Well we survived the drive to Utah! We left on Sunday the 28th and did the drive in a single day (its a 14 hour drive if you took no stops). Since our notice for this big move was rather short, we were actually leaving our house before the movers even had a chance to pack everything up. In fact, as I’m sitting down to write this 12 days after leaving Seattle, we still do not have anything other than the clothes and few toys we packed in the car.
My parents and Nick’s dad made the trek out here with us and stayed until the 7th. It was really nice having the extra help with the kids on that long drive and to be able to change up the conversation a bit.
We spent the rest of the time the family was here getting settled in to life in Utah. I worked at the new office (I’ll come back to this in a separate post) a bit, we bought basic necessities, figured out our way around town etc.
But the main reason for the family coming out here was more along the lines of VACATION.
And in true tourist fashion we went to Park City (home of the 2002 winter olympics), Antelope Island, the Aerospace Museum, the Dinosaur Park and to visit the Polar Express (OK maybe it was just a really old train but don’t tell Mackenzie that).
We packed a lot into the ten days so I want to split it into a couple posts so you aren’t reading for days 
Let’s start with the trains and a couple nerdy fun facts about Ogden.
Ogden is somewhat near Promontory Point – where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad companies joined lines to form the first Transcontinental Line. Union Pacific then created a branch line into Ogden. So— Union Pacific and trains in general are sort of a big deal for the City.
Hence, the railroad museum housed in an old Union Pacific Station and the random monstruously large train Polar Express parked out front 
Mackenzie, who loves trains, was in heaven.
Mackenzie driving "the Polar Express"
The front of "the Polar Express"
That train weighs something like 1,000 tons. Crazy huh? The wheels are taller than Nick…
"I'm the king of the world!" - Oh wait, wrong movie ;
With Grandma
The old train station
Mackenzie is super attentive and has a really good memory. See that painting high up on the wall in the above picture? Yeah, I didn’t even notice it but Mack started freaking out pointing to it and telling me “oh no, a train is coming and there’s a crack in the track!” I literally had to zoom in on the camera to be able to see what he was talking about…
"There's a crack in the track"
His aunt bought him this book for Easter LAST year. That’s roughly 18 months ago and here he is quoting the book to me:
“There’s a crack in the track. We cannot go forward, we cannot go back….A train is only as good as is track and that’s what I learned from that crack in the track” – Thank you Thomas the train engine…
Since this station is on it’s way home from Nick’s work, I’m sure we’ll be here quite often – unless of course, it’s “closed”
In all seriousness, if you’re in the Ogden area, the Museum is well worth stopping by for some local history – from trains to skiing they’ve got info on all of it.
