Back home in Utah, July 24 is a state holiday known as ‘Pioneer
Day’. It is a commemoration of the settlement of the Salt Lake valley by
thousands of Mormons who fled religious persecution in 1846.
As the legend goes, the first group of 148 Mormons traveled 1000 miles westward in covered wagons over a 111-day period. They were the explorers, who paved the way for the rest of their group to follow. After pushing through the Rocky Mountains, they arrived in what is now the Salt Lake valley on July 21-24 of 1847, where their leader Brigham Young declared, “It is enough. This is the right place, drive on.” And that is the beginning of the story of how Salt Lake City was settled by religious refugees that are referred to as Pioneers by their descendants, many of whom now comfortably occupy the suburbs of what is now a beautiful city.
Pioneer Day in Utah is celebrated very much the same way as Independence Day: BBQs, parades and fireworks. Which was great when I was a child, because when the 4th of July was over, I always knew there would be more fireworks in a couple weeks. Since I couldn’t get time off to visit on the 4th of July, we decided to plan a visit for the weekend of the 24th instead.
We caught a 6 am flight Saturday morning and barely made it on the plane (it’s hard to be punctual that early in the morning). We found an open seat which coincidentally happened to be right in front of where our friend Abbie was sitting.
This was my first experience flying with a baby, and Becky’s second. What neither of us expected was that the airline would need a birth certificate for Alex, which we didn’t have (this may only be the policy of Southwest Airlines). They gave us a ticket to Salt Lake City without it, but said that we would need it for the flight back. So later I had to call on a friend back in Mesa to find our spare key, enter our vacated house cat burgler-style, and take a photo of Alex’s birth certificate to send to me.
Anyway, we arrived in Salt Lake, but our luggage and stroller did not – probably because we were so late getting on the plane. So that stalled our plans to play tennis that morning. Instead, we visited with my parents and my brother Jim’s family for a while. Later, our luggage arrived along with a $50 travel voucher for the troubles (thanks Southwest). We changed out of our travel clothes, left Alex with my parents, and drove quickly to Provo to meet friends for dinner at Bombay House. Our friends there included Julianne, who was a roommate of Becky’s at NAU, her husband Brenden who I’ve connected with on facebook over our mutual nerdy appreciation of music, and Shane who Becky and I know from Arizona, who has also connected with Brenden on facebook over a nerdy appreciation of music as well as trail running. Anyways, it was our first time out for dinner in a long time without a baby to attend to, and we enjoyed some great conversation over Indian food. Afterwards, Becky and I went over to Brenden and Julianne’s for cake and ice cream (as it was Brenden’s birthday) along with some friends of theirs.
Despite offers to stay with relatives, we stayed at the Quality Inn in Murray. Sometimes when traveling and visiting, it’s nice to have your own place where you can unwind as you please.
Sunday morning we went to church with my parents at the congregation where I grew up. It’s always fun to see familiar faces there and to see what has changed and what hasn’t. I got to introduce Alex to some neighbors that I’ve known forever. Later that evening, we enjoyed a BBQ over at my sister Victoria's house with the rest of the family. Victoria and Erik just got back from participating in a church-sponsored multi-day history reenactment of the Pioneer journey with their older kids, who seemed to enjoy it much more than the parents did. Alex got to meet several of his cousins and other family members for the first time, and relished all the attention. He was very content to sit on the lawn and interact with various people. We were content to do the same.
As the legend goes, the first group of 148 Mormons traveled 1000 miles westward in covered wagons over a 111-day period. They were the explorers, who paved the way for the rest of their group to follow. After pushing through the Rocky Mountains, they arrived in what is now the Salt Lake valley on July 21-24 of 1847, where their leader Brigham Young declared, “It is enough. This is the right place, drive on.” And that is the beginning of the story of how Salt Lake City was settled by religious refugees that are referred to as Pioneers by their descendants, many of whom now comfortably occupy the suburbs of what is now a beautiful city.
Pioneer Day in Utah is celebrated very much the same way as Independence Day: BBQs, parades and fireworks. Which was great when I was a child, because when the 4th of July was over, I always knew there would be more fireworks in a couple weeks. Since I couldn’t get time off to visit on the 4th of July, we decided to plan a visit for the weekend of the 24th instead.
