Salt Lake City Parade of Homes

With the economy like it is, this year's Parade of Homes was just average types houses. Prices were mostly in the 300's and 400's. They just didn't have the "wow" factor that you get when you see a home that is priced at a million dollars. I took a few pics to use as ideas and thought I would put them up here. It was interesting to see the colored tile on the bathtubs. That was a new look but would probably date the house pretty quickly. Alot of the fire pits were gas and had the glass rocks in them. Very pretty.

The house to see was the Up house. It was designed after the Disney movie, Up. Loved the teal colored appliances in the house! I thought the house was very small and narrow though.

Out of 27 Parade of Home houses and about 15 builder houses, we were able to see 10 of them. It was a fun day.

Can I say this was a fantastic idea?!!! They put the stoves in a back room from the kitchen. What a great area to use as a baking station! I think it would be great to have a window in here though to keep it cooler. I would love to use this idea in our next home we build...if that ever happens. :)

 

 

 

Nice idea for those old pictures we have of our ancestors.

 

Play area off of shed.

 

Where do you find this pull out system for your under the cabinet trash area?

 

The UP house!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ribbon, flowers and thumb tacks to make a cute wall design!

 

I want my fountains to be this big!

 

Love the lighted cabinets with the glass in the kitchen.

 

Not sure what those are, but if they help your feet feel better, I am all for them being in my shower!

 

Cute wall decor.

 

Love the glass windows above all the closets.

 

Darling tub....but would it get old too fast?

 

Sunday Drive

After going with the YW to see Brigham's Arrow, I wanted to take the family to see the place too. On the Sunday afternoon before Labor Day we had a chance to drive out to see it and then continued on to Piedmont.

It was a bit windy in the afternoon! Here they are standing by a marker showing the two trails. You can still see the ruts in the dirt where the pioneers traveled.

 

Emilene France showed the girls and myself where there were a couple of graves near Brigham's Arrow. Her family has lived in the area forever and she has an uncle who helped survey the surrounding area for historical purposes. I was telling the family about these graves. Seeing how Jason wasn't too respectful, he probably didn't believe they were actually the burial spots for at least 2 pioneers.

 

At least the girls were respectful. After Emilene pointed them out to me, I really could see how they were graves since there were no other rocks piled up in the area. I think since the graves were on the side of the trail where the Mormon pioneers traveled that they could have been Mormons heading to the Valley.

 

I wasn't paying much attention to what was going on in the back of the suburban but when I heard lots of laughter, I made dad take a picture of what was going on. LOL! It's a new contraption to help keep Tyson's head upright while he naps! Kasey can come up with some good ones!

 

I had heard of this place but didn't realize that it was practically in our back yard! The Mormon pioneers camped in this area.

 

Here's the story where you can read it. Thank goodness for Eagle projects! Some young man did this years ago.

 

I could imagine my own pioneer ancestors camping here on their way to the Salt Lake Valley. Gives me chills to think that Ann Ham looked around and saw what I saw this day.

 

The charcoal kilns in Piedmont, now a ghost town.

 

 

Inside one of the kilns. The workers would stack 30 cords of wood in each kiln and then burn it down to make charcoal.

 

 

Here is an opening to get the cords of wood into the kiln.

 

You can read the story behind kilns.

 

 

Did you know the Golden Spike ceremony was delayed a day because of the train in Piedmont?

 

Or that Butch Cassidy was here?!

 

For some reason I didn't get a picture of the few old houses still standing across the road.

 

Cemetery for the original settlers. We had to cross a creek to get to it.

 

Looking back towards the kilns.

 

Even found a lake up past Piedmont that is used by fishermen. These vehicles were all from Colorado.

 

Corbin was let out of his car seat as we drove a little ways. It made for a happier ride for the lil' guy.

 

Here he is playing Pat-A-Cake with his mommy. He sure was happy! Lots of laughs and smiles from him this day!

 

Had a great afternoon with the family and seeing some Wyoming history. We took a back road on over to Evanston and then came home. Found several other roads to explore so hope to get back out again soon!

Brigham's Arrow

The story goes that when Brigham Young came through this area, he wanted an arrow to point the way to Salt Lake. Orson P. Pratt was with Brigham Young in the first company that came out west and was the surveyor for the Saints. He marked this spot with this rock arrow to show the Saints to head straight ahead instead of verying off to the NW and on to the California trail.

 

Very obvious graves near Brigham's Arrow. They are closer to the Mormon Trail than the California Trail so I wonder if they were Mormon pioneers.

 

Sign a few yards in front of the arrow to show the split of the trails. You can see in front and to the left of the sign the wagon ruts for the Mormon Trail.

 

Showing the ruts and trail heading to California.

 

Went with the Young Women to see this site on Wednesday. Can hardly wait to show the family! Very interesting to see where our ancestors walked as they headed to the Valley of Salt Lake!