On Monday night, my ward was meeting at Mueller Park Canyon in Bountiful. I didn't know what was going on, so I showed up late and found out that most of the people I knew were high on the trail to Elephant Rock. I figured if I wanted to meet up with them sooner, I would need to run. I most definitely was not dressed for running, but I did anyway, and I actually ended up running all the way up to Elephant Rock in non-exercise clothing. But I didn't get on the rock itself, so I didn't get to examine it, but I think it's conglomerate (perhaps the same Miocene conglomerate that I see in other trails?). I was actually impressed that I ran all the way to the rock in my Chuck Taylors! But I walked down.
This week was the conference of the Mormon History Association in Provo. I had no intention of going, because it's expensive. But my boss, Reid Neilson, had registered and paid for a women's history tour on Thursday, but he was unable to attend, so he asked me to take his place. So on Wednesday I drove down to Provo and spent the night chez my old roommate Jordan.
When I got on the tour bus on Thursday morning, it didn't take me long to realize I was overdressed. I thought that since I was representing one of the Assistant Church Historians, I should wear a tie. Well, the other Assistant Church Historian, Richard Turley, was there too, and he was dressed more casually. I was probably the least educated person on the bus, but I was dressed most formally. During the entire ride, I felt like I was drinking out of the proverbial firehose--I know so little about women's history, and so little about Utah history after the 1850s, that I didn't have the background context to fully understand and appreciate what we were learning about. But I did try to document a lot of what we learned.
A lot of what we tried to see were Relief Society halls. The Relief Society had kind of been on a hiatus during the pioneer period, but it was revived in the late 1860s, and many Relief Society halls were built where the sisters would hold meetings and do their relief stuff. Our first stop was this building in Lehi, which was originally built in 1868 as a Relief Society hall, but it has had a lot of stuff added on to it. Today, it's a car dealership (I couldn't get a shot from the front).
We went to the John Moyle park in Alpine, where there are a lot of old buildings. This little tower was built in the 1850s (I think) for them to look out for Indians or other threats. I climbed up and looked out the upper windows. My Mormon readers (most of you) have probably heard the story of John Moyle, especially from the movie Only a Stonecutter. It is commonly believed that Moyle carved "Holiness to the Lord" in the temple rock, but the scholars on the bus said that he probably didn't. They also insinuated that other aspects of his story might not be true, but they didn't explain those. When we were walking back to the bus, I saw lots of horrible goathead plants. I take it as my duty during the month of June to pull up any that I see, but it didn't seem appropriate to do that in front of a bunch of scholars.
I believe this next picture is of the American Fork Relief Society hall, but I'm not sure.
This building is now a Daughters of Utah Pioneers museum, but if I understood correctly, it is the longest standing school in Utah. I want to say it was built in the 1850s.
Then we went down to Provo, where we saw lots of buildings that were really old but have been converted to new purposes. There was one amusing duplex-style house that a polygamist built for his sister wives. Next door was the house of his third wife, but she didn't like the first two wives, so she had her house built at such an angle that she didn't have to look at them and that blocked their view. (I took a picture, but it's mostly just a reflection of me from the bus window.) Then we went up to BYU, where we had some lunch in the Wilk. I thought it would be weird being back, but it really wasn't, just because it was so recent. I knew my way around quite well. Then we went over to the JFSB, where I spent most of my time in college, and we went to the Education in Zion exhibit, which I haven't been to since 2010.
Then we went down to the Provo City Cemetery. I liked going to the Fillmore Cemetery a few weeks ago because it was my ancestors and I knew some of their history, but in Provo I didn't know much. But we saw Abraham Smoot's grave and his wives next to him. Regardless of what you think of polygamy, it's fascinating that nineteenth-century Americans practiced it here in Utah!
We also saw the grave of Susa Young Gates, but I really don't know much about her.
Then we went down to Mapleton, where there was an old Relief Society Hall just sitting in someone's backyard. The owner was very nice and let us all traipse in her yard to look at it. It was probably built between the late 1880s and early 1890s.
Then we went to the Springville Art Museum, where a very talented quilter showed us all the quilts she has made for various projects. The quilt pictured here is one she made for the Priesthood Restoration Site in Pennsylvania, because it's the kind of style Joseph and Emma Smith might have used. There was also a quilt made in honor of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and it had squares with messages from descendants of both Arkansas victims and Mormon perpetrators.
Then I was done with the tour. Before I headed back to Salt Lake, I stopped at my old default grocery store in Provo. I saw my old roommate Eric Scott West in the parking lot, but I didn't talk to him because he decided he was too good for us, even though he started out as a nice roommate.
On Friday, I went to the funeral for Elder Perry, but I only watched it in the Assembly Hall.
Then that afternoon, I drove a group of us out to Duchesne County, specifically near the towns of Altamont and Altonah, because my ward had a large event at a spacious ranch out there. I had been asked to drive, but I was a little nervous. For one thing, that's the furthest I have ever personally driven. For another, I'm very self conscious about my driving. (Let's face it, I'm self conscious about everything.) Also, I didn't trust my 1995 Subaru to make it that far, so I borrowed my mom's Rav4.
We got there at the end of a talent show on Friday, but we got there in time for the movie night. Big Hero 6 is a good movie, but I feel like it will be largely forgotten in ten years (like Meet the Robinsons and Ratatouille).
The men were supposed to sleep outside, but they allowed us to sleep in a "barn" that housed a volleyball/basketball court. That was a good thing, since I didn't bring warm things, just the tiny sleeping bag that I used for a freezing groundwater field trip a year and a half ago. Then Saturday I spent some time on a low-seated bike, on a rowboat in a tiny pond, and in a pool.
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| Shane is the only one on the boat, I'm pretty sure, who will see this! |
Then I drove home successfully, although my GPS mysteriously wanted me to get off the freeway only to get back on it again.
Now it's back to ordinary, boring weeks. At least for a few weeks.
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