Hill Aerospace Museum

On Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, we headed to Hill Aerospace Museum. It's one of the few places that is open on Sunday, so after church we headed there before continuing on to Golden Spike National Historic Site.

Hill Aerospace Museum is free, so it's popular. But it is so huge, it can accommodate a lot of people. It also houses so many exhibits that it can be a bit overwhelming. I found myself drifting along and reading a little here and a little there.

I was intrigued by the Navajo Code Talkers exhibit. I had heard that the Navajo language was the only unbreakable code in World War II, and it was interesting to read more of the details.

The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) section also caught my attention. I hadn't realized how many women pilots flew in World War II, and although they helped the war effort greatly, their efforts were mostly ignored until decades later.

Seeing the huge flag at one end of the hangar reminded me of how grateful I am to all the servicemen and servicewomen for all they do. I feel very lucky to live in a country where we can take our freedoms for granted (even though we shouldn't!).

My husband knew lots of information about many of the planes and helicopters. I listened with interest, but have to admit that I didn't retain much.

Even fighter planes need a little dusting now and then.

The exhibits continued outside, with some really massive planes.

The museum has a nice gift shop. To ward off Desert Boy wanting something everywhere we went, we gave him five dollars and told him he had to choose where to spend it. This ended up being the spot, and he picked out his very own plane and it kept him happy.

We really enjoyed our visit and look forward to returning some day. By the way, the museum website has lots of information about each exhibit, so you can prepare before a visit or refresh your memory afterwards!

Desert Destination: Golden Spike National Historic Site

 With our son's love of trains and a desire to see as many National Park Service units as we can, we headed to Golden Spike National Historic Site over Memorial Day weekend. It's open seven days a week (important to know in trip planning, as so many places are closed on Sundays in Utah). It's about an hour's drive from Ogden, Utah. The first "Golden Spike" sign we saw was not inspiring, so I felt relieved when I saw this cool park sign.

 From the visitor center we could see the two engines, Jupiter from the Central Pacific Railroad and Engine 119 from the Union Pacific Railroad out on the tracks, gleaming in their recreated glory to celebrate the meeting of the Transcontinental Railroad. This was a key moment in our nation's history, as it reduced travel time to get from the East Coast to the West Coast from weeks or months (by horse and wagon or sailing around Tierra del Fuego) to about six days.

 The original engines were used as freight engines after the historic meeting, then later scrapped for about $1000. So the engines out there today are not originals, but they have been rebuilt to the original specifications.

The attention to detail is fantastic. I had to point out the flag to Desert Boy and ask him if he noticed any difference between it and the one at the visitor center. He didn't quite see that there were a lot fewer stars on the 1869 flag.

Every day during the summer Golden Spike has steam demonstrations, starting up the engines. They said Jupiter has a square wheel (something I don't quite understand), so they were only using the 119.


The ranger warned us it could be noisy. (Desert Girl's fashion choices amuse me every day.)


We all stood back as engine 119 departed.

 Then it chugged onto a siding near the visitor center, then backed up and returned to its starting place. The demonstration was just the right length to keep the kids interested. On Saturdays they do a reenactment of pounding in the golden spike (there were actually four spikes pounded in the ceremony).


We tried for a family photo. Some day the kids will appreciate these, even if they don't at the time we're taking them!


Then it was time for Desert Girl to work on her Junior Fireman booklet (ages 3-5) and Desert Boy to work on his Junior Ranger booklet (ages 6-12). They both had quite a few activities, which meant that we learned more than we would have without doing them!

Next it was time to get the books checked and get their badges. It was the first badge Desert Girl had earned, so she was mighty proud.

From there we went to take the West Auto Tour route, but for some unknown reason, it was closed. I would have liked to have continued on to the Spiral Jetty, but we were in our van and the road becomes high clearance for the last three miles, and I really didn't want to walk with two kids that were starting to get whiny.

So we turned back and took the East Auto Tour Route, which follow along the old railbed.

 From the drive we could see the flats with their occasional pools of water. This is quite a desolate spot, and if it weren't for the meeting of the railroads, very few people would come out this way.

