It was time to say goodbye to the tall buildings, bright lights, and vibrant nightlife of the Ogden-Clearfield metropolitan statistical area. Our route was now taking us off the beaten path and out onto the high plains of northern Utah as we putzed our way up towards Boise. The first of these remote waystations was the Aspen Grove RV Park in Tremonton, Utah, a small farming community 75 miles north of Salt Lake City.
Although the late check-in time at Willard Bay was annoying, the corresponding late check-out time was quite pleasant when it came time to leave. We took our time getting ready and lit out towards Tremonton a little after lunch. The trip was a quick one and after just an hour of driving we were settling into our accommodations at the Aspen Grove RV Park, a spacious, well-kept facility located right in the middle of town.
Little did we know it, but we were arriving just in time for a surprise pyrotechnics show. Once the fireworks started going off all around us, the curiosity got to us and we turned to Google where we discovered that it was Pioneer Day, an annual Utah holiday celebrating the arrival of the original Mormon settlers into the Salt Lake Valley. After a rather forgetful 4th of July due to Covid, it was nice to get a real firework display. Thanks Brigham Young!
Those crazy Mormons kept the party going well past 9:30, but eventually the fireworks died down and we were able to get some sleep. Well-rested and ready to explore, we fired up Google Maps the next morning and picked out a few nearby attractions. The first destination was the Golden Spike National Historical Park, the location where the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad came together marking the nation’s first transcontinental railroad. Although nothing to really write home about, the park did have a few redeeming features, most-notably the two ornate steam engine replicas that straddled the original Golden Spike location (the physical spike is now in a museum at Stanford).
It was hard to pull Sam away from all the riveting stories about long-defunct railroad companies, but we soon found ourselves back on the dirt roads of Box Elder County heading towards our next tourist attraction – the Spiral Jetty.
This “sculpture” which juts out from the northeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake was built by Robert Smithson in 1970. Despite a rough drive getting out there, we were glad we made the trip to see the Jetty. It turned out to be a fun little side adventure. Not only was the jetty a cool, unique piece of art, but the colorful salt crystallizations along the beach and floating pods of pelicans above us also provided some beautiful visuals.
Once we had taken in the historical and artistic sites that the region had to offer, we decided that it was time for a little R&R – more specifically, the Crystal Hot Springs in neighboring Honeyville, Utah. The facility turned out to be quite nice, complete with several pools of differing heat levels, in addition to dual water slides which allowed for racing (let the record show that Clay won each time).
Unfortunately, rest and relaxation can’t last forever. Before we knew it, our time in Tremonton, and Utah for that matter, had come to an end. Our journey was now taking us out of Mormonland and into the great state of Idaho – (which is also full of Latter-Day Saints, as we soon found out).