Today we drove to the Golden Spike National Monument with Tom, Suzanne, and Isabella. It took two hours to get there, and it poured rain the entire way. Because the Golden Spike is in the middle of absolute nowhere, I was sure we would have the whole monument to ourselves. Not so! There was a small crowd of hardy, determined souls braving the weather to witness the steam locomotive demonstration, and we were definitely not alone. We even ran into one of Abe’s high school friends after the re-enactment of the Golden Spike ceremony.
As I went through the day’s pictures, I beat myself up for not taking pictures of the scenery on the way to the Golden Spike. There were moors that were literally purple and orange, with occasional patches of bright yellow. In the grey, blustery storm, the colors flashed vibrantly against the sky. We were quite close to the Great Salt Lake, so there were also shallow, white pools of water that patterned their way through the moors. Add the very-near mountains to that, and the scenery took my breath away. I pinched myself the whole way there–I get to live in this state! I feel so lucky.
After our trip to the monument, we came home and immediately started our deep-clean-the-house project. I got rid of another garbage bag of children’s clothes, and I organized the clothes I kept into bins by season. I also cheated and threw away several garbage bags of books. I’m pretty sure Marie Kondo has her clients tidy by category, but today tidying by room seemed most motivational. Abe deep cleaned hidden messes in our bedroom, and we both feel so rejuvenated. I keep hearing him mutter, “When in doubt, throw it out!”
