COME JOIN US IN SALT LAKE CITY!
We are pleased to announce our 39th annual trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City! We’re anxious to get the word out and invite everyone interested in joining us from Tuesday, June 18 to Wednesday, June 26, 2019. Please spread the word to friends, relatives, or anyone who might be interested. While the internet is a great research tool, nothing can compare to having access to the largest collection of records in the world, in addition to free access to many subscription-based websites, and free help from library consultants -- you get the best of everything. We also plan extra events to make your trip memorable and fun. Please read on for more details!
Overview: The tour includes 9-days researching in the largest genealogical library in the world, 8-nights’ accommodations at the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel at Temple Square, shuttle service to and from the Salt Lake Airport, information packet (including itinerary, maps, restaurants, name tag, etc), a "Get-To-Know-You" Dessert Social, an early morning genealogy seminar, banquet at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building with a guest speaker, and optional side trips (see info below for Sunday and Monday side trips).
Travel Arrangements to Salt Lake: You will need to make your own travel arrangements to Salt Lake City. Please try to arrange your flight arrival into Salt Lake before 2:00 PM (Tuesday, June 18), so you will be able to attend our orientation and group meeting at 4:00 PM in the Family History Library. Please keep us informed of your arrangements or any changes in plans. All those flying into Salt Lake Airport, and staying at the Plaza, will receive shuttle services to the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel at Temple Square. Upon your arrival at the hotel, your luggage will be held in a designated area until check-in, thus enabling you to go immediately to the library.
Salt Lake Plaza Hotel at Temple Square: We reserve hotel rooms two years in advance due to the peak travel season. We enjoy staying at the Plaza Hotel since it is right next door to the Family History Library. This makes it convenient to go back and forth as needed. Also, there is a JB’s restaurant in the hotel. All rooms have a microwave, mini-fridge, and a small in-room safe. We will assist with a trip to the grocery store on Tuesday evening or as needed. Many people use the mini-fridge for simple breakfast and/or lunch items. There are several room types and room rates to choose from. Please read the registration form carefully to make your selection.
About Hotel Roommates: You can save a significant amount of money by sharing a hotel room. You may have double or triple occupancy. Many of you know each other because you have been classmates. If you would like to have a roommate, it is your responsibility to find a roommate. If you are unable to find a roommate, you may make a notation on your registration form and we will inform you when there are others looking for a roommate. You can then contact each other to see if it will work out. You will be expected to pay the single occupancy rate until otherwise arranged. Also, if one roommate needs to leave early, or if one roommate is arriving late, then it is your responsibility to decide who will be paying the applicable occupancy rate during that time. Also, should the unfortunate event occur that one of the roommates needs to cancel, the two roommates will need to work it out between themselves who will pay the difference in occupancy rate.
What if you’re unable to stay the entire tour or if you have date conflicts? We strongly encourage you to adjust your schedule to stay the entire length of the tour. We have found it takes this length of time to get acquainted with the library and become proficient in your research. However, we understand that other events can sometimes prevent you from staying the entire tour. Please consider the following options: 1) We have a few rooms booked two days before and one day after our tour for those who need to adjust their schedule. These are available on a first-come, first-serve basis; 2) You may deduct or add hotel days according to the attached reservation form. We are not able to deduct charges if you are unable to attend the banquet.
Itinerary in a Nutshell:
June 18, Tue Arrive in Salt Lake. Orientation & group meeting at 4:00 PM in the library. "Get-To-Know-You" Dessert Social at 9 PM at the Plaza Hotel (after library closes).
June 19, Wed Free work day
June 20, Thu Early morning genealogy seminar at the Plaza Hotel
June 21, Fri Free work day
June 22, Sat Library closes at 5 PM. Evening banquet & guest speaker.
June 23, Sun Library Closed. Free day. Can attend live performance of The Tabernacle Choir’s "Music & The Spoken Word" broadcast (no cost) and/or go on our optional side trip celebrating the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. We will visit a special exhibit at the Utah State Capitol building as well as travel to the Golden Spike National Historic Site in Promontory Summit, Utah (details below).
June 24, Mon Library closes at 5 PM. Optional evening side trip to the Hale Center Theater for the new musical “Freaky Friday” (details below).