 Can you see the two cuts in the photo above? The two railroad companies built miles of parallel track to increase the amount of government land they received. Finally, Congress put a stop to it and declared they would meet at Promontory Summit. Nevertheless, the land still bears the tales of this competition nearly 150 years later.

 We stopped so Desert Girl could climb by the Chinese Arch. It was difficult to get and keep railroad workers during the construction, as mining enticed many would-be workers with promises of quick gold. The Chinese were instrumental in completing the railroad.

 Desert Girl doesn't care if she's wearing a dress, she'll still climb.

 Life is good.

After leaving Golden Spike, instead of turning back towards the Interstate, we turned the opposite direction and drove about a mile. I had read on the blog Tips for Family Trips about the ATK rocket display and figured that might be fun.

 My husband was absolutely enthralled! Desert Boy had fallen asleep, so Desert Girl and I wandered around. She wasn't too excited about rockets, but she really, really liked the pink rocks.

 She also like balancing on the curb (clutching the rocks and with her new badge attached). It's nice when we can all find something to be happy about!

Desert Destination: Utah State Railroad Museum and a Real Train Ride

Desert Boy still loves trains, so we decided to make the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden, Utah one of our destinations on Memorial Day weekend. 

 The museum is part of Union Station, a beautiful building with an impressive main hall. We stopped briefly in the train store and then got our tickets for the museum.

 For the entrance, we walked under trestles from the very long Lucin cutoff, which was built in 1903 across the Great Salt Lake to shorten the train route. It was quite an engineering feat. In the 1950s the trestle was replaced with a causeway, which separates the lake into a northern and southern section with very different salinities, which support different lifeforms and thus cause the lake to be different colors.


I spotted a golden spike in a vault--the golden spike used for the bicentennial celebration of the meeting of the Transcontinental Railroad (coming soon to a Desert Survivor blog near you!).


I was excited to see this Gandy Dancer handcar, as I recently read Frank Wendall Call's book Gandydancer's Children: A Railroad Memoir. It talks about life on the railroad in rural Nevada and Utah during the Great Depression and is fascinating.

We got up on the handcar for a family photo. We still have troubles getting everyone to smile at the same time, but at least we're all looking in the same direction!

 Desert Boy found toy wooden trains in a corner and happily played for a few minutes. To my surprise, he didn't protest much when I said it was time to keep going.

 Maybe because he could go into a real train car and pretend to drive it.

 Then we went out in the hallway and found the model trains. The kids kept running to figure out where it had gone once it had entered a tunnel. The train was running towards us, against traffic flow, so we spent quite a bit of time in the hallway.

 All the detail that went into the scenery surrounding the model trains was amazing.

 Union Station not only houses the Utah State Railroad Museum, it also holds the John M. Brown Firearms Museum, which my husband found fascinating. The kid weren't too excited, so I took them to the next museum.

 We went right next door to the Browning-Kimball Classic Car Museum. All three museums are included in the ticket price, so we had to check them out! The classic cars were stunning. I particularly liked the hood ornaments--much more elaborate than today's!

We still had a little time, so the kids wanted to go back to the train museum. Desert Girl was so excited that she could climb up and down to the cupola in the old caboose.

 She also had a turn "driving" a train.

 The trains outside were quite a sight, with the massive machines exuding power.

We really enjoyed looking at the trains. While we were there, a FrontRunner commuter train passed by. I had picked up a schedule inside and glanced at it. Then I looked at it a little more carefully. An idea was forming--perhaps we could actually ride a real train. The commuter train doesn't run on Sundays or big holidays, like Memorial Day, so if we were going to ride it, we had to ride it that day. We made a plan: we could take the 5:16 train from Ogden to three stops away, at Layton. We would get off, wait 15 minutes, then get back on. Total time: about one hour.

So we bought our tickets ($7.40 each for the older three, Desert Girl was free, so this wasn't the cheapest diversion around, but the kids really wanted to do it). We boarded the train and the kids got to pick where they wanted to sit.

 Desert Boy was all ready for this grand adventure.

 Desert Girl didn't look so sure.

 The Front Runner is relatively new. It's clean, shiny, and has double-decker cars.

 The weather was perfect for a short wait at the station. Plus the kids then had the anticipation of waiting for the returning train. I'm a big fan of making them wait--it's a good life skill!

