Category: Summer ’22

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Milestones Photos Summer '22

A Golden Evening at the Brown Palace

After rolling into Denver on the Mountaineer, we were delighted to reunite with Margot & Finn (who’d driven down from Leadville), then rest up at our cool hotel just across from the Rockies’ baseball stadium.

From there we were off to Denver’s famous Brown Palace Hotel, an 1892 icon, to celebrate my folks’ 50th anniversary 🎉.

Though the hotel was founded by a Brown unrelated to Leadville’s famous Unsinkable Molly Brown, she did stay there just a week after escaping the Titanic (!). We were happy to add our names to the illustrious guest list, alongside everyone from the Beatles to Bill Clinton.

Dinner was exquisite, as you can see in the gallery. Thank goodness the chocolate truffles are exclusive to the location, as otherwise we’d all be equally round in no time. 😅

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Photos Summer '22

All aboard the Rocky Mountaineer!

[Check out our photo gallery]

Following our great morning in Arches, the big show finally arrived: we boarded the Rocky Mountaineer train in Moab! The train itself (about which Henry could of course provide excessive amounts of detail 😛) was really lovely (clean, spacious, featuring overhead windows), as were all the staff.

Hen of course did his Hen thing, charming the crew by sharing his love of railroad minutiae & insulators:

The ends of the train cars featured neat covered vestibules that let us get some fresh air while shooting photos. I’ll always be grateful that Henry’s quick thinking (and keen observation of telephone poles suddenly disappearing) alerted me to an oncoming tunnel, thereby saving me from smashing Adobe’s new 360º camera into a wall! Here’s the slightly scary footage:

Happily the rest of the two-day excursion was far less dicey, as we wound our way from high desert through gorgeous river valleys:

After a quick overnight in beautiful Glenwood Springs, we arose for Day 2, kicking things off with Henry meeting the train crew & getting their printout of the previous day’s operating instructions:

Honestly it couldn’t have been more perfect, and if you’re ever tempted to make the trip, consider it highly recommended!

We were of course a bit sad that the journey, like all good things, had to come to an end, but it was great to roll into Denver & reunite with Margot and Finn for a great 50th anniversary celebration dinner with my folks. More on that next time!

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Photos Summer '22 Videos

Glorious Arches!

Being in Moab with several hours free before the Rocky Mountaineer was scheduled to depart, we signed up for a tour of the spectacular Arches National Park. Our expert guide David did a great job of driving us around the park, providing color commentary (literal & figurative) on the ancient formations and their history.

See our gallery for a ton of amazing views!

And check out Henry & me taking quite the spin:

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Photos Summer '22

Exploring Ogden’s museums

Following our day at the Golden Spike, we got up early to visit Hill Air Force Base just south of Ogden. As you can see in our gallery, Henry & I loved admiring the huge range of historic aircraft while attempting to out-nerd one another. 😌

We even poked my 360º camera out to capture an interactive view from inside the ball turret of a B-17 Flying Fortress:

Hen & I had to shake a leg to get through the museum in time to make our way back to downtown Ogden & meet up with my folks to tour the great railroad museum there.

Check out the gallery from inside & outside beautiful Union Station.

Afterwards we sprinted town back to Salt Lake City to drop off our rental van, then hop aboard a scenic evening bus ride to Moab to begin the next day’s adventures. More on those next time!

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Photos Summer '22 Videos

Flying the Spiral Skies

Having driven all the way out to Promontory Summit to visit the Golden Spike site, we figured what the heck, let’s press on to see the Great Salt Lake’s massive & iconic Spiral Jetty sculpture. Here we are taking in the sight of the enormous earthwork, in both our human & Lego forms. 😌

The gang was kind enough to indulge me in a little drone flying, the results of which you can see in this video…

…and this draggable 360º panoramic shot from above:

What an unforgettable spot!

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Photos Summer '22 Videos

Golden Spike Revisited! 🚂

The morning after our great afternoon with Ben, we headed north to Ogden, Utah, where Henry & I stayed in 2019 while attending the 150th anniversary of the Golden Spike being struck. Following some seriously hearty breakfast…

…we headed up to Promontory Summit, site of the Spike interpretive center. Unlike last time, when tens of thousands of fellow spectators crowded the grounds, we had the place more or less to ourselves, enabling us to walk right up to the working steam engines.

Henry was of course in heaven, impressing the train crews with his detailed knowledge of their gear, and finally charming his way aboard the engines & ultimately into a private tour of the maintenance shed!

Here he helps back up the wood-fired “Jupiter” engine into her maintenance bay:

Check out our gallery for a full view of the adventure.

Categories
Photos Summer '22 Videos

Fourth of July—with Ben! 🎆

Our summer adventure started off with a bang—literally—as we celebrated the Fourth of July with my childhood best friend Ben Dodds. Ben & his sons live in Salt Lake City, where Hen & I met up with my folks following our flights that morning.

Seeing Ben & catching up on old friends was a real treat, as was having him show us (in our weird little rental van!) around the area, including ascending to the beautiful Wasatch National Forest…

…then knocking back a few Polygamy Porters (“Why Have Just One?” 😅) at dinner.

Check out our gallery to see the goings-on.