What we did over summer vacation: Conferences (read: Parties :-)

So one of the last things that I wrote, that has been nagging at me all summer, was that I would keep you posted on what happened at the Southern California Genealogy Society Conference. Well, that conference has come and gone, along with many others. Oh what a blast we have had. It is so fun to get out and go to conferences and meet with you. It always energizes us.

SCGS is always such a blast. The bloggers that we get to hang out with there are a party. And you can never have too much bling in Burbank so we have way too much fun. Apparently I need to be looking for a tiara for next year--let me know if you have a good source. It is good to see all the bloggers, and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Kim and our son Adam went to Colorado without me this time. Adam is now taller than me, and smarter than me on the computer, and I'm sure he's cuter than me too--so that sounded like a good idea. I missed seeing everyone there, but the younger kids had an opportunity to be in a parade here at home and we couldn't pass that up. (Sometimes it is hard to balance doing family history with making family history :-) We have been showing off Family ChArtist and the feedback has been good. People are always amazed at how quick and easy it is to put together a chart and that the 8.5x11s are free. We've done alot of tweaking over the course of the summer and still have more to do. We'd love to hear any suggestions you have.

Last year conferences were all about running into new online friends. They are now all great old friends. But one of the greatest things about conferences this summer was running into old friends from real life. This is a picture of Lorna Rice and I from SCGS. She was my Primary School teacher when I was only 5 years old. Apparently I look enough the same that she recognized me ?!? No, her daughter had been reading my blog and they recognized some of my writings about my family. It was so fun to see her and even more fun to see that she was a genealogist.

And then there were all the people I accosted for help with the Utah Genealogical Association. Gena Ortega has been a great help, and A.C. Ivory (both below) has been such an energy with the Salt Lake Chapter and the Publicity Committee. If you are interested and I haven't gotten a hold of you yet, let me know. UGA is doing some fantastic things--but I'll save that for another blog post.

The BYU conference a couple of weeks ago was great as well. There were several wonderful new presentations on the future of FamilySearch and how to deal with this new database. We had planned to split up with BYU and the Kansas City Expo both being the same week, but orders were coming in so thick that we had to make sure we could take care of customers. So we decided to stick with the conference closer to home. We were sorry to miss out on the event (and the barbeque) in KC, but I am happy to report that we did get every order out this summer by the time the person needed it. Thanks to all the extra help we've had--Erin has been a lifesaver. She has taken to reading my mind now and I don't know where we got so lucky to find someone like her.

And so on to the next conference (ahem, party). We set up this Thursday for the Salt Lake Family History Expo. Holly says, "Kids are going back to school. Now's the time to think about what you can do to improve your genealogy skills. One way to do that is by attending an Expo where you can hear genealogical experts present on techniques to help you break down your brick walls. You can meet with vendors and learn about new products and websites. You can ask a professional genealogist for help on your toughest research question at the Ask-the-Pros booth. You can network with other researchers and maybe even meet a new cousin." And of course come see us at the Generation Maps booth and say Hi.

And then if you are in Ogden Utah on September 11th, or Pleasanton California on October 8th and 9th, or at the ICAPGEN conference in Salt Lake on October 22nd and 23rd, come say hi there too.

What we did over summer vacation: work work work :-)

I'm officially a binge blogger now. Orders got so thick this summer that the blogging had to take a rest. It was a fantastic summer for us though and we helped tons of people display their family history. I'll catch you up on what we've been doing in the next couple of posts.

Here are a few of the comments we have enjoyed:

• I wish you could have seen and heard my wife's expression when she saw the chart with her family.
• Thank you so much for your efforts, especially over such a busy weekend. The chart is beautiful and will be very well received at the Iowa reunion on July 10. I’m hoping that many of the younger ones will look at it, study it, and leave with a better understanding of relationships. I will soon be 72 years of age and wish that something like this would have been available in the 1940s when I was a youngster. You are performing a wonderful service. The results of your work will live on for decades and decades.
• Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I have been holding my breath since I ordered the 11’ X 3’ wall chart for our family reunion. It arrived earlier than I expected and it is beautiful. The quality is so much better than we had thought it would be. This was worth every penny. All of our work is now ready for the family to enjoy.
• The charts arrived. We love them and I can't wait to show my mother in law. Thanks sooo much for a wonderful job.

It's been funny. With the launch of Family ChArtist, we weren't sure how our company would change, but there has been even more requests for custom charts and descendant charts than ever before. Probably because we are the one place where you can have a genealogy chart designed just the way you want it--every time. And family reunion season is always great for us. We love doing those huge inexpensive charts that help you gather more information at the big family get together or the beautiful family representations that help everyone envision their history with lots of pictures.

