Family History and More in Utah

Our original plans were to go to Yellowstone for this journey home.  Unfortunately, the weather did not quite work in our favor.  I guess another trip will need to be planned for a fall trip.  It turns out we were meant to explore Utah instead.  This would not only include several national parks, but also a trip down our family history with my Uncle Phil.

On our first day in Utah, we started out with an early morning Mass at the Cathedral of the Madeline.  This cathedral is gorgeous!  I was in awe before, during and after Mass as we were able to view from our seats.  We also were given a special blessing for the remainder of our trip from the priest.  He was so kind and answered all of our questions about the various ornamentation and symbolism.

 From Mass, we had a little time before meeting Uncle Phil.  We decided to make a trip north and visit the famous historical location of the railroads...

Golden Spike NHS

This park commemorates the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad where the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad met on May 10, 1869. The final joining of the rails spanning the continent was signified by the driving of the ceremonial Golden Spike.  We would miss the 147th anniversary by just a week!  However, we were actually able to see most of the park without the crowds of people so none of us were complaining!  In fact, we had the engineers, who keep the ceremonial train engines working, in action!  They also patiently and enthusiastically answered our questions!  We were so thankful for this fun exploration of the site.  And of course, the children had the privilege of becoming Junior Ranger at this site also!

The plan was then to meet Uncle Phil, but we got so distracted by the nature preserve along our route that we were an hour late meeting him.  We saw so many birds that we had never seen in the wild...we tried taking photos but we just do not have the right equipment...we did try and here are some of the better photos...

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Pelican in the desert?

Avocet in spring/summer plumage 

The rock formations of this site...how did they build a railroad here?

We did make it to see Uncle Phil and enjoyed an afternoon perusing through family documents, family photos and letters, and hearing stories that he remembered from his youth.  The biggest joy for us was seeing the family Bible.  This Bible is historical in and of itself, but add the family history found on the pages written by hand with love and care by our great-grandmother was priceless!  I wanted to just take it up and hug it; however, the cover was worn and in need of repair.

We took Uncle Phil out to dinner and enjoyed more conversation before having a drive around the center of the city...everything was lit up and very impressive.  Then we returned to the hotel to lay our heads on our pillows for our second night in Salt Lake City.  It did not take much force to have everyone asleep.  We then left the next morning to travel around the eastern side of Utah.  We would spend the next two days visiting national parks before making our eastward trek.  

Aren't they adorable?  Wiped out!