Snow! Rain! And Mud!!

On the day before we left Zion, in the morning, we woke up to gently falling snow. 

It felt like being a kid again, we were so excited about the possibility of getting some pictures in Zion with snow on the rocks.  We grabbed the camera and took off for the park.

I took the above pictures out the truck window.

We stopped along the road to grab some more shots and Mike got this one of me.

When we got there and took the shuttle into the park, we saw the fog hugging the mountains of rocks had an ethereal beauty and presence.  It was breathtaking. 

Later that same day, we discovered there was a nearby ghost town and since we had nothing else to do, I said to Mike, why not take a drive out to see it?  So that's what we did.  The drive going out there was okay but when we got to the actual town, where the buildings were, because of the recent snow (and rain) it was very, very muddy.  Michael parked in the mud and we got out of the truck and  before I knew it, he took off with his camera to get some pictures of some barn he saw.  There was no way I would follow him down that road. 

I was freaking out and worried about getting our truck stuck in the mud and not being able to drive out, so I went back to the truck, got in it and sat.  Grafton was quite a little drive, out in the middle of Nowhereville.  The tread on our truck tires was covered in mud and my good hiking shoes (ugh!) were caked with mud about two inches thick.  I kept slipping and sliding all over the road and to tell you the truth, I wasn't enjoying this one bit.  Honestly, you couldn't walk anywhere without getting mud all over your shoes and the bottom of your pant legs.  It was awful and all I could think of was getting us out of there so I just sat in the truck with my arms folded.  Fuming and worrying.  Michael came over to the truck and said, "Well, Lisa, your shoes are covered in mud.  Your as muddy as you're going to get.  Why don't you just get out and take some pictures while we're here?  Because we're not coming back ever again." 

So I did.  He was right.  It couldn't get any worse than it already was.

I like my pictures in black and white the best.  I got some really excellent shots in Grafton and am only posting a few for you to see.  Upon further research, I found that this is the most photographed ghost town in the U.S. and has been used in films.  The ghost town of Grafton.

So, if you ever decide to go to this little ghost town in Utah, make sure it's not after a rain.  Or have a 4 wheel drive and some sturdy rubber boots!!!