I so enjoy helping people bring their family closer together. As busy as we've been this summer, I can't imagine working on anything more fulfilling. We love being able to help you show off your family.

Come see us in sunny CA

Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
If you're goin my way, I wanna ride it all night long.
--Rascal Flatts

Crank up the tunes. It's conference season again.
--Janet

We're on the road again. Life is sweet. While not as inventive as the RootsMagic Guys, I do still have a couple of pictures for you for as hint about where we are going. I have sweet family history there--so it's like I'm going home. I've talked about this before. I don't have to go quite as far as Lisa Alzo (she's in Slovakia and slept in her great-grandfather's house last night. I'm so excited for her. I'm sure she'll be blogging about it when she gets back.)

7878 Naylor Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90045. That's where my mother grew up. And that's where I spent the best part of my summers as a child. We'd leave poor Dad working and take off for long stretches of the summer to my Maternal Grandparent's house. I learned to rollerskate on the bumpy sidewalk out in front. We watched Winnie the Pooh videos in the back bedroom, and there is not a sound I would love more to hear today than my grandfather singing "yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me" again.

Mom was the ultimate beach babe. She went to summer school so that she and her friends could walk to the beach afterward. My best claim to fame has always been that Mom went to high school with the Turtles and sang in accapella choir with them. Beach Boys music is our family soundtrack but when I told Mom I was going to write about her Gidget days she said "whatever." Yeah. She's still got some Gidget in her.
My grandparents moved from there in 1989, but I can still smell the jasmine outside the kitchen window, wonder what the can of hominy was in the pantry, taste the bottled water that was delivered once a week, and feel Grandpa's favorite coconut cookies that stayed soft in the humidity. I even remember the zip code though I often can't remember my phone number.

One of the four generations who've ridden the Santa Monica Pier Carousel.

Today though, we have new great memories of LA. It is the site of the Southern California Genealogy Society Conference every June which has become a mecca for the blogger community. I get to see all the wonderful friends that I talk to on facebook, twitter, genealogywise and the blogs. It is alot like a family reunion, catching up with people you don't get to see enough.

I am doing 3 classes. If you are around the So. Cal area I'd love to see you at the Burbank Marriott. I'm teaching How to Interest Your Family In Their Family History from 3-4pm on Friday. Digital Archiving from 8:30-9:30 Saturday morning, and Easy Online Genealogy Chart Creation with Family ChArtist from 2-3 on Sunday. And of course Kim and I will be at the booth too. Come say Hi.

Lisa Louise Cooke sent me this too:
Hi Janet,

Hope you're doing great. I just wanted to send you a quick note and see if you would be wiling to let your readers know about the free live Genealogy Gems Podcast <www.genealogygems.com> we'll be presenting at Jamboree on Sat. June 12 at 1:00 in the Pavilion. I've got some great guests lined up:

• Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective
• Suzanne Russo Adams, Ancestry talking about her research on Who Do You Think You Are?
• Chris Haley

I put together a 2 minute video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlZM_Xjcrwk

We're going to be giving away lots of very cool prizes throughout the show too!

And Daniel Horowitz is back on his West Coast Genealogy Tour II. You can
learn the latest technology developments going on at My Heritage and receive a FREE copy of the software "Family Tree Builder" at his lectures.

It's going to be a blast. I'll keep you posted with pictures and such.

Another FamilySearch award for Generation Maps

While I was too exhausted to write much after BYU and NGS (5 lectures in two days and 2 booths and 3 conferences in the overlapping 5 days) there is one thing I MUST tell you about. We are one of the very few companies now to hold TWO (count 'em TWO) FamilySearch software awards. Press release follows.

For Immediate Release

19 May 2010

2010 FamilySearch Software Award Recipients Announced

SALT LAKE CITY—Recipients of the 2010 FamilySearch Software Awards were announced at the FamilySearch Developers Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. The 14 recipients were recognized for their outstanding and innovative work in advancing products and technologies that integrate with FamilySearch’s emerging suite of products and services.

The annual FamilySearch Software Awards has been established to encourage and recognize software development that benefits the growing demands and needs of family history consumers. “The awards formally recognize the software achievements of those developers and companies that are making important contributions to the family history and genealogy industry,” said Gordon Clarke, FamilySearch developer services product manager.

The Best New Product awards were given to applicants in different platform categories. Products with specific features deemed important to the growth of the industry received the Best New Feature award. Community Player awards recognized individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the software developer community.

