Do you want to hear a crazy story?

Over Labor Day weekend, the hubs and I decided to take a family trip to my hometown. I grew up in a small town an hour and a half north of where we live now, called Payson. This is where the redneck in me was nurtured to all of its walmart loving glory.

While we were there we wanted to visit my grandpa, who I decidedly don't see enough of. It was a rainy weekend, which I loved so much! The desert gives us a deep appreciation for cool water falling from the sky, huge rolling clouds that provide shade, and...well, most of us don't have a clue how to drive in it. But that's not the point of this post. The point of this post, is part of my family history that I've never known much about. I've heard bits and pieces over the years, but I never put much thought into it. The hubs however, found the whole thing fascinating, so he had it in his mind to ask lots of questions the moment we had my grandpas full attention.

My grandpa is one of those men who lived a full life, and because of it he has stories upon stories. Stories that are hard to believe, if it weren't for the many witnesses. Like the time he tried to land his airplane onto a moving vehicle...yeah. So when the hubs asked, my grandpa was more than willing to share this particular story, and so for the first time, I heard all about how my grandpa use to own one of the National Parks here in Arizona. Tonto Natural Bridge.

My mom was in her teens when my grandpa owned the land and hotel that is now a state park. She use to stay there during the summer and work the front desk. Her brothers would walk the trails early in the morning, before guests arrived, to make sure it was clear of snakes - Nothing like sending your own kids out to clear the danger for any paying customers. Nice, grandpa! =) I've seen pictures of my mom and her brothers and sister back when they stayed there with my grandpa. He owned it for 15 years, give or take, so it was a significant part of my moms childhood.

The crazy part about this story, is that you will not find any proof of my grandpa's ownership anywhere on any websites about the Tonto Natural Bridge. At least not that I've found. Through a series of events, the bridge was taken from him. From my whole family, really. This is something that I imagine would have been in our family forever. A place for family reunions, a place that would become a part of our history for generations.

Without going into the lengthy details of a government wanting land that belonged to another man, greed, lies, bought off judges and dirty attorneys, I will say that I never realized until this last weekend how much was taken from my grandpa. Sure, he has paperwork proving his ownership. He had, and still has records and tapes stating that he in fact owned this land and the hotel on it, but when you're "the little guy" and "the big man" has a lot more resources (aka, money), you don't have much of a choice...especially when you try to approach your land only to find men guarding the gate with shotguns and rifles.

I haven't been there since I was a kid, so we decided to stop in this last weekend, and can I tell you...this place is gorgeous! My mom was with us - gramps hasn't been since this whole thing went down - so she told us stories about how she learned to drive on the road that takes you down to the hotel. How they use to have big parties out there and spend all night playing pool in the glass room on top of the building. How they would swim in the river and direct guests to the safest path up and down the bridge.

It is so beautiful down there now. The state has kept it so clean, with picnic tables for lunch, trails and stairs to make it easier to get up and down the canyon to the bridge. I could have spent hours down there. Maybe next time. We will definitely be back, despite everything.

So there is my crazy story.

 

 

 

 

Aside from an artificial sweetener induced migraine (I'm swearing the stuff off for good!), it was a beautiful weekend! And since it took me so long to post this, it is already time for another weekend!!!

Happy Friday!

~Mimzi~