This is the Place

2 weeks ago Kiera and I went to "This is the Place Heritage Park" in Salt Lake. This is the spot at the bottom of Emigration Canyon where Brigham Young declared that this was the valley the saints were to settle in after there long Exodus from Nauvoo. Kiera had never been there before and I hadn't been since 1997. Kieras family recently got a season family pass there so we decided to take it and go check it out.





The park is set up to resemble the buildings and such that the Pioneers would have lived in. There are many original Log cabins as well as replicas of some of the homes of prominent Church leaders such as Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball. They also have many stores set up where you can participate in Pioneer type activities and see what the stores would have looked like in the 1800's.











They also have a couple "rides" there. They have a mini train that takes you around a small lake as well as pony rides and a larger "train" that’s built out of a truck that takes you around the park and the tour guide tells you about it.









Overall we had a lot of fun. I really enjoy learning about church history and hearing the old stories and stuff. It was interesting to see what the Pioneers had to go thru and I don't know if I could do it. It really humbles you. If you've never been to the park its worth checking out. I was surprised that we were there for 5 hours and still didn't see everything. Most the houses and businesses there have tour guides in the houses to tell you about it. I honestly don't care for that but I guess some people do. Anyways they have a Halloween event there as well so we plan on going back when that is taking place to check it out.









Outside the park they have a huge monument built (pictured above) to honor not only the LDS saints who established the Salt Lake Valley but also all the explorers and traps man who had a history in discovering the Salt Lake Valley and other parts of Utah. It tells each of there stories regarding utah which I thought was really cool. There is also this Statue of Brigham Young with Joseph Smith. You always hear about Joseph prophesizing that the saints would be driven out of Nauvoo and settle in the rocky mountains. But this statues has about 8 different accounts of different times Joseph made the prophesy. Its truly amazing how great of a prophet Joseph was to prepare Brigham for the exodus the saints would undertake after his death.