We caught a 6 am flight Saturday morning and barely made it on the plane (it’s hard to be punctual that early in the morning). We found an open seat which coincidentally happened to be right in front of where our friend Abbie was sitting.
This was my first experience flying with a baby, and Becky’s second. What neither of us expected was that the airline would need a birth certificate for Alex, which we didn’t have (this may only be the policy of Southwest Airlines). They gave us a ticket to Salt Lake City without it, but said that we would need it for the flight back. So later I had to call on a friend back in Mesa to find our spare key, enter our vacated house cat burgler-style, and take a photo of Alex’s birth certificate to send to me.
Anyway, we arrived in Salt Lake, but our luggage and stroller did not – probably because we were so late getting on the plane. So that stalled our plans to play tennis that morning. Instead, we visited with my parents and my brother Jim’s family for a while. Later, our luggage arrived along with a $50 travel voucher for the troubles (thanks Southwest). We changed out of our travel clothes, left Alex with my parents, and drove quickly to Provo to meet friends for dinner at Bombay House. Our friends there included Julianne, who was a roommate of Becky’s at NAU, her husband Brenden who I’ve connected with on facebook over our mutual nerdy appreciation of music, and Shane who Becky and I know from Arizona, who has also connected with Brenden on facebook over a nerdy appreciation of music as well as trail running. Anyways, it was our first time out for dinner in a long time without a baby to attend to, and we enjoyed some great conversation over Indian food. Afterwards, Becky and I went over to Brenden and Julianne’s for cake and ice cream (as it was Brenden’s birthday) along with some friends of theirs.
Despite offers to stay with relatives, we stayed at the Quality Inn in Murray. Sometimes when traveling and visiting, it’s nice to have your own place where you can unwind as you please.
Sunday morning we went to church with my parents at the congregation where I grew up. It’s always fun to see familiar faces there and to see what has changed and what hasn’t. I got to introduce Alex to some neighbors that I’ve known forever. Later that evening, we enjoyed a BBQ over at my sister Victoria's house with the rest of the family. Victoria and Erik just got back from participating in a church-sponsored multi-day history reenactment of the Pioneer journey with their older kids, who seemed to enjoy it much more than the parents did. Alex got to meet several of his cousins and other family members for the first time, and relished all the attention. He was very content to sit on the lawn and interact with various people. We were content to do the same.
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| Fig. 1. BBQ and fam time in Victoria and Erik's backyard. |
Monday was Pioneer Day, which is a state holiday for some
people. We went to the Murray Park swimming pool that morning with some of my
siblings and their families. The Murray pool is a lot like the pool in that
movie The Sandlot (Fun Fact: The Sandlot pool scene was actually filmed at a
pool in nearby Ogden, Utah). We let Alex play with his cousins there until he
got tired and decided to nap.
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| Fig. 2. Pool time at Murray Park. |
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| Fig. 3. Wagon rides around the pool. |
Later that day, Becky and I were able to get some
tennis in thanks to some helpful babysitters. We only lasted about an hour in
the Utah heat, which is so much more tolerable than the Arizona heat. That
evening we had another BBQ at the home of my brother Jim with the rest of the
family. Again, Alex enjoyed the attention of all his cousins, and we enjoyed
being able to just relax and visit. We did some fireworks at dusk, and Alex was
toast by the end of it. Erik needed a nap too.
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| Fig. 4. Erik taking a much-deserved break. |
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| Fig. 5. Kiddie-car rides around the backyard at Jim's. |
Tuesday morning we flew back to Phoenix at a much more
reasonable hour and enjoyed having the rest of the day off before returning the
work the next day.
This was a great little summer vacation with lots of good family time. As usual, we wish we had more time to visit with more people and see more friends than we could. But it was at least a great chance for Alex to meet most of his cousins and aunts and uncles. We really appreciate everyone’s hospitality and babysitting, and look forward to visiting again soon.
Here is a link to a photo album with more photos and some video if you are interested.
This was a great little summer vacation with lots of good family time. As usual, we wish we had more time to visit with more people and see more friends than we could. But it was at least a great chance for Alex to meet most of his cousins and aunts and uncles. We really appreciate everyone’s hospitality and babysitting, and look forward to visiting again soon.
Here is a link to a photo album with more photos and some video if you are interested.
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