Exploring the Middle of Nowhere

When we moved to Painted Rocks State Park in central Utah, we knew we would be in the middle of the proverbial nowhere. We could say we were between Fayette (population 249) and Levan (population 898).  But most people aren't familiar with those "metropolitan areas." We decided to take a little road trip, just to see what we could find in our neighborhood. We drove 20 miles to the buzzing town of Centerfield (population 1,416) and saw a sign pointing to Beck's Farmer Market. We followed the arrow, and were surprised to find one of the largest pumpkin farms in the state. They had two long lines of pumpkin for sale--90 different varieties, and 80 different kinds of gourds. As we spoke, they were loading them into semi-trucks to deliver to over 100 grocery stores in a four-state area. Out here in the middle of nowhere, they are shipping out 70 tons of pumpkins every day except Sunday.

They also had miniature golf, and this hay bale maze for youngsters. But we were most interested in the garden vegetables we purchased, and the homemade soup we bought there for lunch.

We drove a few more miles out here in the middle of nowhere to Manti, Utah (population 3,396). The little town's skyline was dominated by this impressive building at the edge of town. This is Manti Temple. Dedicated in 1888,  it is one of the first and most impressive Mormon temples. This was the location of the "holy of holies" until the Salt Lake temple was dedicated. On a similar note, we have been looking for a place to go to church this weekend. Out in the middle of nowhere at our campground, Google maps showed 26 different Latter Day Saint churches within 35 miles. There were no protestant churches in that same 35 mile radius. So it was internet church for us on Sunday.

We drove on to the town of Ephraim, and took a random road out of town towards the mountains. Canyon Road turned to gravel in a few miles. As we headed up in elevation, we were once again in the middle of nowhere. That's when we started noticing the beautiful fall colors on the mountain.

We parked the car and took a hike through the brightly-colored maple trees.

We haven't seen much fall color yet, so we were delighted to drive into these beautiful trees in September.

Far below us we can see the valley floor, and the town of Ephraim.

Denisa loves fall leaves almost as much as spring wildflowers. She is gathering pretty leaves by the hand-full.

They make a beautiful explosion of color! They are proof that even in the middle of nowhere, we can wander into God's wonders!

Paired with the little pumpkin from Beck's pumpkin farm, we have a new centerpiece for the table in the motor home. And all of it just happened on a random drive through the middle of nowhere!