Day 1 - Tooele Valley Railroad Museum

 As we continued our vacation to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons last week, we  saw more views of the Clay Springs Fire as we headed north from Delta and the Great Basin Museum. More than half the mountain range burned.

 The kids were good travelers, although we had to take a couple impromptu bathroom breaks. Fortunately there's plenty of open country.

 Some of that open country!

Our next destination was Tooele. I had looked on the Internet to see what there was to do around Tooele and found that they had a train museum. Knowing Desert Boy's fascination with trains, that became a necessary stop.

The Tooele Valley Railroad Museum is on a side street and we had to search for it a little, but due to a nice lady's directions, we found it.

The first thing the kids noticed was the mini-railroad. We lucked out and they were offering rides that day. (If you want a ride, be sure to call ahead, as the days and hours can vary.)

Desert Boy, wearing his train conductor hat, was in his element.

The little train and track were adorable.

We even got to go through a tunnel.

Following the train ride we toured the steam locomotive, a couple cabooses, and the train depot. The train depot had lots of info about area mining, as the train had been developed to transport ore. That made us decide to go to our next destination (coming soon in a future post!).

The museum was free, but I wanted to support them, so the kids got cute matching t-shirts that say 'I love trains.'  How appropriate!

Day 1 - Great Basin Museum

 We were off on vacation last week, and what a wonderful week it was! I'm going to try and squeeze in lots of posts so that our blog book is fairly complete. (Once a year I print the entire blog, and it is such a nice way to keep track of what we did that year.)

Our trip started with driving over the railroad bridge in Delta, UT and seeing the smoke from the nearby mountains fill the sky. This was the Clay Springs Fire, which required the evacuation of nearby Oak City for a night. It's grown to over 108,000 acres. Yikes! Many years, fewer than 100,000 acres burn in the Great Basin. Now just one fire has topped that. The fire costs $4.5 million to date.

 We couldn't do anything about the fire, so we headed to the Great Basin Museum, which opened at its new location on main street in late May.

 They have a lot more exhibit space, and the kids were happy to get out and take a look.


What caught Desert Boy's attention was a model train on the side. It turned out that this model train showed a replica of the roundhouse at Lynndyl, which is located a bit north of Delta. We had never known that there was a roundhouse there.

 It turns out sleepy Lynndyl used to be not-so-sleepy. It was the biggest Union Pacific terminal between Omaha, Nebraska and Los Angeles. The original Lynndyl Roundhouse was 8 stalls, and this was enlarged to 19 stalls about 1920.

They had an aerial image of the roundhouse, which looked amazing, so I decided we would look for it on Google Earth when we got home. Here's what we found:

Do you see the roundhouse outline? Desert Boy and I think it's so cool! We hope to take a trip out there some time. It's so exciting learning something new about the area, especially something about trains.

 We also took a look at some old furnishings.

 This chemistry set caught my eye. We still have a couple of these hanging around the ranch.

 The trilobite collection was extensive, as one of the world's best places for collecting trilobites is only about 30 miles from Delta.

 The glowing rocks were a huge hit with the kids.

Grant helped Desert Boy with the old switchboard.

We're going to have to go back to take more time to look at everything. I'm really glad they were able to move the museum to main street, as they should have lots more traffic now. So if you're in the area, take some time to see the Great Basin Museum!

E.T. Fresh Jerky

I like this sign. It's been updated from previous years to say not only "E.T. Fresh Jerky" but also "Drop your toxic waste in Area 51's cleanest bathrooms."

It's been too many years since I've been to Rachel, Nevada. I feel a road trip coming on...

Friends, Mather Overlook, and a Hike

 One of my best friends from high school, Alison, and her family came to visit a couple weeks ago. We decided to go up the scenic drive in Great Basin National Park and hike the subalpine trails. On the way, we stopped at Mather Overlook.

 This memorial for Stephen Mather (1867-1930) says "He laid the foundation of the National Park Service defining and establishing the policies under which its areas shall be developed and conserved unimpaired for future generations. There will never come an end to the good that he has done."

Stephen Mather was the first director of the National Park Service. This memorial was stolen but later recovered (on eBay, I believe), and now is solidly reinstated to the overlook which bears his name.

 The views from the overlook are gorgeous, with the stately Wheeler Peak topping a 1,000+ foot tall cliff.

 Some recently installed telescopes make it fun to look in detail.

 Desert Boy could barely reach, but he was certain he wanted to try.

Then it was time to go up to the lakes loop.

 Desert Boy liked any obstacles he could find. He enjoyed having a new hiking partner.

 We were all glad when we got to Stella Lake.

 Desert Girl was happy to pose.

 Desert Boy launched some 'boats.'

 Desert Boy really wanted to go swimming, so I told him to go ahead. I don't think he quite made it up to his knees when he decided it was too cold.

 Meanwhile Desert Girl decided she had to go swimming, too.

 Desert Boy put his clothes back on, tried to retrieve some of his 'boats,' and promptly fell into the lake. Sigh.

 Desert Girl managed to stay dry enough that when we found this snow drift she was ready to play in it. She even tried to make a snow angel.

 She really liked having new friends to hike with.

 Still, the hike was long for her little legs, and she had a long rest on the trail. I hiked with the kids back to the vehicle while Alison and her family went on to the bristlecones. We passed several people heading up there for the wonderful afternoon light.

We enjoyed that light on the way down, showing the creases and folds of the North Snake Range.

It is so good to have friends visit so we can take time to enjoy our own backyard. Sometimes it's easy to lose sight of what a wonderful place this is!

Brewer's Sparrow

 I did a breeding bird survey last week in mountain shrub habitat, and the most dominant bird was this nondescript Brewer's Sparrow (Spizella breweri). The males like to go to the top of shrubs and sing and sing and sing. They have a distinctive song, with a downward trill. They are loud, and sometimes it's hard to block out that song to listen for other bird species!

 This Brewer's Sparrow didn't mind hanging out near me. It was on top of a rose bush surrounded by a lot of sagebrush. In fact, Brewer's Sparrows are often found in sagebrush, eating insects and later in the summer, seeds.

It was a fun morning listening to these guys and quite a few other birds. I don't get to actually see many of the birds I hear, so it's a treat to see one, much less be able to photograph one! (This is the only bird I photographed that morning.)

This week, if the wind calms down, I hope to get in a bird survey in pinyon-juniper habitat. A few of the birds overlap, but quite a few don't.