Pumpkin Sludge

My life was playing out like a sad country music song. I had lost my sixteen year old dog and my thirty-seven year old baby brother within three weeks of each other. Needless to say, much time and tears were spent grieving with family members. Mommy dearest and I were the only survivors left of my immediate childhood family. My mother had taken it hard when my father passed many years ago, but losing my brother was a different kind of pain. It was a shocking kind of pain that sends you spinning into existential crisis. I could see her questioning the worth of the rest of her life. She went somewhere else in her mind. The trauma was momentarily unbearable for her. Fortunately, I had an enormous extended family that helped me to embrace my mother throughout this dark time.

Thanksgiving was rapidly approaching. The thought of sitting around the table with grievous family in awkward, melancholic silence was distressing. Distressing to the point my entire body heaved rejections at the idea. I had slow-danced with grief enough in my past to know that he was a dirty rotten dance partner.

I hadn't told my mother yet, but we were out of here. My husband, my daughter, and myself were packing up the pickup, the pop-up tent trailer, and we were taking off to spend Thanksgiving week camping at the Grand Canyon. This would be the first ever holiday with just the three of us. We always felt guilt tripped into joining the large family gatherings to sit at a table with food we wouldn't eat. Being the only vegetarians in a family full of blood thirsty Tyrannosaurus Rexes made it tricky to navigate the holiday meals. Besides, I was forty-two years old. It was about time I started to create my own holiday traditions.

Despite the scorn I expected my family to impart for leaving my mother during such a fragile season, I had made up my mind. We were going to live life to the fullest while we were still above ground and breathing. I was quite certain my cousins would jump in and rescue my mom from being alone on Thanksgiving.

I booked four days and three nights at the Mather Campground at the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. I was surprised at the tremendous availability in campsites. The last time I had visited the Grand Canyon it was shoulder to shoulder with tourists. I shrugged off the vacancies as being COVID related. We had marked out twelve full days on the calendar for this epic road trip. Grand Canyon wouldn't be our only stop, but with campground facilities nearby, such as a camp store, hot showers, and laundry, this campground would be most comfortable to settle in and prepare our holiday meal. We had hopes of visiting Las Vegas, Sedona, and Zion too if time permitted. I always fly by faith and rarely book hotels or campsites when traveling, unless it's a high traffic tourist spot such as Grand Canyon. In all my travels, there has only been a handful of times I wasn't able to find somewhere to sleep. This trip just happened to be one of those times.

The day we left home on our journey, my head was not in the game. Unlike my other travels when I'd be packed and ready to roll out early in the morning, we didn't start driving until nearly one o'clock. I knew I would never make it to Sedona from Folsom California in one shot leaving that late, but I was determined to get as far as I could.

We were on the road for twelve hours driving through mostly desert before I finally pulled into some truck stop an hour north of Vegas. The place was a haven for alien enthusiasts. Area 51 was nearby and the aliens were the attraction here. I was too tired to drive any farther and there was nowhere here to rent a room or set up the trailer.

My poor family. I had subjected the three of us to sleeping in between the semi trucks inside the cab of my little Toyota truck. My daughter stretched herself across the backseat and my husband and I had to sleep reclined in the front seats. We only had a few hours of dark left, so we squished in and took a power nap until sunrise.

Upon awakening, the windows were all fogged and the lower extremities were in desperate need of blood flow. I sat the chair upright and wiped at the windshield. Staring down from above was a giant green alien head peering right into our truck. In the dark I did not notice the massive roadside billboard we'd pulled in and parked directly underneath. In the morning desert sun I could see clearly the run down alien truck stop in all it's glory. After a quick stretch and a trip to the parking lot porta potty, we were back on the road for day two.

It was only about an hour before we drove into Las Vegas. My family had never been there before and I had promised them a viewing. I was never mesmerized by Vegas, despite the many attractions, but I did agree it was worth visiting at least once in your lifetime. Being early in the day, the city lacked it's luster of all the amazing lights. You could see the grime covered downtown streets and the vibrant night life had not yet woken from it's shenanigans the night before. After a few minutes of deliberation, I convinced my family to continue on the journey with hopes of a Las Vegas experience on the journey home.

We trekked on for miles until we came across this fancy arch with carved wooden bears and wolves scattered across the top. My daughter squealed for us to stop the car so we could check it out.

We had landed in Williams Arizona and the archway was the entrance the Bearizona Wildlife Drive through park and safari. Being the adventurers that we were, with no real expectations of arriving in Sedona at any given hour, we bought our tickets to the park and began our cruise through the many open air animal exhibits.

The drive through safari was incredible, packed with all kinds of timid and ferocious animals. At one point, I was sure an Artic wolf was going to jump up on the side of the truck for a peek inside our windows. We were having the best time ever. Then, like the icing on the cake, we were surprised to find there was also a walk through sanctuary, gift shop, and other fun exhibits at the end of the drive through. By far, this was the most humane and exciting animal sanctuary I'd seen. We spent a few hours enjoying the day there before we continued on towards Sedona.

I hadn't booked anything for our couple nights in Sedona but I did find a nice campground online that was first come first serve. I figured because it was November and also Thanksgiving week, the campground would be sparce. When we finally arrived there after dark, we discovered the campground was closed for the winter season. Nothing online indicated the campground would not be open. We were disappointed, but I quickly pulled out my phone and began my search for other places to stay.

