pioneer children sang as they walked

I was seven years old when Jenny and I decided that our life goal+dream was to work at This Is The Place State Heritage Park. Think about it! Bonnets and calico and chickens to feed in the morning! Only the age restriction kept us from pulling a handcart up the hill and joining their ranks right that minute. In the meantime, we busied ourselves with drawn-out summertime dramas involving several grass-and-weed stews and a few deaths by cholera.

So, okay, I go through historical phases. Luckily this one didn't last long enough to see us in boots and bloomers at East High, but after Monday's trip to This Is The Place I may be rethinking career choices. It was better than I ever remembered.

Basically, they've completely revamped the place and made it all the better---roads run off Main Street out to old mills, lonely farmsteads, or Native American villages. You can catch a wee train just outside the Huntsman Hotel for a full tour or a quick trip up the steeper hills, and an even more miniature locomotive takes you around the mill pond for a sweeping view of Salt Lake City below. The village houses have been painted over and tidied up, the corner bank is up and running in 1850s currency, and the news shop is surely rolling out the latest issue of Deseret even as I type. Even on a late Monday afternoon, the park was a busy, vibrant place.

Plus, you learn lots! The docents can answer most any question put to them and talked to us about everything from spinning wool to weighing gold dust, and an Apache warrior took us through Shoshone tepees and Navajo hogans. Come closing time, we actually didn't want to leave. First adventure of June? We give it a win.