June 25, Tue Free work day
June 26, Wed Free work day
Sunday Optional Side Trip: One fun aspect of our tour is that we enjoy a little site-seeing and fresh air when the Library is closed. It does wonders to take a day off and get away. Since most of downtown Salt Lake City is closed on Sunday, we encourage you to join us on our getaway adventure! Here is an overview of our day:
On Sunday morning we will have the opportunity to attend a live performance of The Tabernacle Choir’s “Music and The Spoken Word” broadcast. This performance/broadcast is the United States’ longest running national radio program carried continuously on a network since 1929. The performance/broadcast is from 9:30-10:00 AM. This is a free event and a special treat. We will meet in the hotel lobby and walk to the Conference Center for our VIP seats. We will have plenty of time to come back from the broadcast and be ready for the optional side trip.
The remainder of our day celebrates the 150th Sesquicentennial Anniversary of the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad — one of the most transformational events in our nation’s history. Because there are some special exhibits going on during our tour, we have outlined the day with more details so you will know the historical significance.
Our first stop will be the beautiful Utah State Capitol building. We will go to the Gold Room to view the limited-time special exhibit “Treasures! Start to Finish: Pacific Railway Act (1862) and the Last Spikes at Promontory (1869).” This exhibit features the original artifacts from the Transcontinental Railroad, reunited in Utah for the first time since 1869. President Abraham Lincoln signed the 1862 Pacific Railway Act and this document is on loan from NARA (National Archives & Records Administration in Washington DC), which because of its frailty and light sensitivity will be “rested” and not made available for the next ten years. Next, we will see three of the four last spikes ceremonially driven into the last railroad tie at the historic ceremony; the “one and only” Golden Spike, the Nevada Silver Spike and the Arizona Gold and Silver Spike. The first two graciously loaned by Stanford University and the last, from the Museum of the City of New York. Among other transcontinental railroad artifacts, we will see the ceremonial mallet used by California Governor Leland Stanford, to tap the last spikes in the last railroad tie. We will also view photographs and stereographs by Andrew Joseph (AJ) Russell, the 19th-century photographer of the American Civil War and the photographer commissioned by the Union Pacific Railroad to document its construction. Russell is famous for the “East and West Shaking Hands” and “Laying Last Rail” photographs taken at the grand ceremony on May 10, 1869.
Afterwards, we will enjoy a box lunch on the Capitol grounds prior to leaving for the Golden Spike National Historic Site. We will travel approximately 80 minutes to Promontory Summit. On our way we will briefly stop at the outdoor Orbital ATK Rocket Display at the ATK research, testing, and production facility. This Orbital ATK facility is home to the Propulsion System Division and manufactures solid rocket boosters for NASA and provides vital tools to our military, including infrared countermeasures, illuminating flares, and small warheads.
Our final stop will be the famous Golden Spike National Historic Site, the actual location of the ceremonial driving of the Golden Spike. Outside the Visitors Center are temporary exhibits made especially for the 150th Anniversary. Later in the afternoon will be a demo featuring the full-functional exact replicas of the Transcontinetal’s “Jupiter” and the Union Pacific’s “119” original steam locomotives. Inside the Visitors Center, we are invited to explore history through film. The Golden Spike movie is 21 minutes and offers a wonderful overview of the building of the railroad and its completion at the Promontory site. Another movie available to watch is “Andrew J. Russell - a Visual Historian.” This movie is 28 minutes and details the life and work of the photographer commissioned to document the construction of the transcontinental railroad by the Union Pacific crews. His life includes being the only military officer to photograph for the War Department during the Civil War. This is an excellent film, full of photographs of actual construction and photography techniques used during the 1860s.
We hope you’ll take advantage of this opportunity to see these “once in every 150-years” exhibits. All aboard! We will return to the Plaza Hotel at approximately 6:30 PM.
The cost for this optional side trip is $78.00. This includes charter bus transportation and a box lunch. You will select your sandwich/salad choice at a later date. Please note the charter bus transportation will not start until it meets us at the Capitol building. We will make a few trips via car to the Capitol (it’s just a few blocks) or we will use the hotel shuttle if they’re not making an airport shuttle run.
