The first night we got there, siblings and cousins were anxious to play. They taught us a new game called Kubb, an old viking pastime, in which you must use large, wooden dowels to knock over the small wooden blocks of the opposing team. The first team to knock down all of the oppositions blocks, wins.
We spent the whole first night playing all sorts of games with all the cousins.
The next day was our day for adventures. We all piled in Uncle Lance's 12 passenger van and headed for the Arizona border. An hour and a half later, we piled out and started a hike down Wire Pass Canyon, a small, easy-to-hike, slot canyon. At the end of the 1 1/2 mile canyon, we all posed for a family picture.
While half of group turned back and hiked out Wire Pass Canyon, Tif and I were extra curious about an adjoining canyon that met up with another trailhead a little ways up the road. So we took a few of the cousins with us, and hiked 6 miles up Buckskin Gulch. Unfortunately, Buckskin Gulch turned out to not be much of a canyon. Instead, we hike 5 miles through a wash in the hot sun. Blah! Amazingly though, we still beat the rest of our group out and were waiting for them along the road when they came along to pick us up.
The next day was the actual 4th of July, which is a big deal in Alton. Tif started the day by running the 4 mile fun run. She's still trying to convince me that fun run isn't a paradox. After a quick shower, we ran out to watch the town parade. The greatest part about a small town parade is that there are more people in the parade then there are watching.
After the parade, the town program started, which consisted of patriotic tributes and lively music. The biggest crowd pleaser was a family of fiddlers that played some bluegrass tunes. The greatest part was that they gave all of the kids in the family fake fiddles to play along with the adults, and one little boy took it very seriously.
The afternoon provided a little more downtime, with a town lunch, games, and then a classic rural dinner of roast beef and mutton. I think Alton is the only place I've ever had mutton. Maybe that's why I like it.
And I almost forgot... We all took a ride in Grandpa Andersen's famous train! Using his first name as an acronym, Grandpa single handedly created A.R.T'S. (Alton Railess Transit System).
Grandpa built his lawn tractor powered train by putting seats in barrels that he cut in half. He also built a few large cars to accommodate bigger people. When running the train, he sets up an entire train station, including a loading platform and a train engineer uniform. Oh Grandpa... living the dream.
After dinner, we headed over to the town hall for some boot-slapping country dancing. Too bad Tif and I are dancing retarded. Luckily for us, there were a few slow dances too, which allowed us to slowly spin in circles together.
When the time came to leave, we crammed five adults into our little '92 Dodge Shadow named Franc, and with the air conditioning belt screaming, slowly made our way back home.
1 comment:
I went on the Buckskin Gulch hike but we only went like a mile and a half in. It was way fun though! You guys are excellent bloggers:)
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