On memorial day we were itching to get out of the house. Because of weather we reduced the scope of our plans and confined our wanderings to Northern Utah.  Our first stop was the Bear River Bird Refuge west of Brigham City. We snuck in on the last day before it closed for the summer (road repair). There were a lot of cool birds to see there including small, large, yellow, and other birds (you can tell I’m well versed in all things bird). Here is an video of a whole family of birds if you are interested. After driving in a little further we were overwhelmed with bugs (I’m talking biblical proportions). It was fun to watch the family panic as I threatened to roll down the windows. 🙂 If anyone can recommend a time of year when the bugs are not as prevalent that would be very helpful.

The next stop was ATK near Promontory – Makers of the solid rocket boosters for the space shuttle.

Please enjoy these images of the family inside a rear segment of the solid rocket booster. We’re totally cool like that; first, we send our names into space, second, we play inside solid rocket boosters. 🙂

We even made a few videos of our fun in the solid rocket boosters.  These are wonderful so I do suggest watching them. If you can’t see them, try here, here, and here to view them in the web gallery.

http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2010012201.swf

http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2010012201.swf

http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2010012201.swf

We finished the day off with a stop at the Golden Spike Museum!  The two locomotives were running and we got to see both of them move.  If you want to see one of the engines move click here to see the video in the web gallery. The steam made for some cool images.  I love the one below.

We also took a moment to make sure we had some pictures of the family. After the trains had parked we went for a walk on the track to get away from the crowds. I forgot to bring a tripod so we took turns.  🙂

It was a wonderful day and full of adventure.  If you’d like to see a little more then visit the web gallery here.