The entrance to Golden Spike National Historic Site.
Thom and Sheila stand where the golden spike was driven;
the spike is now at Stanford University in California.
Sheila with the original trains that met in 1869.
Park workers and volunteers take good care of the trains.
The one from the west burned wood, and the one from the east burned coal.
As we headed to SLC, the salt residue from the Great Salt Lake
could be seen 15 miles from its shores.
ATK and Nasa work together in the desert here.
But just five minutes down the road, crops of corn, onions and wheat are abundent.
Once in Salt Lake City, we drove a few minutes south to West Valley City to Sheila's sister Cathy's home.
12 July 2012: After doing our laundry and Sheila giving Joseph and David haircuts, we all had fun at an outdoor swimming pool. After supper we went to the movies, six of us for the princely total of $10.50.
Sheila gives David a haircut.
Cath is surprised to find us on our laptops, but Thom is checking on the
Tour de France results, and Sheila is catching things up on the blog.
13 July 2012: Thom and Sheila called in at the Family History Library in SLC and got some needed family history supplies. Our church group is helping to index the 1940 Census, and we bought some goodies as incentives and rewards. During a special "push" day on 2nd July, volunteers indexed over 10 million names. The project is ahead of schedule and should be completed ahead of the September target. The 1940 Census is searchable on www.familysearch.org for free, and is unique in that it covers the time that will link people we remember to those who are unknown to us. Take a look for your grandparents and greatgrandparents! Once completed, the indexing will mean you can type in a name and candidates will be listed at the touch of a button; digitized images of the original records will be attached.
This afternoon we went to the Air Route Air Traffic Control Center in Salt Lake City and met with our son Lee. He has completed training in all sectors and is now fully qualified at the Federal Aviation Administration Center. There was a nice presentation and his trainers and supervisors spoke very highly of Lee and Eric, who "graduated" with him. They started training together in Oklahoma City three years ago before both being assigned to SLC Center. We were happy to be there to share this special occasion with both Lee and Eric.
Lee and Eric with their trainers and FAA Center managers.
Happy son and father Air Traffic Controllers.
Thom, Lee, Sheila and Lee's friend Eric at their presentation ceremony;
they received their Certified Professional Controller cards.
14 July 2012: Today we arranged to meet Sheila's nephew Jordan from Wales, who is visiting the area. He has just finished a Math Degree in Britain, and is thinking of taking a Masters course in the US. We took him to check out the campus at Brigham Young University in Provo, and then Cath had supper ready for us all, including Lee.
Lee and his cousin Jordan from Wales.
Siblings Moriah, Joseph, David and Anna with their cousins Lee and Jordan.
Note Joe's Welsh Red Dragon tee shirt.
15 July 2012: We had a camp out in the back yard for the boys today. We cooked supper on our camp stove on the back porch (though Sheila cheated and baked shortbread in the kitchen) and then we played cards in the tent till bed time.
Lee cooks supper on the camp stove
David, Lee, Joseph, Cathy and Sheila (taking the photo) play "Queenie," a British card game.
16 July 2012: This morning we went to our friends Herb and Eileen Tabert's home in South Salt Lake to see their Model A taken out for a drive. Herb brought the car to SLC from the Panama and restored it. While Herb and Thom drove the car across Salt Lake City, Sheila, Lee, Cath, Anna, David and Joseph went for a hike up Bell's Canyon. In the evening we went to Alpine to visit friends we knew in Connecticut.
Anna, who is learning to drive, loves the Model A.
Herb and Thom are off to get the car inspected. It can go 50 mph.
Anna, Joe, Cathy, Lee, and David at the lake at the end of the hike in Bell's Canyon.
Lee and Sheila at the lake.
It was fun to watch the ducks and ducklings.
We enjoyed our visit in Alpine with Erik, Claudia, Alison, Tyler and Troy. Claudia is SUPER at cutting hair; if you are anywhere near the area you need to see her! Sheila has been mostly cutting her hair herself for the last 3 years because she can't seem to find a hairdresser that knows how she wants it cut, so it was fun for her to get a haircut from Claudia today.
17 July 2012: Today we went to go bowling at Hill Air Force Base but the bowling alley was closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Our other endeavor went well; we went to the Air Museum there. There was Thom, Sheila, Lee, Cathy and Cathy's friend Daryn. In the afternoon we said farewell to Cathy, and after dinner at the Taberts we said goodbye to Lee. He is back to work tomorrow.
Lee, Daryn, Cathy and Thom; there are aircraft outdoors and indoors at the Hill AFB Air Museum
Lee and Thom have a laugh at an old ATC scope (that Thom was very familiar with!)
It was a Utah man who started dropping candy for the children of Berlin after WWII.
Thom and Sheila once flew on a KC-135 refueler like this from Germany to Albuquerque NM.
Thom, our wonderful hosts Herb and Eileen Tabert, and Lee (with a new hair cut) after dinner.
We say goodbye to Lee for the time being.
18 July 2012: We drove the Alpine Loop to Brigham City and then drove on to Dinosaur National Monument. We visited the Visitor Center and the Quarry, and then drove back to Vernal to stay with friends from New Jersey, Bob and Anita Clayton.
The Alpine Loop took us over 8,000 ft and past the ski resorts.
Dinosaur National Monument, Utah
Thom at the Fossil Bone Quarry
Fossils in the quarry wall
Thom and one of the best skull specimens.
Sheila and Thom get to touch the bones that have turned to rock.
Then back to Vernal; the town spends $165,000 a year on flowers
and last year won an award for them.
The Vernal Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
an historical building in the town.
Anita and Bob Clayton, our gracious hosts in Vernal. The clock was made in the 1760s by John Wood of Philadelphia, and was once owned by Anita's Quaker ancestors.
19 July 2012: We left Vernal and headed north to Flaming Gorge and the dam there. We had a tour of the dam, and then visited Red Canyon. We then drove north into Wyoming and then headed east to Cheyenne and south to Colorado Springs. We arrived at the Badureks at 8 pm. It was our longest drive of the trip.
Flaming Gorge Dam, Utah
Sheila at the base of the dam, where a lot of rainbow trout live happily in a No Fishing area.
Otherwise, people come from all over the world to fish for rainbow, brown, and other trout.
The dam controls the water and also generates energy for 96,000 homes.
Red Canyon in Flaming Gorge National Recreational Area.
Wyoming is desolate for most of the route we took,
but we have been promised a sighting of mule deer, so we keep looking.
And became even more inhospitable at Chester's Fried!!
We take a chance and take the Internet through Denver rather than taking the ring road. This is the former Mile High Stadium, and note the ozone warning! We are a bit more than an hour from Colorado Springs.
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