The following recipients were announced and awards presented at the FamilySearch Developers Conference:

Best New Product Awards

· The MagiKey for the “Best New Windows” product

· Arcalife for the “Best New Web site”

· MobileTree for “Best New Mobile” product

· FamilyInsight for “Best New Macintosh” product

Best New Feature Awards

· OurFamilogy for “Best Research” feature

· SharingTime for “Best Collaboration” feature

· Genetree for “Best DNA” feature

· Ancestral Hunt for the “Best Geo-Mapping” feature

· FamilyPursuit for the “Best Groups” feature

· Photoloom for the “Best Media” feature

· FamilyChArtist for the “Best Print” feature

· AppleTree for the “Best Celebrity Tree” feature

Community Player Awards

· Gaylon Finlay, Incline Software, “Bug Hunter” award

· Michael Booth and Bruce Buzbee, Roots Magic, “Trailblazer” award

FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Patrons can access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Catching up

Well apparently I'm a binge blogger lately. It's all Sheri Fenley's fault. At NGS she happened to show me that she hadn't posted for a while and I thought, "Well if the great Shirley has her quiet moments, I probably should too." You have to watch out for us blondes. LOL. Now I need a picture of a bottle of ketchup like the Ancestry Insider uses.

Really, it was a mixture of doing some writing (articles and the start of a book (!?!)), doing some reading (below), some minor health problems (just annoying), not to mention the exhaustion of doing the BYU and NGS conferences back to back. A great time was had by all, and we're all rested up and back on track. And of course Generation Maps is busy as usual. If you haven't gotten your family reunion chart in to us for this summer, be sure to get it in soon. It's already shaping up to be a great season.

Among other things, I read Elizabeth Shown Mills historical fiction work Isle of Canes. I haven't looked at how other reviewers treated it, but I was extremely impressed. I don't know that the writing flowed all that terribly well, but it was an impressive example of professional genealogy work. Though it was a work of fiction, you could tell the massive amounts of research that had gone into the book. She knew the people, she knew the neighbors, she knew all the surrounding information and she knew it well enough to make you care deeply about these people. It was a beautiful, heart-wrenching story. Amazing book and incredible genealogy investigation.

I've also been working on UGA projects. Here is a quick update on some of those:

1)SLIG registration opens June 10th

Get in on the ground floor. Registration for the 2011 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy opens at 9 AM MST Thursday, June 10, 2010 online at www.inofuga.org. Some of the country’s best genealogical educators are gathering to help you gain expertise in a flash with small class sizes and hands-on research. Whether you are a beginner or are looking for advanced skills, you can’t afford to miss this wonderful opportunity to learn from the experts. Register early as all class are expected to fill to capacity.

The 2011 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy will be held 10-14 Jan 2011 at the downtown Radisson Hotel located at 215 West South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah. Registration is $320 before 30 October 2010, thereafter $345. UGA members can use the coupon “SLIG2011” before October 30^th for the member pricing of $280. All coupons used by members will be verified by membership staff. Registration includes course materials, an orientation breakfast and the Friday night banquet. Evening classes and additional dinner tickets are extra.

Courses for 2011 include:

• American Records and Research: Focusing on Localities with Paula Stuart-Warren, CG
• NEHGS part1 --New England and New York with D. Joshua Taylor
• Irish Family History Research with David Ouimette, CG
• Research of France and her Former Colonies with Earl Charvet
• Researching in Washington, DC, without Leaving Home with Rick and Pam Sayre, CG, CGL
• Professional Paths and Income in Genealogy with Kory Meyerink, MLS, AG, FUGA
• Internet Tools & Techniques with Barbara Renick
• Producing a Quality Family Narrative with John Philip Colletta, Ph.D., FUGA
• Advanced Methodology with Thomas W. Jones, Ph.D., CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA
• Accreditation and Certification with Apryl Cox, AG and Connie Lenzen, CG
• Problem Solving with Judith Hansen, MLS, AG

and 2)Hold the date. Mark your calendar October 15th 2010 for our UGA membership meeting and open house gala. This banquet will launch our 40^th anniversary renaissance year with the first meeting of our new virtual chapter so plan to attend online even if you can’t be in Salt Lake City. Along with dinner and a speaker, there will be displays and discussions about our new Speaker’s Bureau, the new Intermediate Genealogist Education Program, and our new chapter initiatives as well as many other activities to launch us into the next steps in UGA’s history. More information will be forthcoming.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--Top eight sites to see.

So. To wrap it all up, out of all the suggestions I've given you, what do you really need to see to experience Salt Lake City?

