Pioneer Day

Pioneer Day is a state holiday in Utah, therefore, it doesn't count as a regular day of summer vacation, because the teachers who do teach at year-round schools here get the day off as a holiday--not a day of teaching, not a paid holiday, simply a day of no school for everyone, kind of like Thanksgiving. We went on an historic train ride called the Durango and Silverton Narrow Guage Railroad. She was a coal-fired engine and it took us 3.5 hours to get to Silverton and about 3 hours to get back. They let us off the train for two hours in Silverton so we could walk around and eat lunch and buy fudge (everyone, including us, boarded after lunch carrying little white paper sacks with said fudge hiding inside). We were in an "open-air" car which meant we had coal cinders coming at us the whole time. Everyone wore glasses to protect their eyes. There were about fifty people in our car: the two of us, and forty-eight Texans. No kidding, everyone was from Texas! The scenery was incredible! One of the most amazing things that happened was...WE SAW A BEAR!!! This was K's first time ever seeing a bear in the wild and he had a smile on his face for a long time! However, he's not sure if it "really counts" because he wants to see one on a hike, not from a moving train. Because the bear was running and because we were on a moving train, K reached for the camera, but we couldn't get the shot--no time. I told him it totally counts because out of the cars on that train, the bear was right in front of OUR car! Gift from Heaven!

The guy from Texas on my left asked where we were staying. I told him we didn't know because we were camping and hadn't decided exactly where we would drive after the train ride. He flipped out. He said, "NO KIDDIN'??? Ya'll don't even know where you'll sleep tonight? Do ya'll have a tent?" I affirmed that yes, we had a tent. He continued, "So you just go wherever and pitch your tent and SLEEP in it?" I affirmed that we did. He persisted, "Outside? In the wilderness? Out in the country?" Yep. I asked him where he was staying and what he did in Dallas. He briefly answered and then just went right back to the fact that we camp, "So ya'll camp a LOT? Do you ever run into anything dangerous? That is amazing! I'd like to try sleeping in a tent once! That just sounds so adventurous!" We ended up sleeping in the campground at Mesa Verde National Park that night. Following are a few more pics of the train/ride.