Stan Lindaas of Heritage Consulting Genealogy Research Services shared his parting thoughts to the Road Scholar travel group at the historic Lion House banquet. The memorable dinner caps off the week of immersion in research methodology classes, one-on-one research guidance, and the joy of discovering ancestors. Participants come from all over the country, and they have ancestors all over the world. They made discoveries in the early U. S., as well as Italy, Germany and British Isles. They heard experts teach and watched Power Point presentations on a wide variety of family history topics. Of the dozens of Road Scholar travel programs, the Salt Lake City genealogy tour garners the highest customer reviews. We are so privileged to host these groups, and to be their resident genealogy research experts. After working so closely with them, eating two meals a day with them, hearing their life stories, and even getting to know their ancestors, it is hard to say ‘goodbye’ on Friday night.  

We start the week with a Sunday evening welcome and get acquainted session at the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel, where the participants stay. It is right next door to the Family History Library. Then Monday morning we teach the first class right after breakfast, and then we walk them over to the library for a tour, led by Stan. After the tour, the participants sign up for one-on-one research help with any of the nine professional genealogists, according to the needs of each person. Lunch and dinner is included in the package, and is provided by JB’s Restaurant at the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel. At 8:15 and 4 o’clock each day, there are classes taught in the hotel conference room by Heritage Consulting research experts. After dinner, many participants head back over to the library to use the new skills they have learned. By the end of the week, all of them have found new information on their families. They are always amazed at what they have learned about research strategies, and how to use the available records for the most advantage.

We hosted two groups in back to back weeks in March. In the second week, we had two participants who enjoyed it so much the first week, they decided to stay over for the second week! Others wished they could do the same, but had obligations at home. Some may come again in the fall, when we will again host two groups back to back. We love these Road Scholar travel group participants!