• Temple Square and the Beehive House. Likewise the Church History museum. All right next to the FHL
• Since it is spring, you have to drive down and see Thanksgiving Point and the tulips (Alternately, if you come back in the fall you need to drive the Alpine Loop.)
• Second South tour that I talked about earlier.
• This is the Place
• Kennecott Bingham Copper Mine
• And you can't come to Salt Lake without going out to see the Great Salt Lake, duh. Antelope Island is a unique place to explore.
• Also check out the Humanitarian Center of the LDS church.
• and there is still skiing at Snowbird.

Thanks to my social networking class for the ideas.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--Bringing the Family

So what is there to do if you are bringing the family? I hope you are--and I hope you have signed up for the Kids Camp that is going on on Saturday. It is my passion in life to envelop my children in the larger picture--an extended family, and teach them about their heritage. And what better way than to bring them to a genealogy conference?

So--since I am telling you about traveling to Salt Lake, what is there for the family to do in and around the conference?

Two great resources are one trax stop, or about a two block walk west from the conference over at the Gateway Center. The Clark Planetarium is a favorite of our family's. There are interactive displays about the planets, laser shows and an Imax theatre, but my kids' favorite is "Newton's Daydream," a two story audio-kinetic maze of balls and bells and whistles that you can interact with. Exhibits are free, times and prices for the shows are at the website.

Likewise at the Gateway Center is the children's museum known as the Discovery Gateway. This museum is perfect for the 5-10 year old crowd, but all ages can find something interesting here. There is an interactive town with a store, farm and house and construction zone, a play area "beehive" of interactive ball chutes, a media center where kids can produce a newscast, a story telling stage with puppets and costumes, and much much more. Hours are Monday - Thursday 10 am - 6 pm, Friday and Saturday 10 am - 8 pm, and Sunday Noon - 6 pm. General admission is $8.50

Up emigration canyon on the eastern side of Salt Lake City, Hogle Zoo covers 42 acres with over 800 animals. This is the perfect time of year to visit the zoo--not to hot or cold, and lots of baby animals. If you are sticking around until May 15th, a new exhibit called "Natures Nightmares" is opening with all sorts of "scary" animals. Don't know if I'm going to go see that one (I'm typically squeamish) but of course you should ;-).

I already talked about the Tracy Aviary, located on seven wooded acres of Liberty Park, it is the nation's oldest public aviary. This bird park hosts a collection of 400 birds including many endangered species. During the summer guests can see a free-flying bird show and hand feed colorful parrots at the Lory Walk exhibit. Admission is nominal and all proceeds benefit the birds. Open year-round. 589 East 1300 South. 801-596-8500.

My all time favorite places to take the kids though are the historical sites I already listed for you. This Is The Place Heritage Park, The Beehive House, and the Heber Creeper. I hope as I spend time with them, and invest them in their history, they will become genealogists too. Good luck creating your own genealogical descendants.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--Day Trip Provo

I've already told you about the Family History Library at BYU and the Gardens at Thanksgiving Point. I'm going to give you a few other places to make a day trip out of Utah County. I think the Family History Library and the gardens would be the perfect day. So I'm pretty much just going to give you a few places to eat.

Thanksgiving Point has a really good restaurant called the Harvest Restaurant. It has fresh good food and the walls of the restaurant are painted with fun "trompe l'oeil" art on the walls. Right next to Thanksgiving Point is another favorite burger place--JCW's. A little further south on the BYU campus is the Museum of Art Cafe. The Cafe is only open from 11 to 2 for lunches, but they have wonderful salads and an amazing cold raspberry soup. Other fun places to stop include Cabelas where you can see the wildlife displays and aquariums and dine on buffalo or ostrich at the High Uintas grill. And if you ever come later in the fall, the most beautiful place on earth to see the leaves change is the Alpine Loop drive between American Fork Canyon (stop and see Timpanogos Cave) and Provo Canyon (home of Sundance Ski Resort).

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--Day Trip Park City

Although Dear Myrtle already posted a bit about Park City's Historical Museum, I thought I would add my $.02.

Park City makes a fun day trip from Salt Lake. The ski areas have just closed for the season, but there are still lots of fun attractions to visit. The Olympic Park has tours and rides and a fun zip line that opens May 8th, the Tanger Factory Outlet is a great place for shopping deals and Main Street is a good place to wander through art galleries and especially enjoy the nightlife. Park City is about a 40 minute drive up Parley's Canyon on the I-80 freeway.

