Pioneer Day at Martin's Cove

If you live in Utah, you have 2 holidays to celebrate in July. One is Independence Day on the 4th and the second one is Pioneer Day on the 24th. In the past, we have had some fun celebrations on the 24th with pioneer games, dutch oven dinners, and even square dances!

 This year we were on vacation and we were driving toward home on the long road through Wyoming. We stopped for ice cream and dinner at the Little America and then got back in the van. We had one other planned stop at a museum, but we were wondering if we would even get there before it closed.


That's when my sweetie spotted the signs for Martin's Cove. Now if you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you will recognize this name, but briefly for those who don't, Martin's Cove was a place in Wyoming where some of the handcart companies had to wait out the cold weather until they were rescued by the saints from Salt Lake City.

We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate Pioneer Day than to tour Martin's Cove and then try our hand at pushing/pulling a handcart. Some of our kids have had this opportunity before, but Crafty was the only one with us who had ever been on trek. To make it more difficult, the kids practiced pulling each other.

And of course we had to have a women's pull.

The kids were all good sports and we enjoyed our time at Martin's Cove. Happy Pioneer Day!