Goose on Thanksgiving

Two vegetarians and a vegan ended up killing a bird on Thanks-
giving. Sounds like the beginning of a joke. It's actually the beginning of our annual St. George Thanksgiving vacation. Just south of Nephi, Bill and I watched as a Canadian goose took off from the side of the I-15, flying low and slow. Both of us thinking, "I hope that bird gets some elevation soon.", then quickly thinking "I hope that bird turns soon." , finally thinking "OH CRAP!" as we watched our windshield shatter. The noise was enough to make our two backseat boys actually look up from their video games and wonder "what happened?" Gratefully, no one (other than that stupid goose, who should have been much further south by now.) was hurt and the windshield stayed intact long enough for us to make it to St. George and call a glass repair company first thing in the morning.

When we booked the trip, it looked like the weather would be sunny and around 60 degrees each day. Just about perfect. Finicky Utah weather changes on a dime and we ended up with 45 and sunny. We skipped the family bike rides, but headed out on family hikes. We walked from one city park to another with Romney complaining about the cold for the mile and a half. Little did he realize we were enjoying sun and 20 degrees more warmth than he would be at home. Once we got to the park, the little man sat on a spinning ride for about an hour. When he finally got off of the thing, he kept drifting sideways until he fell over onto the wood chips laughing. Bill and I couldn't stop laughing either. It was hilarious. Way funnier than the goose joke.


We convinced our boys to go hiking around Dixie rock. They were not into the hiking this trip, but it was really all we had planned to do. Red rocks seems to have the same effect on my boys that they do on me. They sprung to life. We found all kinds of new trails and the boys enjoyed exploring. (Romney saw this photo and said "That's me worshiping the moon and feeling o' so spiritual".)


The next day we found a hike called the narrows, where only children can fit through a small crevice between two rocks. Our boys were elated. A hike just for them. It wasn't more than a couple hundred feet long, but they felt the thrill of independence. The weather turned cooler on us and we all wanted to retreat to the condo for dinner and movies. Bill the brave, got in a couple of chilly bike rides while the boys and I played basketball at the condo. The goose was our most exciting event, but we are all home safe and sound, relaxed and happy.