My daughter was crying for dinner and a shower and the only places I could find to set up the the tent trailer were private properties on airBnB that offered no ammenities, only land to park my camper. All of these properties were at least a thirty minute drive out of town. The mood inside the car was growing increasingly tired and frustrated. Not wanting to spend a fortune on last minute hotel bookings, and fears of not finding a room that had space to park the truck and the trailer, I caved and called the Inn that I had remembered staying in a few years back on my solo trip through Sedona.

The Wildflower Inn was more of a motel that sat directly kitty corner to the Bell Rock and Cathedral Rock hiking trail lot. I had hoped that if we could not park the trailer at the motel, maybe we could park it overnight at the trailhead. If there were any rooms available, it would be almost perfect because we had hoped to climb Bell Rock the following day.

The receptionist answered the phone. Hallelujah, there was exactly one room available in the entire place. This was when I found out that travels to Sedona for Thanksgiving week was a highly popular idea. Not only was everywhere around booked to the brim, but the prices were jacked for the holiday. I couldn't believe the outrageous price we were paying for this two star room. Beggars can't be choosers though. With one crying child and a hangry husband, I was grateful to finally be in a cozy spot and out of the truck. To be quite honest, the Inn was really nice considering it's two star rating.

We had two more nights we hoped to spend in the Sedona area. I knew we couldn't afford to stay at the Inn for those following nights so I got back on my phone and began my search again. The only possibility of camping in Sedona might be at the Elks Lodge. Their website stated they had some RV parking with water hookups that overlooked Coffee Pot Rock. I went to sleep that night with no real expectations of finding a spot, but I still had a prayer.

After climbing around all day on Bell Rock, we decided to take a cruise up the hill to the see if we would get lucky at the Elks Lodge. Low and behold, there were several spaces available. I almost don't even want to tell you about this place, because I feel like it's our cutty little secret and I don't want it to gain attention and popularity for the next time we frequent the area.

The spot was on level ground in a high up parking lot. There was a grassy strip area that ran along the backside of the RV spots. We were high enough in elevation that we were facing out over a canyon and face to face with extravagant rock formations. We were a five minute hike up to the Airport Vortex trailhead and a two minute walk to the CVS pharmacy where we could use their bathroom facilities. That was the only downside to having a tent trailer at this spot. There were no bathroom facilities. We did have a toilet seat and a bucket, but in close quarters, the bucket was only useful for emergency number ones throughout the night. Being the family that we are, glass is half full kind of people, we felt fortunate with our circumstances instead of disappointment or discomfort.

Next stop, south rim of the Grand Canyon National Park.

On the travel north towards our campground in the park, we made sure to stop at the grocery store and stock up on items for our unique Thanksgiving festivities. Being vegetarian, we had no worries shopping for food so close to Thanksgiving. The stores were picked clean of turkeys and hams. For our meal, we had chosen an easy cook quinoa, rice, tofu, and olive mixture, canned cranberry sauce, scalloped cheesy potatoes, a fresh green salad, and no bake pumpkin pie ingredients. All the items were foods that would not spoil in an ice chest or a camper cupboard. It was perfect. We were prepared. Or so we thought...

The park was magical. The experience was priceless. What we weren't prepared for was high desert November nights in the tent trailer. Have you ever camped in the snow? This was colder. The temperatures dropped down as low as seven degrees once the sun goes down. I have camped in the snow before and I can tell you this was next level kind of cold. This was the kind of cold you can feel on the inside of your bones. I never even knew I could the feel the inside of my bones until I camped at the Grand Canyon in winter. I was scared for myself, and I was scared for my daughter. It's no wonder why there were so many vacancies. You don't know until you know.

After the first night out in the cold, we'd figured out exactly what we needed to do to stay alive and comfortable throughout the night. We literally wore several layers of clothing, gloves, beanies, double socks, zero degree sleeping bags, and many extra fluffy blankets. We curled up close to each other and I woke several times throughout the nights to check on my daughter. After this adventure, I was quite positive our family could compete in any of those survivor game shows and come out on top.

Our only true failure for the trip was our No Bake Pumpkin Pie. I suppose I couldn't even call it pie. It was more like No Bake Pumpkin sludge. I'm not sure if it was because of the cold, or if we just really botched the instructions, but we slapped a ton of whip cream on it and ate it like soup anyway.

I would tell you about our one night in Vegas on the way home, but that night was too miserable to even mention. We'll just say my family had a chance to see Las Vegas at night and we all decided it wasn't our kind of city.

Yes, this challenge was supposed to be about holiday fails and the worst holidays you've ever had. I know I told you about several fails along this journey, but I wasn't completely honest. This was, by far, the most amazing holiday our family has ever had together. The shenanigans we experienced together came at a much needed time. Forging ahead through the twists and turns of a hasty unplanned Thanksgiving road trip brought us the peace and togetherness we were longing for after the heavy losses we were trying to bounce back from. It was fun.

Life needs fun. People need fun. Families need fun. I need fun. Thank you Grand Canyon for the unexpected challenges of navigating Thanksgiving dinner in your elements.