Nature's Paintbrush....

When I was a little girl my family always went on rides in the canyon. Sometimes we would drop into Heber and stop at a little malt shop, not Granny's, I forget the name, and get shakes and fries. It is a fantastic memory that I have of my girlhood, and time spent with my family.  My favorite time to go was around my birthday, when the leaves were changing, and the colors were so vibrant.  Now, I must tell you that these were not ordinary drives.  These were drives that came with a sense of adventure.  My dad was a County Sheriff and a member of the SWAT team, and as such he spent a lot of time doing high speed vehicle training, which comes with some initials, but I also can't remember those.  Enough said.  So, the family would load into our 1991 GMC Jimmy and head to Harts for a Big Chill and a bag of strawberry Twizzlers.  We were four deep in a three seatbelt vehicle and so glad for the outing.  Now many people drive the canyon in a slow, meandering fashion taking time to look at all the scenery and appreciate the beauty of the earth that God created.  Not our family.  The steep, curving roads of American Fork Canyon proved to be too much of a challenge for a certain someone to pass up.  We (and I use that term very loosely) would approach it much like Dale Earnhardt approaches the Indy 500.  Fast and Furious.  My dad had a mission.  He was going to drive those canyon roads at the highest speed possible, while still maintaining nearly complete control of the vehicle.   This is where four of us wedged in the back turned into a blessing.  We were packed in so tight with our girlie hips, that even though every curve threatened to send us across the vehicle, our close proximity prevented it.  Driving down the canyon was even better, because the speed was increased due to inertia, or gravity, or whatever, and the curves just screamed at us.  We would ride the outside of a turn and then drift to the center, and back again just slightly below the speed of light, munching on Twizzlers and soda.  To this day, the smell of Twizzlers makes me car sick.  

Reed took the kids and I on a drive for family night.  We got a soda first.  Twizzlers were not invited.  The mountains were beautiful.