Trip Out West - Part 2 Salt Lake City Pioneer Day Celebration

Day 3 Pioneer Day
The 24 of July is celebrated as Pioneer Day in Utah, commemorating the arrive of Brigham Young in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. It is as big (if not bigger) celebration than the 4th of July and a holiday for many (including Jessi on Monday but not Peter :-( )

Since the 24th fell on a Sunday this year, we went to church (duh!) The theme for Sacrament meeting was Pioneers! (Imagine that).  The choir (including Jessi and Peter) sang Faith in Every Footstep and did a good job. Sunday school lesson was on Korihor in the book of Alma, and priesthood meeting was on temples.

In the evening after supper (roast - 21-day fix style - very good), we just visited and Jessi and Peter introduced us to Studio C episodes on YouTube.

Peter and Jessi's ward building

Enjoying a cool morning on the porch before church

Day 4 Pioneer Day holiday

Since Pioneer Day was on a Sunday, the holiday was celebrated on Monday. JoAnne got up early with PB&J to exercise and I went for a walk. After the evercise session was over, Kira and JoAnne joined me and we walked some more. This was pretty much standard for the rest of the stay in Salt Lake.

Peter had to work on Monday, but the rest of us went to breakfast after cleaning up. We went to a place called Angel Cafe. My omelet was really good and Jessi liked her quiche but JoAnne and Kira were a little disappointed. For one thing, it was expensive - like $5 for a glass of juice, I guess all the French words on the menu should have been a clue.

My omelet

After breakfast, I went back to the house, while the girls went to find out what Santa Claus does during the summer (aka shopping). They were gone for hours, but must have found Santa.

Loot from shopping trip

When Peter got home, we went up to Heber, Utah. You may recall that at Christmas, we had tickets for the Polar Express train ride that we had to miss because we could not get up I-80 because of the snow. The Heber Valley Railroad (formerly the Heber Creeper) allowed us to put the money on account to be used before the end of the year. So we used the money to ride the Fiddle and Firecracker Express. It included a fried chicken dinner with a bluegrass band and a train ride 7 miles toward Provo at a screaming 15 mph, which then turned around and came back to a spot where we could watch the Pioneer Day fireworks across the lake from Charleston, Utah. 

Sherrif and posse waiting for the bad guys

Locomotive changing ends of the train for ride back towards the station

Singing YMCA!

When we stopped for the fireworks, they put out chairs for those who wanted to get off the train. We were on the correct side of the car to see so we stayed on the train.

Video of fireworks

Time to go home.