September's Excursions

During our Family Commuting Period (staying at my aunt's house near Salt Lake City) we took some time to do a few fun things in that area, mostly on Sunday afternoons.

1. Church History Museum

Really, we hung out at the children's exhibit, which is where we always hang out.  This has been a favorite place for our kids for two years now.  We've been several times and they still love it.

2. Promontory Point

We've wanted to go to Promontory Point since we first arrived in Utah, but it's in a remote spot and we never made the time to make it happen.  It worked out well that we were 30 minutes closer while at my aunt's house, so that it was only an hour and 45 minutes to get there.

Promontory Point is where the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads joined on May 10th, 1869.  A Golden Spike ceremony was held there at the time, and we enjoyed watching a reenactment of the driving of the last spike.  I loved hearing some of the stories associated with the joining of the railroads.  I thought the most interesting part was that the ceremony was originally scheduled to take place two days earlier, but Thomas Durant, VP of the Union Pacific RR was abducted by disgruntled employees because they hadn't been paid.  They knew they would never get paid if they let Durant attend the ceremony as planned, so they held him hostage in Piedmont, WY until all of the wages were paid.

We all enjoyed the reenactment, except Luke, who cried when the crowd cheered.  The locomotives were really cool, and the kids did all of the work to earn Junior Ranger badges.

I've been trying to remember why Jack was so upset when I took these pictures.
I think we'd promised him a treat when we got in the car to go home, and he was
mad that he had to take a picture instead of getting his treat right away..?

 Note to self: next time we go to Promontory Point, allow enough time to go to the Spiral Jetty, which is about 15 miles past the Golden Spike Visitor's Center.  We didn't get to go this time because we were on a deadline to get back to the house in time to watch FSU's opening game of the season.  :-)


3. This Is the Place Monument

This marks the spot where Brigham Young first viewed the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 after leading the Latter-Day Saint pioneers from Illinois.  At the time he exclaimed either "This is the place" or "This is the right place," depending on who you ask.  Anyway, there are some cool monuments here and Ben and I loved reading the plaques and learning more about the history of the area.

Eliza, in front of a Pony Express monument.

The Mormon Battalion monument is behind us.

I thought it was neat that this monument doesn't depict just pioneers, it also honors early
European explorers, Native American guides, and others who made it possible for the
LDS Pioneers to travel to Utah.

4. Ensign Peak

Brigham Young climbed to this peak 2 days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley.  From here, he and other Church leaders made plans for the city of Salt Lake.  The hike is pretty short and easy, so even though the kids whined and complained as they do whenever we go hiking, at least the whining and complaining wasn't dragged out over a long amount of time.  The view from the top was pretty cool, too, so that helped.