Saturday, August 23, 2008

Last hurrah this summer: Our Pioneer Outing

While Ethan and Dan played at Yellowstone, Summer and I spent the day at Heritage Village (located at This is the Place Monument). There are 46 pioneer buildings to tour. In most buildings there were people dressed as pioneers to tell the history of each place. Here we learned how pioneer women wove intricate lace and textiles.
In the hat shop. Coon skin hat worn side pony-tail style, very nice look, Sum Sum.
Brigham Young's Hidden Forest home. I think he had 3-4 wives and their children living here. It looked very comfortable inside, but I guess that depends on how many people actually lived here. I loved the lavender plants and English garden style. This home is surrounded by orchards. It was called Brigham's experimental farm because the pioneer settlers had no idea what would grow well in Utah's soil. So Brigham Young planted a huge variety of fruit and nut trees and vegetable gardens to determine which plants would thrive.
Free pony rides. I think this is the first time Summer has been on a horse.
It felt like we were back in the times of Little House on the Prairie. We had fun riding in this covered wagon, enjoying the slow pace of life. Rare for us. The pioneer village felt so quiet and peaceful. While the work of food preparation, bathing, laundry and all the other "inconveniences" seemed daunting to me, the beauty and serenity of the surroundings was so appealing to me.

1 comment:

Jenny said...

We went here last summer, and I was really amazed at all the things they have here - and with how much the kids enjoyed it. Glad you guys got to have a fun girls' outing!