We got back to Ogden just fine. A twenty minute ride each direction was just the right amount of time for them.

So if you're in the Salt Lake area, you could easily make a trip up to Ogden, walk two blocks to Union Station and see three museums. There's also a great cafe nearby, Karen's Cafe on 25th Street, just a couple blocks from Union Station. A nice lady on the train had suggested it, and we were very glad--great food, reasonably priced, and a great way to finish our train adventures for the day.

Desert Hot Springs: Diana's Punch Bowl and Spencer's

During our recent trip out to the Toquima Range in central Nevada, we had the chance to visit a couple of hot springs. Did you know that Nevada has more thermal springs than any other state in the U.S.? That's right, just one of the surprises Nevada holds! (And that one might be a little more exciting than knowing that Nevada is the #1 driest state in the nation.)

First, meet Diana's Punchbowl.

 Out in the middle of Monitor Valley lies a slight rise in the terrain, with a road leading up to it. I had read about this feature years ago in Geology Underfoot in Central Nevada, and have wanted to visit it since.

Although a road goes to the top, we parked at the gate and walked up. I wanted to have the experience of suddenly reaching the top and then looking down into the 30 foot deep cauldron. Plus, I have to admit, I wanted to check out the wildflowers on the way, and there were some beautiful ones that I still need to look up as I haven't seen them elsewhere.

 We got to the top and approached the edge of the 50-foot wide pit cautiously. I had the kids lie down, as I had read warnings about keeping pets and children closely under control.

 This is what we saw: nearly vertical limestone walls with a steaming pool of water at the bottom. The water was dark blue, and some vegetation in it was swirling around slowly, indicating currents. The temperature is reported to be 200 degrees F, so we didn't want to fall in.

 The kids were very good about listening and staying still. I told them to stay put while I walked around and took photos from different angles.

 Diana's Punch Bowl is certainly an unexpected feature. It is literally out in the middle of the valley. It must have taken some time to form, travertine layers slowly rising as the calcite-laden water emerged from deep within the earth and the calcite precipitated out.

Some plants grow down in the bowl, but you would need a rope to get down there. I should note that although the photos I've selected make this geologic wonder look almost pristine, some bozo sprayed graffiti on part of the inner punch bowl, greatly marring its beauty.


From the top we had a great view towards the Alta Toquima Wilderness, another place I'd like to visit some day. We could also see a little creek at the base of the hill on the east and south sides. We decided that we should go down and check it out, as I had read that the creek was a suitable temperature for soaking.


Desert Girl is becoming a very good hiker over uneven terrain, and she made it quickly down the hill.

 We checked out the water, and sure enough it was really pleasant. However, we didn't get in, as we had other hot spring plans for that evening. (But I hope to return some day here, it was so interesting. I've seen a couple photos from winter, and the rising steam looks so impressive! Also, not too far away is Pott's Hot Springs, which we didn't visit this trip.)

Next, meet Spencer's Hot Springs.

 On the other side of the Toquima Range, in Big Smoky Valley, lies Spencer's Hot Springs, a popular attraction, especially on a Saturday night. Even though they're remote, they aren't as remote as Diana's Punch Bowl, and they are within an hour's drive of Austin, Nevada. Several RVs and tents dotted the area, as well as a large contingent of teenagers, as well as our restoration group.

 Spencer's Hot Springs consists of three pools, two of which have been improved for soaking. We started with the middle one, which has a nice deck.

 The amount of hot water flowing in from the adjacent hot spring source can be adjusted via a valve. When we got there, the pool was in the upper 90's, perfect for the kids.

 After a long soak, we got out and went for a walk to the lower spring, where we heard there were fish.

 A trough at the lower hot spring also has a way to adjust how much hot water is flowing into it via moving a pipe. It was too hot for all of us, so we went on to the overflow ponds and quickly spotted the gold fish.

It was definitely strange and even unsettling seeing goldfish out there. The kids had fun hopping along the berms and getting just a little muddy. They had a great time and didn't want to leave.

Nevada has so many secret places! Las Vegas is often the image people get when they think of Nevada, but there really is so much more to the state. I'm looking forward to even more explorations!