If you go, you have to eat at Stein Erickson or Grub Steak, both pricey but absolutely legendary.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--Day Trip Ogden

Ogden is about a 45 minute drive north on the I-15 freeway. I suppose I'm partial to Ogden for a family history day trip because my maternal grandfather's parents settled in Ogden for a time. But it has an amazing railroad history that is most fascinating. You can take the FrontRunner train up to Ogden in about 45 minutes and it will drop you off just a block or so from the Union Station. In 1869 when the transcontinental railroad was connected at Promontory Utah, Ogden became the central hub of transportation in the intermountain west. The station is not in use for trains anymore but houses three interesting museums: the John M Browning Firearms Museum, The Utah State Railroad Museum and the Browning-Kimball Classic Car museum. The station is open Monday-Saturday 10am to 5 pm and admission for all three museums is $5.

Or, if you would rather learn about Airplane history, make the stop on the way up to Ogden at Hill Air Force base and visit the Hill Aerospace Museum. The museum boasts one of the largest collections of vintage aircraft with over 90 military aircraft and military aerospace vehicles. Exhibits take you through the dawn of the airplane and the history of the Air Force with interesting stories about the people who were involved. The museum is open 9:30 am to 4:00 pm seven days a week and admission is free but donations are appreciated.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--What's Playing Now?

I know you are all going to be busy with the multitude of events surrounding the conference. But I thought I'd let you in on a couple of the other events going on in Salt Lake next week.

• The Temptations are at the Abravanel Hall next weekend right next to the Family History Library and the Salt Palace.
• 42nd Street is playing at the Pioneer Theatre Company up at the University of Utah.
• Hale Centre Theatre--a local favorite theater in the round--is showing The Three Musketeers.
• If Thursday night's performance leaves you wanting for more, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has several other events including organ recitals and their longest-running network television program Music and the Spoken Word started in 1929.
• The Salt Lake Acting Company is performing Charm.
• Pirates of the Car-Rib-eee-An Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Fun is being performed by the ever comical Desert Star Playhouse.
• Regular movies can be seen downtown at the Mexaplex 12 at the Gateway Shopping Center.
• And various other art shows and concerts can be found at the Now Playing Utah website.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--the weather/what should I pack.

We've been getting hit with erratic spring showers today. At one point the hail looked like snowballs on the windshield, then 10 minutes later it was a light shower. Common for spring, they don't last very long.

According to the weather channel, I have good news for Sheri. By this Saturday there are no more plans for showers. So Sheri, you might want to bring a sweater or a light jacket for cold classrooms and late night walks. But you can leave your coats and probably your umbrella at home. That should leave you more room for shoes. :-)

And Dick, I guess you have more room for electronics, and Randy you should be able to fit in more t-shirts. See you soon.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--The Beautiful Mountains

The first thing you notice when you come to Salt Lake City is our beautiful mountains. You can see on this great satellite picture that they surround the Salt Lake Valley with the Great Salt Lake (and Antelope Island) in the Northwest corner of the valley. Downtown Salt Lake is in the Northern part of the valley and the suburbs stretch out to the south. You can see on the satellite image the I-15 main freeway corridor stretching through the middle of the valley (the white line) and down before you come to Utah Lake is the Point of the Mountain where the mountains come together before heading down into Utah Valley.

Salt Lake sits on the western edge of the Rockies. The mountains provide great opportunities for recreation such as rock climbing, hiking, mountain biking and of course skiing. The highest mountain in the valley is Twin Peaks, which reaches 11,330 feet. This stretch of mountains with it's cities to the North of Salt Lake (Bountiful, Layton, Ogden, etc.) and it's cities to the South of Salt Lake (Alpine, Orem, Provo, etc.) are commonly called the "Wasatch front." The Oquirrh mountains that border the western edge of the valley are the home to Kennecott Copper Mine, the largest copper mine in the world. You can always tell where you are on the Wasatch front because the big mountains are to the East and the smaller mountains (the Oquirrh mountains) are to the west. And in fact once you spend a bit of time on the Wasatch front, you miss that instant location guide when you leave.

The main part of the valley is just over 100 square miles. City Creek, Emigration, Millcreek, Parley's, Big Cottonwood, and Little Cottonwood are the main canyons that stretch off to the East. Several of them are full of ski resorts. You can tell if the valley was cut by a stream or by a glacier by looking to see if the mouth of the canyon comes to a v or a u. U shaped canyons were cut by glaciers and V shaped canyons were cut by the river.

The valley was formed by Lake Bonneville, ancient lake that stretched out to the West. The foothills at the base of the mountains, or locally called the "benches," were once the beaches of this huge lake. At its largest, it was almost as large as Lake Michigan. Eventually though, the lake dried up and what is left of it is now the Great Salt Lake. Lake Bonneville's former beaches are now exclusive properties for homes with a sweeping view of the valley--especially beautiful at night.

