Tim and Linda Bunyan
We catch sight of the largest and most powerful operating steam locomotive in the World!
Built for steep mountain grades, each Big Boy had two huge engines beneath a 250-ton boiler able to hold enough water to cover an area the size of a basketball court to the depth of a high-top shoe.
The oil must be changed every few hours to keep the temperature and cleanliness of the engine to top performance. It is so large, ladders are used by the trainmen
to check the oil.
We have made changes to our originally planned our RV Travel Tour to be sure we are here on this day the locomotive arrives in Ogden to help celebrate the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad.
As we set out from our KOA Rv park, we headed for the north station to greet the locomotive arriving near noon. We were the first arrivals and over the next couple of hours, people of all ages came to celebrate the massive, restored locomotive steaming for the 150th year anniversary of the Golden Spike gathering.
Woodstock is curious about all the train tracks.
As the locomotive departs on its two-month excursion on the Overland Route thru Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, Nev., into the LA Basin.
We stayed at the KOA in the city. Close access to downtown.
We are driving around in the truck to get around to explore.
The city is interesting with the Temple Square area, the Capitol, the Planetarium, the City Creek, Liberty Park, and the University and we see it all.
Modern buildings continue to be built; this city is well developed adding modern to
existing city blocks.
The layout of the city streets is a byproduct of the city's Mormon heritage. The city plan was drawn in 1847 from East Coast design as well as the desire for order. A temple at the center of a grid and for large blocks that enabled family farming.
SLC has the largest blocks and widest streets of any major U.S. city.
Residents live in an urban-suburban mix feel.
We enjoyed the look and the feel while driving the expansive view is beautiful and pleasing and plenty of room so there does not seem to be bumper-to-bumper driving.
Large, wide sidewalks allow plenty of space for city motorized scooters
for ease to get around the city.
Family Search Building
Inside the Family Search Building
Tim and I spent an hour searching our ancestry on computers offered here inside the Family Search.
There were people there to help. A young man came to us while we were pecking away. He asked a few questions and entered in a few keys and traced my Klaus family back to Germany....to Prussia!
We thought of Sherry while we were here. She enjoys and invests hours into her family search and this would be a perfect spot to allot some full time with her.
It is comfortable here and quite nice.
Very impressive and a place to spend some more time.
Assembly Hall built of granite stone left over from the building of the Mormon Temple.
Assembly Hall used for meetings and services.
Temple Square Visitor's Center paintings.
Walking about the grounds at Temple Square.
Music & The Spoken Word - 90 years
The impressive majesty of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) Temple is worth a trip to Salk Lake City to see. It was dedicated in 1893 and took 40 years to complete. It is interesting that i's only the fourth temple built since the Mormon exodus from (New York, Missouri) Illinois in 1846.
We catch sight of the largest and most powerful operating steam locomotive in the World!
Built for steep mountain grades, each Big Boy had two huge engines beneath a 250-ton boiler able to hold enough water to cover an area the size of a basketball court to the depth of a high-top shoe.
Big Boys steam engines hauled freight between Wyoming and Utah in the 1940s and 1950s. The American Locomotive Company in Schenectady, New York, (the town next to NY Family Farm) built these locomotives; this #4041 is the only operational.
As part of the Union Pacific steam program, the eighth, UP Locomotive #4014 has been restored to operating condition. No one ever thought that a Big Boy would be restored to operation. Ever.
to check the oil.
As we set out from our KOA Rv park, we headed for the north station to greet the locomotive arriving near noon. We were the first arrivals and over the next couple of hours, people of all ages came to celebrate the massive, restored locomotive steaming for the 150th year anniversary of the Golden Spike gathering.
We found the Union Pacific Office to ask the exact location where the locomotive was to arrive.
Car enthusiasts come to see the locomotive!
Union Pacific no longer has tracks near Promontory Summit (we drove out there yesterday). The Ogden crowd here was asked to tweet #DONE, the telegraphed message that let the country know the rail lines from east to west were joined!
As the locomotive departs on its two-month excursion on the Overland Route thru Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, Nev., into the LA Basin.
We move on from Salt Lake City to Sacramento (where the Union Pacific originated in 1869, thanks to Leland Stanford.)
Sacramento is our final stop for the
2019 Travel Tour.
SALT LAKE CITY
We stayed at the KOA in the city. Close access to downtown.
We are ready for a drive through a city! We want to see traffic lights and big buildings and wide city streets and no better place to see modern cared for avenues than Salt Lake City!
America colors on this modern, public transportation, Transit Authority TRAX electric train, receiving power from overhead wires. This line provides service from Downtown Salt Lake City.
existing city blocks.
The layout of the city streets is a byproduct of the city's Mormon heritage. The city plan was drawn in 1847 from East Coast design as well as the desire for order. A temple at the center of a grid and for large blocks that enabled family farming. SLC has the largest blocks and widest streets of any major U.S. city.
Residents live in an urban-suburban mix feel.
We enjoyed the look and the feel while driving the expansive view is beautiful and pleasing and plenty of room so there does not seem to be bumper-to-bumper driving.
for ease to get around the city.
The City Library
Tim and I spent an hour searching our ancestry on computers offered here inside the Family Search.
We thought of Sherry while we were here. She enjoys and invests hours into her family search and this would be a perfect spot to allot some full time with her.
It is comfortable here and quite nice.
Assembly Hall built of granite stone left over from the building of the Mormon Temple.
Assembly Hall used for meetings and services.
Temple Square Visitor's Center paintings. 
Music & The Spoken Word - 90 years
The Salt Lake Tabernacle was built from 1863 to 1875 to house meetings for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was the location of the church's semi-annual general conference. Now a historic building, the Tabernacle is still used for overflow crowds during general conference.
Tim and I attended the weekly live broadcast performance by the 360 members Tabernacle Choir and the 85 musicians in the Orchestra. The Choir performed for the first time in August 1847, just one month after the pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley.
Since 1929, the radio and now television broadcasts and is the world's longest-running continuous weekly network broadcast in America.
"Music and the Spoken Word."
The impressive majesty of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) Temple is worth a trip to Salk Lake City to see. It was dedicated in 1893 and took 40 years to complete. It is interesting that i's only the fourth temple built since the Mormon exodus from (New York, Missouri) Illinois in 1846.
The temple is constructed with large blocks of quartz rock that had to be dragged by wagon 20 miles from Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Salt Lake Temple is the largest LDS temple by floor area. It is an uplifting experience here at Temple Square. The landscape and historic buildings are a top attraction to this pleasant city.
Tim and take an evening city tour
The Utah State Capitol Building is captivating and is built on Capitol Hill overlooking downtown Salt Lake City.
Downtown The Gateway Plaza
Tim and take an evening city tour
The Utah State Capitol Building is captivating and is built on Capitol Hill overlooking downtown Salt Lake City.
Downtown The Gateway Plaza
Salt Lake City holds a proud history of American Pioneers that came across the nation and remain a part of the woven fabric of the United States.
Before the transcontinental railroad, it took months to traverse the nation. With the railroad, the time was reduced to a week. Now, Google Maps indicates
it is about an 8-hour drive from SLC to Sacramento.
We drive onward, by way of Highway 80, 650 miles to Sacramento, California much as the pioneers that came before us; however, we are with the ease and comfort of our aluminum house and our kitty cat Woodstock!
