The Mormon Trail and Beyond (07-02-19)

After leaving Fort Robinson, (and Mike and Julie) Paul and I needed to figure out our game plan for getting to Michigan, and more importantly, for the Fourth of July.

We are planning on touring the factory  in Michigan that made our pontoon boat, but of course they would be closed for the holiday.











After much searching, we found a county park near Muskegon MI that had sites available (It always makes you wonder how bad a park is if it has sites available for the holidays). Nevertheless, we booked it, so all we had to do now is get there.





We had plenty of time, so we meandered across Nebraska, and decided to loosely follow the Mormon Trail- backwards.

We mostly stayed off the highways and stopped at any of the historical markers that looked interesting.

I had downloaded an app that has all the Nebraska Historical Markers, which was nice, because it also had the verbiage, in an easier to read format.

With temperatures in the high 90s, we traveled a little differently than usual. We were slow to move in the morning, took our time, didn't hike,  stopped at a Planet Fitness when we found one..
















and re-planned our dinner menus to accommodate the fact that it was too hot to cook.  Aldi is a favorite grocery store of ours, and yeah, they have some weird stuff (I did NOT eat any of those).

Paul's 3rd great grandfather started his walking trek in Iowa City Iowa, and walked with his family, pulling a hand cart, all the way to Salt Lake City Utah.

Unfortunately they were part of a well known handcart company. The Willie Company (led by James Willie) was delayed in their departure from England, which of course meant that they left Iowa City later than they had planned.  A little too late.

They made it as far as Wyoming, but at that point their food rations were exhausted, and they were caught in an early snowstorm. Two people were sent ahead to look for help.

 A rescue party did finally reach them, but by then quite a few of the members had perished. Luckily, all of Paul's family made it to Salt Lake City.

One of towns we passed through along the way was the small town of Gothenburg NE, a town that was one of the stops for the Pony Express.

 We've all heard of it, and realize the importance of it in our history, but what flabbergasted me was that the Pony Express only existed for 18 months.

Formed in 1860, by the end of 1861,the telegraph came in to play, making the system obsolete.   Riders that could ride from Missouri to California in 10 days, were no longer needed.

The museum, although small,  was actually interesting because it told their story...In early days, they would carry some personal belongings, several guns, etc.  but they soon realized that those things slowed them down, so they started traveling lighter, and with only one gun.










Once we arrived in Iowa City, the Mormon starting point, there were two things we were interested in seeing.

The first was a historical Society Museum.  We didn't realize that the building also housed an antique car museum- more bang for our buck!

This particular car was a precursor to the modern RV, with a fold out bed and complete kitchen, what more could you ask for?

The other place we wanted to see was Mormon Handcart Park.  This is where the Mormon groups, including Paul's family, camped while making their preparations for their journey. Although the park is overgrown, at least it doesn't have a skyscraper built on it!

From Iowa City it was just a hop skip and a jump to West Branch, home to the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library.
Paul and I went back and forth on whether we wanted to visit it.  In the end we decided, since we were there, and had the time, it was silly not to do it. Well, karma got us.
We got to the site, which actually sits on 186 acres, and is set up to resemble a small town.








There is a school, meeting house, Hoover's father's blacksmith shop, and the actual cottage, built by Hoover's father and grandfather, that Herbert Hoover was born in, in 1874.

Once we got to the main library, the doors were locked. They had an electrical problem and it blew out everything, including the air conditioning. Oh well, at least there was a visitor center too.











We have visited a few presidential libraries and one of the things I like is that, regardless of how a president was perceived while in office, the libraries showcase the positive things they accomplished.  In Herbert Hoover's case, one of his accomplishments was the establishment of UNICEF.

Of course, we haven't been to Nixon's yet.

SLC and LDS (06-05-12)

We had a dual purpose for visiting Salt Lake City. The first was to do our usual exploring, but Paul's mom wanted to visit the city where she spent her teenage years, so she flew in the day after we got there.

Having never seen Great Salt Lake (me, that is), which is surprisingly the largest lake west of the Mississippi river, one of our first outings was to Antelope Island. The views of the lake from the island were excellent, and we spent a few hours thoroughly enjoying the wildlife.

