Pioneer Extravaganza

Today was Rio Tinto's annual family night.  This year they chose This Is The Place Heritage Park as their venue.  There was everything from demonstrations, to Native American dancing, to re-enactments of daily life, to activities, entertainment and food.  It was a blast!

The girls got to try their hands at carding wool and even panning for gold.  Mirna was so proud that she found enough for the family with a few pellets to spare.

We all had to have our faces painted.  The artists were very professional, and each piece was unique.

We tried our hand at loom bead work at the Navajo hogan and tried out a traditional hair brush made of straw!  We visited the weavers and saw how the printing press was loaded and news papers were originally made.

There was a pony ride, a petting zoo, and the shaggiest cow any of us had seen.  The girls were afraid of that cow because it lowed so loudly and frequently.  It made me giggle.  Mirna even tried to catch a chicken.

There were two trains, and roasted corn to munch on along the way.  We even enjoyed a pulled pork meal at the end of our journey around the park.

We were sad that we weren't able to visit any of the other buildings or see any of the other demonstrations.  I think the girls would have loved trying out more of the pioneer crafts too.  The park is just too big to see in one go.  Maybe we can visit again and make the rounds again when it isn't so busy.