We trekked back to our carts, had lunch, waited for everyone to come back and then we continued back to the Visitors Center to load the bus home. On our way home we played a FUN game, the Ipod Game. We would pick our favorite song on the ipod, put our head phones, crank up the volume and sing to it pretending that no one was around! This is Josh doing it, he was pretty quiet but good. It was so fun to hear people sing. Most everyone was off key, making up words, dancing crazy and getting into it- we really got to know eachother. I could only sing with a blindfold over me. It was fun, i recommend it :) All the planning, time and stress put into this trip was worth it. It was such and unforgettable experience. Our theme was 'Remember the Journey.' Jenny Phillips who has a CD album called that came and did a fireside for us before we went. That was our theme song as well. So beautiful-it was perfect.
This is the view walking out of the cove, what the pioneers would have seen as they continued their journey with the rescuers. Its such a beautiful area, unique tho. The pioneers had a lot of faith to be able to keep walking every single day in obedience to a prophet of God.
We parked our handcarts right before Dans Cove and had a devotional there. The bishop gave us a ward blessing and talked to us. I was crying thru the song-Come, Come Ye Saints and the blessing for us. It was so special. From there we were given time to walk in silence thru the cove a couple miles alone to ponder and write in our journals. This was my favorite part of the trek. It really is sacred ground we walked on-Wyomings temple as they call it.
Crossing the Sweetwater bridge again on a hot Saturday morning
Our ward family with Martins Cove in the background.
The next morning we woke to a delicous meal our cooks prepared for us (biscuits, sausage gravy and eggs) at 6:30am! We broke camp as quickly as we could and got on the trail to head to Dans Cove and Martins Cove.
This was our camp right before the storm came in just as we were getting ready to say Family Prayer. Everyone was in their tents on time (10 ish) to keep them from blowing away.
After Ephraim Hanks visited and we all read our letters from home we walked down the road to Square Dance and do the Virginia Reel. It was a blast, everyone came out to watch or dance. We were worn out by the end :)
From the visitors center we trekked to the Sweet Water River and did a reverent crossing with four of our men acting as the Valley Boys who came and carried us all across the river. It was such a neat experience, everyone was helping and participating. Josh went in first with me on his back and found the holes- it was the deepest they'd ever seen the river. We could have waited for a warmer day but we decided to stick to the plan and do it friday in the rain anyway. I'm glad we did it in the rain and experienced a little bit of a struggle as the pioneers had to do it in the cold wintery-icy- river. Once we all crossed we kept going in the direction of our camp and stopped and did the Mens Battalion (men leave the women to pull the carts as they go off to war). We watched the men walk in front of us up a steep sandy hill while we prepared for our Womens Pull. This was another special experience, it was not easy to do in our wet clothes with 2-3 girls a full handcart. We would push and pull one of the 9 up the hill and go back and help the next one. I heard later how hard it was for the men in our ward and 'families' to have to stand there and do nothing to help. Once we all made it to the top, we reunited and kept trekking to our camp another mile or so. We made it to camp, set up, ate a wonderful stew, were visited by a missionary acting as Ephraim Hanks (a rescuer) who told us his story. The came in with the Pony Express delivering us all a letter from home.
The first day was rainy off and on. It would rain on us, ruin our journals :( then the sun would come out and dry us out a bit. But everyone kept a good attitude and enjoyed the experience.
The drive there was fun and squishy. All 60 of us got to ride on a fancy busy to WY! We met at the church at 4:30 am and the bus didn't come til 5:30 am (bus driver thought he was on time). We made it to the Martins Cove Orientation on time tho so it all worked out!
We trekked back to our carts, had lunch, waited for everyone to come back and then we continued back to the Visitors Center to load the bus home. On our way home we played a FUN game, the Ipod Game. We would pick our favorite song on the ipod, put our head phones, crank up the volume and sing to it pretending that no one was around! This is Josh doing it, he was pretty quiet but good. It was so fun to hear people sing. Most everyone was off key, making up words, dancing crazy and getting into it- we really got to know eachother. I could only sing with a blindfold over me. It was fun, i recommend it :) All the planning, time and stress put into this trip was worth it. It was such and unforgettable experience. Our theme was 'Remember the Journey.' Jenny Phillips who has a CD album called that came and did a fireside for us before we went. That was our theme song as well. So beautiful-it was perfect.
This is the view walking out of the cove, what the pioneers would have seen as they continued their journey with the rescuers. Its such a beautiful area, unique tho. The pioneers had a lot of faith to be able to keep walking every single day in obedience to a prophet of God.
We parked our handcarts right before Dans Cove and had a devotional there. The bishop gave us a ward blessing and talked to us. I was crying thru the song-Come, Come Ye Saints and the blessing for us. It was so special. From there we were given time to walk in silence thru the cove a couple miles alone to ponder and write in our journals. This was my favorite part of the trek. It really is sacred ground we walked on-Wyomings temple as they call it.
Crossing the Sweetwater bridge again on a hot Saturday morning
Our ward family with Martins Cove in the background.
The next morning we woke to a delicous meal our cooks prepared for us (biscuits, sausage gravy and eggs) at 6:30am! We broke camp as quickly as we could and got on the trail to head to Dans Cove and Martins Cove.
This was our camp right before the storm came in just as we were getting ready to say Family Prayer. Everyone was in their tents on time (10 ish) to keep them from blowing away.
After Ephraim Hanks visited and we all read our letters from home we walked down the road to Square Dance and do the Virginia Reel. It was a blast, everyone came out to watch or dance. We were worn out by the end :)
From the visitors center we trekked to the Sweet Water River and did a reverent crossing with four of our men acting as the Valley Boys who came and carried us all across the river. It was such a neat experience, everyone was helping and participating. Josh went in first with me on his back and found the holes- it was the deepest they'd ever seen the river. We could have waited for a warmer day but we decided to stick to the plan and do it friday in the rain anyway. I'm glad we did it in the rain and experienced a little bit of a struggle as the pioneers had to do it in the cold wintery-icy- river. Once we all crossed we kept going in the direction of our camp and stopped and did the Mens Battalion (men leave the women to pull the carts as they go off to war). We watched the men walk in front of us up a steep sandy hill while we prepared for our Womens Pull. This was another special experience, it was not easy to do in our wet clothes with 2-3 girls a full handcart. We would push and pull one of the 9 up the hill and go back and help the next one. I heard later how hard it was for the men in our ward and 'families' to have to stand there and do nothing to help. Once we all made it to the top, we reunited and kept trekking to our camp another mile or so. We made it to camp, set up, ate a wonderful stew, were visited by a missionary acting as Ephraim Hanks (a rescuer) who told us his story. The came in with the Pony Express delivering us all a letter from home.
The first day was rainy off and on. It would rain on us, ruin our journals :( then the sun would come out and dry us out a bit. But everyone kept a good attitude and enjoyed the experience.
The drive there was fun and squishy. All 60 of us got to ride on a fancy busy to WY! We met at the church at 4:30 am and the bus didn't come til 5:30 am (bus driver thought he was on time). We made it to the Martins Cove Orientation on time tho so it all worked out!
