Camp Floyd Days

Yesterday was so much fun!!! It was "Camp Floyd Days" at Camp Floyd, and though it was really busy and I was pooped when I got home, it was a great day. Things like this are so much fun in the fall. One of my favorite activities we did while I was at grad school was the Fall Frolic festival at the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site last October. Our job was to dress up in pioneer clothes and demonstrate broom making. It was a lot of fun just to be outside in the beautiful fall weather, going on hay wagon rides, drinking homemade root beer, and spending time with other people who love history. Yesterday was like Utah's version of Fall Frolic. The weather was beautiful, and we had about 400 people come through. We had some historical reenactors set up tents out behind the inn, and they talked with visitors about pioneer clothes, activities and food. Then we had pioneer games for the kids, rifle shooting, stagecoach rides, and Jeri made hamburgers for lunch.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the day--it's classic--Civil War uniform meets cell phone :-) This is Van, one of our volunteers, who was teaching kids how to march with toy muskets yesterday. Unfortunately his daughter-in-law got arrested for drunk driving the night before, so he had to be on the phone a lot. This picture captures the essence of historical reenacting--we can recreate the appearance of the past, but we still live in the present.

My favorite visitors of the day were Mom, Dad, Camden, and Riley! The girls were quite intrigued with my hoop skirt. By the end of the day my back was totally in knots from trying to support the weight of that blasted skirt. I can't imagine having to wear one on a regular basis like they did back in the day. It's fun to wear every now and then though.



Here we are with my boss, Mark, who gets to wear the uniform that we have in the display case at the back of the museum. As you can see, Riley isn't too sure about the strangely-dressed man she's having to pose in a picture with.






Then Mom, Dad, Camden, and Riley posed with the gigantic cannon that this random guy set up out behind the inn yesterday morning. It was a massive thing! We don't really know who the cannon guy is, but he just showed up the other day and said he wanted to bring his cannon to Camp Floyd Days, so he did.













While I went back to tend the visitor center, Mom, Dad, and the girls went over to the schoolhouse. These pictures of Camden and Riley writing my name on the chalkboards are too cute!










Then they got to go on a stagecoach ride! The stagecoach was a big hit. And it was very appropriate to have a stagecoach at Stagecoach Inn.

Mom, Dad, Camden, and Riley even discovered some old pottery pieces along the road! We'll have to do some analysis on them to find out where they came from. Great discovery! It was such a fun day, and it was especially fun to have my family there. I love fall and I love history!