I feel like I've been working so much that I hardly have the time to enjoy the outdoors, but...when visitors come from Germany it's always a good thing.
Janina and Christian are our out of country visitors. Janina's parents are long time friends of my mom's family and their daughters Ann Christine and Janina have visited here a few times. Christian is Nina's boyfrind who has been living in LA going to school. They are in utah for a few weeks and so we decided a trip to Promontory Point, which is the place where the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads met up, would be fun.
It was a cute little place, with a cute little museum and an even cuter little Ranger guy who tells all and answers questions. The two trains representing those of the Central Pacific (Jupiter) and Union Pacific (#119) came out as shiny as can be, blowing their horns (much to Sam's dismay) and chugging along. Then they came together and faced each other almost exactly how they were on May 10, 1869. It was pretty cool to learn about this part of not only Utah history but a huge changing point in our Country's history. Of course I wont mention how I feel when hearing about the millions (yes Millions) of Buffalo that were killed and of course the ticked off Native American's who watched most of their food being wiped out, and just left to rot.
But back to the rest of the day...
After Promontory Point we headed out to Antelope Island. It was really neat to see Davis County from a different view. Natalie thought the cosway was cool since it's a stretch of land with water on both sides. Natalie, my mom, Nina and Christian walked a little ways to the Great Salt Lake, while my dad and I stayed back with Sam and played in the sand.
I have never been to Antelope Island, or Promontory Point so I had a lot of fun seeing something new that is now, right in my back yard!
Wednesday July 29-Saturday Aug 1, 2009
After a bag check, we loaded our handcarts and started out on our journey. We made stops here and there for drinks or snack breaks and we wound up pulling the handcarts about 10 miles then came one of the toughest and most spiritual parts of the whole Trek. It was the Women's Pull. The young men were taken off of the handcart and had to walk along side. Everyone had to be silent as we walked and as we pulled the handcart up this hill it started to get tougher and tougher and we were getting tired, but as soon as we made it to the top of the hill we were relieved, but then we looked up ahead and saw that our journey was not quite over and waiting for us was another hill. We were a very strong and determined family of girls and we made it up the hill. We wound up pulling the handcart 1 1/2 miles on our own, and as soon as the boys were allowed to get back on and help, each one of us girls were in tears because you could just feel, not only the strength from these young men, but also the love and respect that they had for us. That night we all pretty much crashed we were so exhausted. We had gone about 15 miles that day.
Thursday morning we got up, ate our oatmeal, and headed back out on the trail. We only went about 5 miles until we reached the Base camp. At base camp we got to find a campsite for our family and set up our sleeping quarters. That afternoon we played fun pioneer games like a 3 legged race, and log toss, and they even let us wash our hair! That night we had a Ho-Down where we learned square dancing. It was a blast.While at base camp we made our own food in dutch ovens. We destroyed bread that we made, and laughed about it for hours, and so did most of the Trek Company. We had a blast just spending time getting to know each of our family members. We had a lot of fun playing a handkerchief game, and a game called signs.
