HI BLOGGING WORLD!!!!!! Okay, first... I need more things to do in my life because I used to blog like, all the time, and now it's just a monthly occurrence! But I don't want to become a lifestyle blogger because all I want to do is share my life events...anyways...I need to be better at updating!
One of my best friends, Sarah, lives in St. George, so I drove down for the long holiday weekend! TBH, I've never been to St. George before and sorry to all you St. George lovers but it's kind of lame here... lol.
Basically yesterday was the best day of all time. If you know me, you know my absolute LOVE for documentaries. I've seen 50+ on Netflix. Seriously though, documentaries are my JAM! Sarah loves them too. ANYWAYS!!!!!! YESTERDAY WE DROVE TO COLORADO CITY, AZ (only about 45 minutes away from St. George)!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not even exaggerating when I say it was one of the best days ever. Colorado City is home to the FLDS (Fundamental Latter-Day Saint) polygamist cult. After watching several documentaries (and seeing them at Target and Walmart), Sarah and I were so excited to drive down there for the afternoon. Before we left, we researched a little bit to see what we were getting ourselves into.
A little bit about the town, the population is around 5,000, there are 3 polygamist sects that live in the area, it's located in the Mohave Desert (the landscape is amazing), there are no stop lights, gas stations, or hotels (because they don't want visitors or people staying in their city), the city is STILL RAN AND CONTROLLED by Warren Jeffs, their prophet and leader, even though he is in prison, and the people who live there are VERY private. Not only is it very private, but you can get arrested if the police think you're suspicious or disturbing the peace in the town...we were a little worried about that.
Luckily we went on a day when they were having a city-wide 4th of July party, we were SUPER excited when we saw that! Before we headed to the party, we drove around the town to get a feel and understanding of how the city is. As we drove around the streets, there was a very eerie feeling.
Each house had a 6-12 foot brick, cement, or wooden fence around it with "No Trespassing" and "Private Property signs".
None of the houses are finished on the outside--after doing some research, we learned this is to keep their taxes low.
There are 2 stores in town, a natural foods store and a hardware store.
Many of the homes have livestock and gardens.
Warren Jeffs house was turned into a bed and breakfast.
We noticed there were "Zion" signs hung above a lot of the front doors, I looked it up this morning, and the signs are hung to remind the people that Colorado City is their heaven on earth.
After we drove around, we went to the 4th of July festival where, surprisingly, there were A LOT of people! Not just polygamists! There was live music, food, and different booths for people to visit. It was evident who were the very strict polygamists vs. the ones who just wore long skirts and long sleeve shirts.
Overall, this was such an eye opening experience... if you want to know more about Colorado City and Warren Jeffs (you're gonna hate this guy), do a google search or watch "Sons of Perdition" or "I survived a cult". I was hoping there would be more to see in the town...but it was apparent that the people really keep to themselves.
After Colorado City, we went to a Ghost Town called Grafton! This place was extremely interesting. The landscape was beautiful and the town had so much history to it! There's a school house and a few houses that are still standing and we were able to walk through 2 of the houses. Grafton is such a rich piece of Utah history! There is also a cemetery in the town where it has names and ways of how people died. There was a family slaughtered by indians, a lot of people who died of diphtheria, and 2 kids who died falling off a swing (not sure about that one).
Anyways, I had to share my Colorado City experience!! Because it was really an eye opener to the lives these people live.
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