Monday Optional Side Trip: The library closes at 5:00 PM on Monday. Over the years we have enjoyed getting away on Monday evening and seeing performances at the famous Hale Center Theater. We hope you’ll join us for the evening performance of the new musical “Freaky Friday.” We will leave the Plaza Hotel at 4:45 PM in our chartered bus and go to Sandy City where there will be a few restaurants choices for dinner. After dinner, we will drive over to the theater for our 7:30 PM showing of “Freaky Friday.” Disney has done it again! So charming, so bright and wild — that it was made into a movie twice and now a musical! Mom and her teenaged daughter just can’t seem to understand each other ... until ... in one blinding moment ... they are mystically switched. It is an ingenious story and musical written by the Pulitzer Prize and Tony winning team of Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. Book by Bidget Carpenter. We reserved our tickets on the first available day (last August 1) and we were barely lucky enough to get seats. They continue to sell out their shows. The Hale Center Theater gives first-class productions and have been compared to the quality of a Broadway show. Unlike the past with a theater-in-the-round, this particular show will be in their other theater, the Jewel Box Theater, and still promises to be great. Please be aware that we are in side seating and received reduced pricing for our seats.
We anticipate returning to the hotel between 10:15-10:30 PM.
The cost for this optional side trip is $75.00 and includes chartered bus transportation and a ticket for the play. You will pay your own dinner expenses. (As mentioned above, we are lucky to get seats. The season ticket holders get first dibs and then what’s left is available on August 1 — we were on the phone the minute they opened and we barely got enough for our group! Once again, please be aware that we are in side seating and received reduced pricing for our seats.)
Payment Information. Please send your completed forms and check payable to "Shawnette Malan" to Sharon Stokes at 676 Camellia Way, Los Altos, CA 94024 (phone 650-209-5953). A deposit of $200.00 is due by April 6 and the remaining balance is due May 6. All room reservations are on a first-come, first-serve basis and rooms are not guaranteed if money is received after this date. Please contact us if you need special arrangements or if you prefer making an electronic payment via debit or credit card.
If you don’t have your airline reservation by the time you mail your deposit, please make a copy of the registration form so you may fill in your airline information and send it with your final payment.
If cancellation is necessary, refunds will be issued (minus a $50.00 cancellation fee) if made by May 10. After May 10, the deposit will not be refunded.
In Conclusion—This is a volunteer effort! Why do we organize this tour? You may be considering joining our group for the first time – please join us! Here is a brief explanation of our background and history. We are not a professional tour business. All our time and efforts are donated. We calculate the tour price to cover expenses plus a small cushion for incidentals. Carol Harless began this tour 38 years ago while teaching family history classes throughout the San Francisco Peninsula. Carol wanted as many of her students as possible to have the opportunity to research in the Family History Library. Over the years and after her retirement in 2004, Carol and her daughter, Shawnette Malan, continued to organize the annual trip because of the great people that come year after year and their enthusiasm for family history. Carol passed away in 2016, and Shawnette continues the legacy. She lives in the Salt Lake area and this proves to be helpful while planning and carrying out this tour.
There are others who donate their time in assisting the group and we are most appreciative of all their help. We particularly want to mention Sharon Stokes. Sharon spends many hours collecting and assimilating registration information and money. Her efforts are invaluable to the success of the tour. She contributes all of this time and effort because she loves this trip and wants to keep it going. Please help Sharon by turning in your registration forms and money by the designated due dates.
We hope to get the word out to past attendees and anyone else interested in going to Salt Lake. We need to keep our participant "numbers" up to be able to do some of the extras that make our trip fun and memorable. You don't have to be a genealogy expert to join us or to research in the library -- we enjoy everyone no matter what level of "expertise" (or non-expertise) you have! While the internet has opened many doors, the best research door is the door to the Salt Lake Family History Library! Everything is at your fingertips...including research help at every library counter.
Although we are not a professional tour business, we have been told by the library and the hotel that we are one of the largest family history tours that visits the Family History Library each year. We also have been told that we are the most organized group! Thank you to everyone and hats off to all of us!
How you can help! You can help us by: 1) Make sure your registration forms are legible and completely filled out, 2) Return your forms on time to Sharon Stokes, 3) Pay on time to Sharon Stokes, and 4) Follow along with the group schedule as much as possible. By maintaining our group status, we receive group privileges and benefits that would otherwise be unavailable. 5) Help us get the word out!
Last but not least. We hope that some of you who have never made the trip will consider coming. And for those returning, we will try to make your trip fun and enjoyable. All the trip and price information are on the attached form. Sharon Stokes will be collecting the reservation forms and money, after which she will forward everything onto Shawnette for final arrangements. Her address and phone number are on the attached forms.
**Note to those reading this information from the blog -- please email us at cjharless@aol.com and we can send you the reservation form and price information via a PDF file.
Please feel free to call or email me if you have any questions or if you need a registration form. We hope to see you in June!
Happy Researching!
Shawnette Malan
Email: cjharless@aol.com
