Pony Express stop and Camp Floyd

We had some extra time one beautiful day and set off for Camp Floyd. All that's there now is a cemetary, hotel and old school house. The little tiny museum is cute and has artifacts from the time Camp Floyd was up and running. We toured the hotel, I just didn't get any pictures.

There are a few Pony Express monuments.

The school house wasn't open for tours but we could see through the windows.

It was a nice drive out there. Worth the time. Just don't expect too much. We sat under shady trees and did work in our adventure logs for awhile.

Golden Spike

What a fun excursion this was! The boys were enthusiastic and posed for pictures throughout. They each did an age-appropriate Junior Ranger program for this historical site, though Peter was the only one who got the badge.


The kids in front of the "One-One-Nine" train. The Jupiter was being cleaned or something that day. Isn't the scenery picturesque? We felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, but it sure was beautiful!


There isn't much track left, so you can see that Alexander really isn't in danger. The have the raised railroad plane (Amanda, is that what they called it?) throughout the area, still, even though there is hardly any track. You can drive, hike and bicycle on it. Wouldn't that be fun?The pamphlet said to bring spare tires, though, because occasionally some of the old nails surface. Cool, huh?


We dressed the boys up as train engineers as best we could. They got a few compliments on their outfits. I love the way Alexander hams up the photos. Yes, Lincoln was there, too. And Peter, the good big cousin is taking care of him.


Here's the 119 locomotive running! See the steam? That was way cool. This is what I remember from when we came here when I was ten. The other thing I remember is the postcard I got of the Golden Spike. It just so happened that Alexander picked the same postcard! We also bought some posters for our schoolroom wall. Waaaaaay cool.


This one was so cute, I couldn't resist. The boys are showing us the map of the two railroads and where they met.


And here's the Golden Spike! Actually, I don't remember if this is a replica or not. The boys are pretending to hammer it into the railroad.

The kids thought the museum was pretty small (I think the gift shop was bigger!), but honestly I don't know how much they would have gotten out of a bigger museum. It's not like they stay still enough for me to read anything, anyway. But they were pretty good for the historical video. Alexander even recognized a picture from the video that we saw in a book we read a week later.

So... Thanks, Amanda, for organizing this! It turned out to be really fun. (But the Junior Ranger packet was a little too long) The weather was beautiful and I think the kids learned a lot.

Indian Fry Bread

With the school year coming to a quick close I'm panicked trying to squeeze in 2 more components. We will do what we can. We have started Turquoise and Tomahawks- the Indian section. Today we made Indian Fry bread.

I almost wanted to just skip making this but I'm glad I didn't! It was a great tactile experience for them. I'm sure they will remember it!

The finished product!

Dense but delish!

Porter Rockwell Trail

We can squeeze this into the "theme." It's the Porter Rockwell Trail and we might as well visit all things Rockwell. Kids loved it. I loved it. And I got sunburned.

Lehi Natural History Museum

For our informal closing day of Westward Ho! we went to this museum. The computer was on the blitz so they let us go in for free! Always an extra plus.

The obsession with birds of prey continues.

They had a nice little native American area. Both the boys agreed that their favorite part was playing the drum.


Daniel Boone-or so he says.

Lehi is oozing with Porter Rockwell history. I learned last semester in my American West history class that Porter Rockwell was held at gun point while passing the point of the mountain. He was able to shoot the man before he was shot. We won't go into too much detail with the boys about him.

Pioneer Tour in Salt Lake City

Here is a Pony Express Monument dedicated by President Hinckley at This is the Place. Owen, Olivia, Levi and Peter pose in front of a horse switch.



Levi and Olivia enjoy the free space and chasing unsuspecting Canadian Geese.


After that we had a quick stop at the Salt Lake Cemetery to visit the Hinckley Family grave.

Nothing like a quick ride up the elevator to the 26th floor of the Church Office Building. The boys drew a lot of attention from the sweet elderly ladies conducting the tour. They thought the "cowboys" were cute.

And last stop: The Beehive House to tour Brigham Young's house.

In February we took a trip to the pioneer museum in SLC. Lucky for us Siena was in town too. Owen poses in front of a handcart.

Parts of a wheel: hub, tire and spokes. We know those well.

Looks like this pioneer company is ready to depart for their next adventure.

The song says You Don't have to push a handcart, but we do anyways.

Brigham Young

We learned about the life of Brigham Young and the influence he had bringing the saints to Utah. The next day we visited the Beehive House and The Daughters of Mormon Pioneers Museum. Both are free and very interesting. Brigham Young's house ran like clockwork. He required for his children 8 hours of work, including school, 8 of play and 8 hours of sleep. Peter liked seeing Brigham Young's top hat and Owen liked the toy room.

I couldn't find my camera that day so these are bad cell phone camera shots.

We walked over to his grave in a near by park but unfortunately the gates were locked. We were lucky to have Mark with us this day. He had a meeting downtown so it worked out perfectly.

Calico Ghost Town

This place was great. I can't believe we haven't taken our kids there before. From Sadie's house its just a nice 30-45 min drive. And don't worry Brittany, I will definitely be in the mood (unless it's "too hot") to go again with you when we are down there again. We did miss you and the boys! Jaden, Levi, Peter, Olivia and Owen pose in front of an old buggy.

Check out the awesome geological formations.

Riding the train around the mines.


Old School

The kids worked hard in the morning before we left to earn some spending money. They each earned $1. Spending options weren't big; either an arrowhead, post card or Panning for Gold! With a little persuasion we got them to use their dollar on this.






Jaden always led the way up little mountain sides and down paths. He is a true adventurer and took us places we otherwise wouldn't have gone.

Inside the silver mine. Just a note: do NOT try to take your stroller and baby seat through the turnstile at the top!!! Woo!

Old Frontier boys and girl

Olivia was fascinated with this stove and oven.