Lantern Fest 2018

What’s Up everybody?

OH MAN! has it been a cold week for us out here in Utah.  I know that it fall but it has felt more like winter.  In fact while I’m sitting here writing this post, I’m staring at our snow capped mountains.  Adventure doesn’t hibernate during the winter though.  No, it just heads south for warmer weather.  Just kidding.  Believe me, we’ve had plenty of winter adventures and I’m sure that we will add a few more to that list this year.

Ever since we moved back, our lives have been pretty hectic.  Whether it was unpacking, catching up with friends or just trying to get re-familiar with the area.  Needless to say, our weekends have been busy.  We have been looking forward to having a nice relaxing adventure that would take little to no effort.  That is what we found, for the most part but I’ll get to that later.  Before we left Chicago, Erin had found out that there would be a lantern festival coming and she really wanted to go.  Unfortunately we moved before we had the chance to go.  Luckily she found out that Utah was going to have one.  We packed up the car and headed out to Tooele for the 2018 Lantern Fest.

Tooele……Well, the Utah Motorsports Park, where the event was being held, is about 35 miles from Salt Lake City.  When we first arrived we were a little confused.  For as large of a event that Lantern Fest was supposed to be, there was nobody to be seen.  We drove around the facility thinking that maybe we missed the entrance.  We finally found some one that worked there and he informed us that it had been postponed do to high winds.  Understandably, I was irritated that they didn’t send us an email or something that would have informed us that it had been postponed.

Frustrated, I thanked the guy and we went on our way.  It wasn’t until we were on our way home that we received a texted say that the date had changed.  I guess they were have issues with their system or something.  What a waste of a day, if we would have been notified earlier we could have planned something much better.  I guess its dinner and a movie for us.  We saw Small Foot by the way.  It was a cute, fun movie.  I think it was worth seeing.

Fast forward two weeks and we are back at it again.  Packed up our car and headed back out to Tooele.  This time when we got there, everything looked right.  The parking lots were full of cars, there was people waiting in lines, and tents had been set up.  Luckily for us, we purchased our tickets online so we could skip the line and head right in.  We made our way to the tent that had our care packages.  Inside of them was one lantern, a marker to decorate and a s’more kit.  With our kits in hand , all we had left was to find a place to sit and enjoy.

Now I will have to say this.  If you have a large group you should probably get there early so that you can all sit together at a fire pit.  The fire pits are not assigned and there is only so many of them.  We arrived a little later in the day and ended up sharing a pit with a few strangers.  It turned out that Gabe, Alanna, Sarah, and Hasam ( sorry if I misspelled it) were very friendly and we quickly meshed with them.  Come to find out, none of us had been to Lantern Fest before.  We would be losing our Lantern Fest virginity together.  How exciting!   I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of being stuck with people that I don’t know but it was really fun to talk with them and to here their stories.

Around 8 o’clock, we got the OK to light up our lanterns.  You know the scene from Tangled were they let the lanterns go and they float into the air and fly away.  That is what it looked like.  Well for some of us.  I will admit that I pictured it like this.  We would light the lanterns and they would graceful lift out of our hands and float away.  That didn’t happen for us.  Instead.  As we were waiting for the lanterns to fill up with hot air, a wind gust came through and flung them away from us.  Like fools we chased after them with the hope that we would get a chance to get them into the air.  It didn’t happen for us but for many they went without a hitch.  We learned some valuable lesson for next time we go.

I have always associated lantern festivals with Asian culture and traditions.  For good reasons too.  The Chinese have been doing it since the Western Han Dynasty dating back to 206 BCE.  Better known as the Spring Festival, it was held on the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese Lunar Calendar (February / March) to celebrate the New Year.  The lanterns would be plain or simply decorated.  Nothing too flashy, unless you were of Nobility and you could afford to have a more ornate one.  The releasing of the lanterns had different meanings for everyone, but for many it was to symbolize the letting go of the past self to make way for the new self.

For us modern day celebrators, our lanterns were simple and plain.  Made out of biodegradable materials because we are more environmentally friendly than our friends from the past.  We all took a moment to decorate our lanterns with the marker that was provided.  As with the past, everyone had their own reason to release the lanterns.  Some wrote messages of hope and inspiration.  Others for love and lets face it some because they could.  For us, it was to celebrate the ending of one chapter of our book of life and starting a new one.

My message was a simple one.  To those who came before and to those who come after.  Let the adventure continue.  I stand by these words.  It took many to get us to where we are today.  For those that come after us, they will live our legacy and continue to move forward to build their own.

