Wyoming - So Happy We Made The Drive

After we left the Denver area we drove most of the day

in order to get to this destination:

MARTIN'S COVE

If any of you are familiar with church history, or have read The Fire of the Covenant you will know what this site is all about. My great, great grandfather, Peder Mortensen, his wife Helena and children were members of the Willie Handcart Company who were caught in an early snow storm as they were crossing Wyoming, trying to get to the Salt Lake Valley.

Many men, women and children succumbed to the freezing weather and were buried here.

Thankfully, the Peder Mortensen family were spared and with rescuers help, made it to Salt Lake.

Since it's part of our heritage, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to

have our picture taken with one of the handcarts that were available.

If you had the desire to pull it to the actual location where the

Martin handcart company had been found, you could make

the 5 mile hike (round trip).

Since the majority of us had sandals on, we decided it wouldn't be

a wise decision to make the hike. I was pretty disappointed; after

driving such a long distance I really was looking forward to taking

it all in. I would have possibly considered it if there hadn't been such

a monstrous storm looming over us.

We did tour the little museum the church has set up there.

This is an example of what the families were allowed to carry

in their handcarts. There was a weight limit in order to make it

over the many passes along the way.

Mother, Hannah and I are standing in front of the list of names

that were members of the Willie Company.

Ane Kristine, Anders, Hans, Lars and Mette Kristine

are of course the children - one son was left in Denmark

and joined the family later in Salt Lake.

Lars was Grandma Hess' grandfather.

It was late when we left Martin's Cove. We stayed in Rawlins, Wyoming

that night based mainly on the time of day and the horrific rain storm that

rolled through. The next morning we awoke to spectacular blue skies.

We piled into our car and headed west to Salt Lake City, Utah.

But when we saw signs for Fort Bridger Historical Site we made

a slight detour. We didn't want to miss an opportunity to site see!

This was an absolutely beautiful place.

The location and setting were picture perfect.

The fort had the pony express stables, bath house, school house,

as well as the many other facilities that were needed for families

and soldiers of the fort.

I chose not to include all of those pictures.

I was captivated by the beauty of the place.

SEE FOR YOURSELF.....................

This picture was taken on the front porch of one of the homes on site.

It was a Carter family that lived there.

I just couldn't resist putting Hannah in this little outhouse and snapping a picture. She and Grandma were the only ones thin enough to fit through the door.

Our day at Fort Bridger was well spent and enjoyed by all.

Mother, Becky and I were all glad we took the time to stop.

I was surprised when Hannah admitted she really enjoyed it as well.