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.
Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

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