat quest continued this week. (As I have told people about my goal, I have been surprised by the amount of people who don't know what a county seat is. So if you're one of those people, a county seat is essentially the capital of a county. I just have to visit the city, not necessarily the county offices or courthouse.)

I learned that the Wayne County Fair was this week, so I thought it would be a good time to go visit Loa. My day off this week was Tuesday, so off I went.

On the way down, I went through Salina in Sevier County. As I saw signs in the town, I decided to visit Miss Mary's Historical Museum, which is Salina's Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum. I had heard the story behind this building through a song, so I was happy to see it. The way I understand it, a Presbyterian church was built in Salina in the 1880s, but it was later abandoned. In the 1920s, Mary McCullum was sent as a Presbyterian missionary to the Latter-day Saints (since I'm not allowed to say "Mormons" anymore 🙄), but that wasn't too fruitful. Soon, she painted an old piano pink and operated a musical school for all children, regardless of denomination. She became widely respected and kindly remembered.

Like all DUP museums, they had random artifacts. They had the original piano, but they had restored it to a wood color. WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT!? You can see wood pianos anytime. I wanted to see it pink! If they had to restore it anyway, they should have made it pink. Sheesh.

 And of course they had to make a nod to sericulture.

Then I headed down to Loa, Wayne County's seat. I learned it was named for Mauna Loa, because one of the settlers went to the Sandwich Islands on his mission and thought a nearby mountain looked like Mauna Loa. Earlier this year, I visited Iosepa, but I didn't know Utah had two pseudo-Hawaiian towns. I even had a Hawaiian-themed sandwich at a restaurant there, and I didn't even do it on purpose!

It turns out the Wayne County Fair didn't really start until Wednesday, so I was a day early, and it sounded more like a series of community events, not a fair like I imagined it. (I was imagining something like a state fair but on a tiny scale.) But I did go through and look at things in the town. I saw two polygamist wives go shopping at Family Dollar, one of them wearing a camo skirt. 

Loa also had an old tithing office, and a plaque on the lawn had an authentic piece of Hawaiian basalt from Mauna Loa.

 I was impressed by the beautiful Loa Ward building, but there weren't any signs saying how old it was.

 It happened to be open, so I wandered in and was awestruck by the beauty of its chapel.

Once I had finished my time in Loa, I figured I was close enough to Capitol Reef that I might as well go visit.

When I think about all the Augusts of my life, 2012 and 2013 stick out as the gold standards, the very best. August 2013 was when I first visited Capitol Reef as part of my geology field studies class. It was fun to be back at the Capitol Reef visitor's center; I hadn't been in the park since 2014. I bought a few souvenirs, but since I didn't have much time, I turned back around.

However, before I left the park, I decided to visit Chimney Rock. I saw signs pointing to it and cars pulling in, so I thought I would check it out.

There was a little trailhead and a sign saying the loop was about three miles. I was wearing my trail shoes, so I decided I had time to run it. It was cloudy and lightly sprinkling, which meant it wasn't too hot for running. 

It was simply amazing. I have never run in a national park before, and the views were stunning. I'd get to the top of a switchback and admire the view.

However, I was worried for part of the time; I worried the storm would get worse, and the signs were confusing, so I worried I was headed out on another eight-mile hike. But I did successfully and safely figure out where I was and made it safely to my car again.

And I felt pleased with myself at the end: the sign said the loop I went on was "strenuous," but I didn't think it was that strenuous, and I ran the whole thing!

Then I drove home, with a couple of stops along the way. It was a fun day.

That was the highlight of the week, but it wasn't the only highlight. 

Grapes are in season, so we made grape crisp, my famous grape bread (somehow I didn't get a picture), and grape juice.

At work, we discovered a mud wasp nest on our antique cash register. So my boss sprayed it down, and I broke it apart. Inside it, I found at least one spider and a wasp larva inside a papery coat. It was interesting, but it also made me shudder.

And since I missed the Wayne County Fair, I went to the Davis County Fair. They had a patriotic flag-burning ceremony. But really I only go to fairs for the food.