There were quite a few antelope, as well as Pelicans and assorted other birds, but the really fascinating viewing was the bison.

As we drove the scenic loop on the island, we saw quite a few solitary bison and were quite happy with that, but then we came across the whole herd!

We watched as hundreds of Bison came down the nearby hills and headed for the lakefront. Some sauntered, and some literally ran down the hill.  Most of them were cows with their calves, with lots of adolescent males following them. The older bulls are more solitary and tend to keep to themselves. Some of the herd crossed the road right in front of us, allowing us to get a good look at them.

It was a unique experience to be able to watch them for quite a while, in their own element, just “doing their own thing.”

Bison were re-introduced to the island many years ago and the herd has grown to the point that every year, when they round them all up in the spring for their inoculations, they sell off some of the bison to manage the herd size.

  

Temple Square is where you can find out about all things Mormon- or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). I was extremely impressed with everything about this place. The church provides free shuttle service, innumerable free tours, free access to libraries, the trolley system, museums, the tabernacle, musical programs etc.  There are many missionaries available to answer any and all questions you may have.They give tours in about 20 languages.  And no, no one tried to “convert” us or hassled us in any way at all.  Everyone was smiling and helpful. Wow. It was very clear that they are very willing to teach visitors about who they are and the history of their church.

The gardens in the square are beautiful and make for great place to stroll. There are tons of interesting sculptures.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the gold “Angel Moroni” at the top of the Temple, was sculpted by Cyrus E. Dallin. I am familiar with Dallin’s work because he lived in Arlington, the town I grew up in, and several of his sculptures are showcased throughout the town- there is also a library and a school named after him.  I did not know that he also lived in Utah at one time.

Of course, no visit to SLC would be complete without hearing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Our only (slight) disappointment was when we learned the short service, called The Spoken Word, would take place in the Conference Center, due to the crowds that attend in the summer time. Still, the service, and the music, was beyond amazing.

The service takes place on Sunday morning.  The doors open at least an hour before the service, during which time we could listen to the choir practice, and take any pictures we wanted.  Once the service, which is broadcast live on the radio, starts, no more pictures are allowed. 

We actually did still get to see the Tabernacle, and hear the 11,000 pipe organ, when we attended the 2 pm organ recital.

Only church members are allowed in the Temple itself, which is used for religious and enrichment programs.

We headed to “This is the Place” Heritage Park, where we enjoyed the monuments and the small visitor’s center/museum that tells the story about the arrival of the Mormons in Salt Lake City in the mid 1800s.

In the 1840s, the Mormons living in the mid west were persecuted to the point that they began a mass exodus from the state of Illinois and other nearby states. Led by spiritual leader Brigham Young, who had researched potential areas to settle, they took handcarts full of their belongings and headed west. After 1300 miles and over 3 months of traveling, they crested the hill overlooking Salt Lake valley, and Brigham Young declared “This is the right place”.  Over the next 22 years, over 70,000 Mormons made the trek to the Salt Lake area in the largest exodus of a single group in American history.

Paul’s family has been in the Salt Lake area since the early days of Mormon settlement. The medallion on this grave signifies that the person buried there (Paul’s great-great-great Grandfather) was one of the original Mormon pioneers to come across the country.

Driving around Salt Lake City visiting the old family home and gravesites gave us all the genealogy bug. We spent quite a bit of time researching in the Family History Library.  This is an incredibly well run library. As first time researchers, we were shown a movie about what the library has to offer, then we were handed forms to use for the information we found, and were escorted to computers so we could get to work! Paul and his mom worked on their family, with the help of a woman missionary.   I was curious about my dad’s family because  I didn’t know that much about them. I also had someone helping me for the first hour or so. I discovered that after my great-grandfather died, my great-grandmother remarried.  I had no idea! (If you get the bug, familysearch.org is a good place to start)

Before leaving the area, we met up with some of Paul and Gerry’s family for dinner.  Everyone had stories and pictures to share, and we all had a great time!