Elevation in the valley is 4,330 feet/1,320 meters above sea level. There is usually clean fresh air except for when clouds get trapped up against the mountain and create an inversion. High elevation makes it harder to breathe while you are exercising (making it a great place for athletes to train) and alcohol has a stronger effect. It is good to drink more water to help with elevation adjustment. And you should add a little more flour to cakes so that they rise right. The valley isn't high enough to cause any real altitude problems in travelers.

I love being able to look up at the snow capped mountains when the summer starts to heat up. There will still be snow at the top when you arrive making the view just beautiful. But you'll be able to enjoy the warm spring weather and beautiful plants starting to wake up in the valley below.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--When are you leaving?

The registrations for NGS look great and we are exited to have lots of people coming from everywhere. While we have driven and flown many of these distances to meet with you, here are some mileage estimates for you since you are coming our way this time.

• New York City to Salt Lake City is about 2190 miles
• Oklahoma City to Salt Lake City is about 1100 miles
• St Louis to Salt Lake City is about 1360 miles
• San Diego to Salt Lake City is about 760 miles
• Seattle to Salt Lake City is about 850 miles
• Phoenix to Salt Lake City is about 650 miles
• Nashville to Salt Lake City is about 1700 miles
• Las Vegas to Salt Lake City is about 420 miles
• Grand Junction to Salt Lake City is about 290 miles
• Detroit to Salt Lake City is about 1670 miles
• El Paso to Salt Lake City is about 870 miles
• Houston to Salt Lake City is about 1440 miles
• Kansas City to Salt Lake City is about 1110 miles
• Columbus to Salt Lake City is about 1680 miles
• Cheyenne to Salt Lake City is about 440 miles
• Boston to Salt Lake City is about 2380 miles
• Atlanta to Salt Lake City is about 1930 miles
• Billings to Salt Lake City is about 640 miles
• Boise to Salt Lake City is about 340 miles
• Albuquerque to Salt Lake City is about 600 miles
• Anchorage to Salt Lake City is about 3416 miles
• Ottawa to Salt Lake City is about 2957 miles
• Vancouver to Salt Lake City is about 1292 miles
• Toronto to Salt Lake City is about 1671 miles

I actually love driving and getting to see the sites along the way. If you aren't so inclined, I hope you are flying. But if you are driving, there is another great list of driving distances from many of the western national and state parks.

We're vacuuming the red carpet. We'll see you soon.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--Parks

There is another reason that NGS picked the perfect week to come to Salt Lake City. And that is that the gardens around the city come alive with tulips and daffodils this time of year.

You'll get to see the beautiful tulips around the library pretty easily, but be sure to take a walk one block to the east and look around Temple Square. The sight is spectacular this time of year. It is an amazing place to take pictures.

Likewise. 26 miles to the south is Thanksgiving Point. The 35 acres of gardens boast 250,000 tulips. Until May 1st, they are hosting the Tulip Festival from 10 am to 8 pm Monday through Saturday. Entrance fees are $10 adults, $8 children and $9 seniors. It's hard to explain how beautiful the gardens are, you just have to go see them.

There are lots of other beautiful parks around Salt Lake too.

Liberty Park is Salt Lake's foremost park. There are all sorts of things to explore at the park. Tracy Aviary is a popular site for bird watching, my first birthday party was held at the amusement park, and more recently they have built a fun interactive playground map of the Salt Lake Valley with fountains and rock features. Liberty Park is at 11th South and 6th East.

Red Butte Garden is also a popular place for locals to hike and go exploring. It is a 100 acre botanical garden that is part of the University of Utah and largely organized to help learn about local horticulture. It is open from 9am to 9pm throughout April.

And if you are downtown a great place to stretch your legs or have a picnic are the Brigham Young Park and City Creek Park. They are beautifully landscaped parks just east of State Street and on the corners of North Temple. Delightful places to get some air at lunch time.

And finally, Memory Grove is a serene place, close to downtown wonderful for a jog or bike ride. It stretches up city creek canyon to the east of the capitol.

Lots of beautiful places to see and to get some fresh air. Hope you enjoy them.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--Historical sites

There are several historical re-creation sites in Salt Lake and along the Wasatch Front. These make a fun trip if you are bringing kids or a nice side excursion to drink in.

A whole pioneer village has been recreated at This is the Place Heritage Park on the east bench in Salt Lake. My kids and I have enjoyed volunteering up there for a couple of summers and have learned lots of fun little historical facts and gotten to know some great people. We know how to play graces and are pretty good at hoop trundling, carding wool and stilts. The 450-acre park has a new Native American village and a mercantile with old-fashioned candy. Their spring program has started and hours are 9am-5pm Monday - Saturday, 11am-4pm Sunday with admissions being Adults $7.00, Children (3-11) $5.00, and Seniors (55+) $5.00.

