Memorial Day Adventure

This Sunday past Michael and I decided to embark on a Grand Adventure for Memorial Day. We got online, scrounged around FamilySearch.org and the Utah Burial Registry to find all our relatives' graves here in Utah that we'd never visited before and planned out a route through Northern Utah to discover our ancestry! The trip also served as a "test run" to see how baby would do on a road trip.

I packed us plenty of snacks and lunch items to make it through the day. I also loaded up baby's diaper bag with lots and lots of diapers and wraps. The last couple months his bowel movement schedule has been erratic, to say the least. Since it had been a week since we last had a major poopy event, I suspected that the one day we choose to be in a hot, enclosed environment would definitely be the day he chose for a gigantor poop. Also included: baby toys, baby stroller, two baby carriers, two baby blankets, two extra baby outfits, pail, rags, and soap, rain jackets (which Michael removed, swearing it would never rain) our respective ipods, and the kitchen sink.

Oh, and the baby.

We planned to embark at 6 AM to avoid the traffic that our parents kept warning us about. We left at 8. Amazingly, however, there was ZERO traffic, less than we've ever seen, and we made it to 33rd South in no time. First stop: finding the graves of my grandparents Dowdle, which I dont' think I'd seen since they died. We followed my dad's superb directions which were to lead us across the world's largest cemetary straight to the graves of my grandparents. One hour, several hundred graves, and the discovery of my deceased aunt and uncle later, we decided to go to the office. They gave us a map and we found it in five minutes. On the other side of the cemetery. I surprised myself by feeling quite emotional when we found Grandma and Grandpa's graves. Funny how you can love and miss people you don't remember. Their graves were overgrown and really dirty so we cleaned and spit polished them. We also hauled out the video camera. Every time we stopped at a gravesite we took a little video explaining where we were, who we were visiting, and any memories we had about that particular relative. Before we left we changed baby's HUGE poopy diaper. Am I good or what.

Next stop: Centerville to find Michael's great grandparents. And change another poopy diaper. It rained.

Next stop: Willard for a failed attempt to find my great great grandfather John Clark Dowdle. But we did find a cool old pioneer graveyard. Fed baby and changed another poopy diaper.

Next stop: Tremonton Riverview Cemetery for Michael's other set of great grandparents. After a near-detour to the RiverSIDE Cemetery (thank goodness for cell phones and grandparents with good memories.) The Tremonton Cemetery is SO AMAZING! I want to be buried there! It had hundreds of flags, stars and stripes banners hanging everywhere, and nearly every grave was loaded with beautiful flowers, flags, and pendants. It was like a Fourth of July festival for dead people! Set on top of a hill overlooking the river, it was really a lovely spot. Changed another diaper.

Last stop: Logan City Cemetery. We thought that the SLC graveyard we'd been to was the largest in the world, but we were wrong. The Logan Cemetery was HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE! Even with the coordinates and a map, I did a fair bit of wandering before I found the proper location of my great-grandmother Lucy Almond and her father.

On the Way Home: I'd been drooling over Church History sites the whole day. Michael finally took pity on me and we stopped at the Brigham City Tabernacle for a tour. A delightful little local family, mom, dad, and two girls, were there dressed in their Sunday best to give us a tour. They didn't know much but they were SUCH fun to talk to. They even let us start up the old pipe organ and bang our way through a few hymns. We stayed for 45 minutes. What a beautiful little old building!


After nearly twelve hours of driving and getting in and out of his car seat, baby was letting us know in no uncertain terms that he was ready for home. He had been remarkably well behaved pretty much all day, much to our astonishment. We packed him up one last time, stopped by Papa Murphy's for a pizza, and headed home. We'd had a fantastic day, talking and laughing and visiting and swapping stories about our family history. Our Memorial Day adventure proved a resounding success and we can't wait to do it again next year!