I hope that you get a chance to attend Lantern Fest.  We had an amazing time and met some great people.

Until next time.  Thanks for stopping by.

Josh

This is the Place Heritage Park

What’s up everybody?

Well we have finally settled into our new digs and you know what that means.  IT’S ADVENTURE TIME!  Thats right, we finally feel like we can get out and start exploring once again.  To honor our new found freedom we are starting a new series call the Tour of Utah.  In this series we are going to take you to the places that make Utah unique.  To kick off this series we are going to the place that started it all.  This is the Place Heritage Park.

Over the winter of 1885-86, hostilities towards the LDS people, in the town of Nauvoo Illinois, had reached its breaking point.  Thousands of them were forced to flee their homes.  Only taking with them what they could carry in a oxcart or wagon.  Leaving everything else behind.  Ferrying across the mighty Mississippi River would begin their 1300 mile trek across the plains to their final destination, the Salt Lake Valley.  With difficult terrain and unpredictable weather, it to them a year and then some.  I have driven from Chicago to Salt Lake, which is about the same in milage.  It took us two and a half days in a U-haul and that was enough for me.  I can imagine how trying it was to do it in a oxcart or walking for that matter.

After they enter the Salt Lake Valley Brigham Young, the President of the LDS Church ant the time, stated “This is the right place.  Drive on!”.  With these words Utah began to grow and prosper.  To honor this, in 1912 a humble white cross was erected to signify the spot.  The cross would soon be replaced by a white monolith, which can still be found there today.

The landscape has changed since its humbling beginnings.  A new and much grander monument has been built.  The new monument towers into the air.  It not only depicts the LDS pioneer but Native Americans, fur trappers, Spanish explorers and many others that helped to build and expand the West.

There are plenty of other statures built around the grounds.  Each one has its own story telling you about the migration West.  There is one that is very near and dear to my heart.  Its a statue that is dedicated to people that travelled to Utah by handcarts.  This is special to me because my family was part of these handcart companies.  My family boarded a ship in England and set sail across the seas.  Once they landed in the U.S. they joined up with the Willie - Martin Handcart Company and made their way West.  The company suffered many loses on the journey to the Salt Lake Valley but they will be forever remembered by those that gaze upon the statue.

There is still more to see then just the Monument and statues.  After paying your entrance fee, you are granted access to the Heritage Park.  Once you pass underneath the Eagle Gate, you are teleported back in time when Salt Lake was in its infancy.  The Heritage Park is modeled after the Downtown area of Salt Lake City.  The building have been moved from their original location and rebuilt at the Park.  Not all the building are from the Valley but come from all over the state.

A good portion of building are open for you to explore.  I would suggest stopping by the Blacksmith Shop, Deseret News Print Shop or the Dinwoodey Cabinet and Chair shop.  Each have friendly people ready to demonstrate their craft.  Be sure to ask them question for the are very knowledgable and eager to answer them.

There are plenty of interactive areas in the Park.  For some furry friendship, head over to the Petting Corral.  Here you can get up close to all kinds of barn yard animals.  They have recently had a baby goat named Ghost, since he is all white.  He is very curious about his surrounding and what is happening within his pen.

Tucked up in the back of the park is The Treasure House and Native American Village.  The Native American Village is composed of two hogan built in the Navajo tradition, a male and a female.  They are set upon the red rocks of Southern Utah.  Just up aways from the hogans sits a teepee.  The teepee is actually a auditorium that visitors can see different demonstrations.  The day that we were there, they were doing a show that talked about the different Native Tribes of Utah and some of their traditions.  Incase you were wondering there are five Tribes in Utah: Paiute, Shoshone, Goshute, Ute, and Navajo.  We had the opportunity to see several dances and the meaning behind them.  I found it very interesting and informative.  If you have the chance you should check it out.

The Treasure House is a fun little place to play around.  It is mostly designed for the little ones but the big kids can have some fun to.  Inside the House is a shop with a small mining display.  You can purchase a geo and crack it open yourself.  Outside is where the fun really is.  Underneath the House is a pit where you can dig for gemstones.  Unfortunately, there is no rubies or sapphires but it is still fun digging in the dirt trying to find something of interest.  If digging in the dirt doesn’t fit your fancy, step over to the river and pan for gold.  You are guaranteed to find some Fool’s Gold.  Pyrite that is.  At least you can learn the techniques that the old miners used to use for panning, so you can go out and search for real gold on your own.

This is the right place.  These simple words have become a mantra for so many that have come to live in the state of Utah.  With the beautiful mountains in the North to the red rocks in the South, Utah is truly the right place.

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time.

Josh

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