Wheeler Historic Farm is the restored turn-of-the-century dairy farm of Henry J. Wheeler. Right in the middle of the Salt Lake City metropolis is a haven of farm chores, tractor-drawn hay rides, and beautiful wildlife and wetlands. Open from dawn to dusk, it is at 6351 South 900 East in Salt Lake City. You can enjoy the farm machinery exhibit, milk a cow, feed the ducks, or have a picnic in this picturesque setting.

I think one of the most fascinating historic sites on the Wasatch Front is the Benson Grist Mill west of Salt Lake in Stansbury Park. You can tour the 150 year old structure and view close up the amazing construction methods and the complicated milling equipment used when the area was settled. Early mills were a vital part of farming communities and necessary for the making of bread--a staple of the frontier diet. Several other small cabins and displays surround the site as well. The Mill opens to the public on May 1st and will be open throughout the summer on Mondays - Saturdays 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

The Utah Heritage Foundation sponsors guided historic tours around the many fascinating neighborhoods and mansions of downtown Salt Lake. Tours can be scheduled for small groups two weeks in advance and cost $3 per person. They also offer several self-guided tours with downloadable audio for CD or mp3 players. I highly recommend the Historic South Temple Street tour. South Temple has always been Salt Lake's most prestigious address and many early mansions line the street with fascinating histories. The walking tour takes about 2.5 hours.

The Beehive House is Brigham Young's residence and is open for tours from Monday through Saturday 9 A.M. to 9 P.M. Free guided tours begin every 10 minutes. Brigham Young was the LDS leader who led the Mormons to the Salt Lake Valley and was the first territorial governor until 1858. The Beehive House is located on 67 East South Temple, just east of Temple Square.

And finally, a little further away is the Heber Valley Railroad. It is a historic steam railway which still travels through the Heber valley and down Provo canyon. The trains run Fridays and Saturdays in the spring and schedules can be found on the website. You can enjoy a slice of the "Golden Years" of US railroading and the beautiful scenery all at the same time. The ride starts at 450 South 600 West - Heber City, Utah 84032 about a 1 hour drive East of Salt Lake.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--You're invited to the Family ChArtist Debut Party

Come and participate in the grand premiere of a most exciting new genealogy chart tool — Family ChArtist by Generation Maps (www.generationmaps.com/familychartist). A celebration and premiere party will be held at the Generation Maps booth in the National Genealogy Society Conference vendor’s hall on Wednesday, April 28th from 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. The NGS conference (www.ngsgenealogy.org) is being held at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City April 28^th through May 1^st. Admisssion to the vendor’s hall is free to the public.

In addition to refreshments, there will be continual demonstrations of this easy-to-use, new program. Training computers will be available so that you can also try it out yourself. Create an 8.5 x 11 color print free of charge, or try your hand at a larger, frameable archival print which can be printed for a nominal fee. There will be drawings for two $50 gift cards as well as free consultations on printing large genealogy charts. Representatives will be available to answer questions about printing any kind of genealogy chart you need or want.

As you know if you've been reading this blog, Family ChArtist is a new, user-friendly web based program that will assist you in creating beautiful, personalized genealogy charts based on information either from your own genealogy computer files or from the New FamilySearch database. The website offers beautiful high quality graphics in modern, classic and colorful patterns, as well the ability to add as many of your own pictures as you would like. First time users can create beautiful charts in just a few minutes without the purchase, installation or advanced training of other design software programs, online databases and file formats. As with all Generation Maps charts, extra copies are always HALF PRICE. Order copies of your chart as meaningful gifts for your children and other family members.

Be sure to bring your genealogy computer file, genealogy information and/or your New FamilySearch ID with you to the NGS Vendors area so you can try out this new, easy-to-use program yourself. You'll be amazed at how easily you can create, share and display beautiful expressions of your family history. And if you can’t make it for the party, you’re welcome to take it for a spin online at www.generationmaps.com/familychartist. Hope to see you there.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--Where to get a good burger.

Ok. There's one more part that I have to cover about restaurants in Salt Lake--where to get a good burger. I mentioned Crown Burger earlier, definitely a good and close place to get a burger and a good shake. But here's a few more recommendations.

Iggy's Sports Grill 423 West and Third South. Iggy's has great burgers--I love the "black and blue" with blue cheese, teriyaki sauce and skinny fried onions. But it also has the largest menu I've seen in recent memory. Lots of great stuff to sink your teeth into. So if your party can't decide what they want to eat--and you're craving a good burger, convince them to try out Iggys. I'm sure everyone will be able to find something they like.

