Maple Canyon, Utah...The Place Is Crazy

 Back on Independence Day we experienced an amazing place...Maple Canyon in Sanpete County. If you know the place, you'll agree, it's crazy.

But in a good way.

Earlier this month our family went on a short road trip (for us, a couple hours on the road now seems short...) to visit family. We only stayed a day and on our way out of town, we drove to Maple Canyon. It's just west of Moroni, Utah.

I've lived in Utah almost my entire life and done some hiking. This place was unlike anything I'd ever seen. The canyon walls are not smooth red rock canyons like you'd find in many places in Utah. In fact, the canyon walls were anything but smooth. The best way I can describe it is the canyon was made up of cement with rocks, small and large, left open exposed to the elements. Just looking up I kept wondering if the rocks would come loose and fall on our heads, even though those rocks could have been there in that state for years, even decades.

We saw some climbers making assents and descents. I know it's sturdy, but I kept wondering if the hardware embedded into the walls would actually hold. Apparently, it did.

If you are interested in out-of-the-way fascinating places and you find yourself in central Utah, check out Maple Canyon. It's a trip.

Things You Learn About Small Town Utah On Independence Day...

 We have family in living in Central Utah and since I did not work on Independence Day, we decided to load up the van (including the dog...) and head south. There's two ways into the valley in which they live. You can enter from the north, or from the west. 

We chose west.

We chose west because of parades. Since we don't live in the area, we did not know if these small communities were having parades on the morning of July 4th. If you enter the valley from the north, there's a small town before we get to the town where family lives. The last thing we wanted to do was wait for a parade to end before we could continue.

We thought we were so smart.

Nope.

I forgot if you take the western route, there's not one small town, but two. Didn't even think about parades in those towns. The first town we hit, Fountain Green was lovely. In fact, it almost looked like the town was deserted. A few minutes later we found out why.

From Fountain Green it's a short distance to Moroni and as we rounded the corner to hit the main street, we saw people in the street picking up trash, people on the side of the street picking up chairs and blankets. 

Yes. We hit the town only minutes after their patriotic parade ended. We thought, "Great. Parade's over. Now, we just drive through town, then drive straight through to Mt. Pleasant. But, as we cleared Moroni, we noticed cars were backing up heading out of town. I thought that odd. I mean, yes, I'm sure people from one community wanted to check out their neighbor's parade. What I didn't know is the people in the west were about to start their own parade about an hour after the one in Moroni ended and many of the floats and those in the first parade were on their way to the second.

My fear realized. We ended up being behind not one parade, but two. 

In the end, it was no big deal. We eventually made it and had a blast enjoying the holiday with family. Next time, we'll know. It's just one of the things we learned about Small Town Utah on Independence Day.

Food For Thought...

 A few weeks ago I traveled to a little town in Central Utah for a ballroom dance recital. Because of when the event started, we did not get to have lunch before the event, so needless to say, when it was over around 4pm, I was starved.

Thankfully, a burger joint was right across the street.

As we waited for our order to be taken, I noticed a bulletin board with several thoughts attached to it. The caption atop the board said: Food for Thought...

Appropriate.

Also, since this was a small town, the thoughts on the board reflect many of the feelings and opinions you can find in a small town, namely, patriotic. I don't get out of the state much. I wonder what kind of "thoughts" would be on a bulletin board at a burger joint in New York City, or Ft Lauderdale, or Fairbanks. I think the fewer the people, the more you'll see the same type of clippings I saw.

Then again, I know I'm stereotyping. Not everyone's the same no matter where they live.

I should say the food was delicious. I can't say for sure if it was because we were hungry, or if the small town atmosphere had something to do with it.

I'd definitely eat there again.