This Is The Place

I remember visiting the Brigham Young house as a child.  There were framed flowers made from human hair.  Sadly, they had been taken by the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, but aside from that everything was as charming as I remember it.  We enjoyed the rest of the day here and squeaked out just as the park was closing down.

I encouraged the girls to take their pioneer dresses to wear.  They all made beautiful pioneers.  I especially enjoy this pioneer dress that we found for Ruby at a thrift shop.  She has enjoyed playing pioneer in it.

The little train ride was a nice treat.  The conductor was full of punny jokes and insightful tidbits of information.  In order to get the train moving, the passengers had to yell "full steam ahead!"  after every stop.  Fun at first, a little old when at the end of the day we had to do it on the miniature train ride.

The printing press captivated our attention and the kids got to try their hand at it.  What an art form and skill.

We heard the school bell and made it to class just in time.  Oh the romanticism held in the one room school house.

I was fascinated to learn about the Deseret Alphabet, established to help the immigrants become literate.

This is Ruby's name using the alphabet.

The buildings were air conditioned and there was cold water available so it was much more pleasant than the zoo.  The old fashioned candy store was eye candy, such a brightly colored display.

We learned about animal furs and leather.  They had it from all over the world. I guessed the shark skin, thanks to dad's sharkskin boots from my childhood.

We were able to try our hand at leather stamping.  Uncle Ty makes it look easy!

And a pony ride!  The funniest was when Hudson went for a ride and the volunteers ended up riding Hudson about proper horse etiquette.  They weren't amused when he had to wake his horse and coax the horse to walk a little faster.

There were plenty of little cabins to admire.  We did a little more research.  I would be so completely happy with one like this.

Lastly we tried our hand at panning for gold nuggets.

Dalanie traded her small nuggets in at the assayers office.  She wasn't satisfied when she got her check and the total was for only a few dollars.  She drives a hard bargain.