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Quote of the month...

"Standing tall is a very admirable thing. There are very few stories in history of heroes who slouched to the rescue. Likewise, most individuals don't look up to people who are drooped over."
from Leven Thumps and the Wrath of Ezra by Obert Skye

my family

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Foto Story Friday #58-- take a little 1900+mile trip day 2

From Casper we headed off toward Salt Lake across Wyoming. Upon study of the map we realized that we would be passing a few cool places.
First off we flew by Independence Rock. (Taken through the back window of the truck.) Do you know why they called this rock Independence? Well, we learned.... if the pioneers headed west arrived at the rock by July 4th they would make it to their destinations, be it Salt Lake or California, without hitting winter storms..
Just down the road from Independence Rock is a place called Martin's Cove. A group of Mormon hand-cart Pioneers hit the Rock on November 2 and thus had already experienced winter storms. They were met by a group of rescuers from Salt Lake and brought into the cove to rest and gain strength before pushing on to the valley.
They were starving and ill-prepared for the weather.
Pulling handcarts with their few possessions and often their sick.
There are monuments for those pioneers who didn't make it. Hundreds of them passed away at Martin's Cove and were buried in shallow graves.
They had to cross the Sweet Water river. Many said they simply could not cross another river. 4 young men and others carried many of them across the freezing water. There are monuments depicting the young men and their brave act. One really needs to spend a whole day at Martin's Cove. There is a lot to see and you can pull a hand cart out near the cove then walk in. One day we will come back and do a little trekking. Our Youth went there end of June for a 3 day trek. Cody was very impressed. (This photo was taken through a pair of binoculars. Thus the strange quality.)
This is Devils Gate. The Sweet Water River runs through it.
Close-up through the binoculars.
We continued on our journey to Salt Lake and pretty much followed the trail the pioneers took as they walked to the valley. We got there in a matter of hours and it took them weeks and weeks of hard physical labor to arrive. Along the way we saw a huge wind farm. We were impressed by how large these windmills are.
Some of the beauty we saw.
Finally we arrived in the city. We quickly changed and headed to the Salk Lake Temple for a session. Above we have Heather, David and Troy gazing up and the temple.
This is what you see when you arrive just before dark.
The reflection pool is very cool..... there were some kids playing in the water which caused this cool ripple effect.
One last look at the temple as we head back to our lodging.
PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Join me next week for the continuing adventure.......

18 comments:

Ryanne said...

What a great travel log of your trip. The pioneers went through so much and their journey so arduous. Aren't we so lucky to live in this day and age with all our modern conveniences?

Are You Serious! said...

♥ Great pictures! I would not want to have pull a handcart espcially over the rockies!

latree said...

loooooooong trip!
I want to know how it feels to sit in that carriage and pulled :D

so when will you have a trip to Indonesia?

Wendi said...

I enjoyed this part of the trip with you.
I have never seen some of those places.
Great photos Carrie!

Chris said...

Wonderful pictures.

I have long wanted to go to Martin's Cove. I had great great great great grandmothers in both the Willey and Martin Handcart Companies.

Maggie May said...

Great pictures and very interesting post.
It must have been so hard for those pioneers to take such a step and face all those perils on the way to a new land. No wonder so many didn't make it.
Absolutely love the photos.

Michelle said...

What great pictures......I especially love the reflection shot.

We have a pretty impressive mormon temple here in San Diego. I love photographing it.

Shellie said...

Great shots! I've never been to Martin's Cove but my progenitors sure did. Amazing what they lived through...

Anonymous said...

Wow what a trip! Beautiful shots along the way. The temple is beautiful.

Jaina said...

What a fun trip! I'm loving these photos. can't wait to hear more!

Lisa @ Boondock Ramblings said...

This is great. I'd probably never see any of this, without your beautiful photographs! Awesome. I love traveling the country with you! :-)

Momisodes said...

Wow. Those photos are truly amazing. I can only imagine what it was like to see these in person.

CC said...

What a trip!!!

Keeley said...

Oh how wonderful! You're bringing back sweet memories of the trip we made a couple of years ago, when Andrew was 2 and he was the one making the ripples in the pool....

Thanks for bringing such happy memories to mind. =)

Jill @ Sneaky Momma said...

Sounds like you guys learned a lot on your trip. The Temple is truly beautiful at night. :)

Steph said...

Looks like fun! :) I've been on a pioneer trek...it was amazingly hard and rewarding at the same time!
Beautiful pictures!

Unknown said...

I missed those places on my way through Wyoming! Glad you stopped and explored - interesting history there.

I love the temple in Salt Lake! Only been there once but very nice!

Rose said...

Wow, what a place!