Hires Big H Drive-in founded in 1959 on the corner of Fourth South and Seventh East. It is a Salt Lake landmark with their own root beer made into gorgeous root beer floats. This is the place for classic burgers and lots of fry sauce.

The Training Table is another old Salt Lake favorite with lots of gourmet burger combinations and deadly-but worth it-cheese fries. Once you've figured out what you want, you call in your order with the phone at your table. But the thing you have to try here is my favorite fry sauce--made with a somewhat spicy barbecue sauce instead of ketchup.

But the all time best burger I've ever eaten we just found last weekend by following the restaurant reviews I've been reading for this series of posts. It is in the Lucky 13 Bar at 135 West 1300 South. I don't know how to describe it--just an exquisite bun and good fresh hamburger and bacon. Lots of good options for toppings and you have to try the rosemary garlic fries.

Once you've tried these out, stop by the Generation Maps booth in the vendor's hall and let me know which one you think was best.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--Fast food

Did you know that the model for and first franchise of Kentucky Fried Chicken was built in Salt Lake City? It's still there today at 3900 South and State Street.

And did you ever hear of fry sauce? It's a sauce of mayo and ketchup and sometimes a few other secret ingredients that you dip french fries in. During the 2002 olympics visitors were all agog with this Utah staple. At that time Katie Couric said it was a good thing she didn't live here or she would weigh quite a bit more. Now you can find fry sauce all over the place.

And then, how about a pastrami burger common to Salt Lake City? Its roots are in Utah's Greek Immigrant population that came with the mining boom resulting from the completion of the Transcontinental railroad. Several of the children who grew up in Salt Lake's Greektown opened burger joints including Apollo Burger, Olympus Burger and the home of Utah's first pastrami burger--Crown Burger. Thus many burger joints in Utah boast Gyros and Baklava along with the fries and shakes. The pastrami burger is usually served with as much pastrami as beef and a slather of thousand island dressing and swiss cheese. You can find one to the west of the Family History Library at the corner of Third West and North Temple.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--Award Winning Restaurants

I've got some really good food for you here. This is my list of the BEST food in Salt Lake.

To start with I'd have to give a nod to the Diners Drive-ins and Dives picks for Salt Lake City. This is definitely the all time best stuff around and for good prices too. I am a DDD groupie, trying to catch as many as we can anytime we go to genealogy conferences. I can completely recommend the following.

• Moochies--meatball sandwiches and philly cheesesteaks to die for. 232 East 800 South.
• Red Iguana--there is usually such a wait for this one they opened a second one down the street. Skip the first at 736 West North Temple and go to the second at 866 W South Temple. Famous for outstanding moles.
• Pat's Barbeque. Pulled pork and incredible deserts at 155 West Commonwealth Avenue (2125 South) .

Then a little further from downtown:

• Blue Plate Diner--Five kinds of Eggs Benedict with other comfort foods and eclectic combinations. A little further out on 2041 South 2100 East.
• Ruth's Diner--A tradition since 1930 in a beautiful setting up Emigration Canyon. (4160 Emigration Canyon Road.) Raspberry Chicken or Chicken Dijon are my favorites.

And thanks to this blog post, I've just found that there is a new one for Salt Lake that I need to go try. Lonestar Taqueria. I'm sure it will be another absolutely divine discovery. Again, a little further out at 2265 Fort Union Blvd.

And then I would recommend to you the Salt Lake Magazine's Dining Awards Hall of Fame list.
Again Red Iguana is there for the best Mexican. And there is also Takashi for best Japanese, Cucina Toscana (just south of the Salt Palace) for Best Italian, and Mazza for Best Mediterranean. Metropolitan and Bambara are also Salt Lake Magazine cosmopolitan restaurant favorites having won best chef several times and only a couple of blocks from the conference. They are all downtown except for Log Haven (best ambience--it has always been my favorite romantic restaurant) which is at 6451 East Milcreek Canyon Road.

And then Dining in Utah has several great suggestions including two barbeque places I want to try. Q 4 U has just moved out to 3951 West and 5400 South --a bit of a drive from downtown--but they say that citysearch.com voted them in the top 10 barbeque places in the US. And Sugarhouse Barbeque's site boasts the that it has been named the best barbeque place in Utah 10 years running. At 2207 South 700 East, it's not quite as far of a drive.

Now you have to stay for three weeks to try them all out ;-) But think of all the family history you'll accomplish while you are gaining all that weight. Trust me. With these restaurants it will be worth it.