Creator of Tour Ogden
Thank you so much for visiting Tour Ogden! I am Jackie, the creator and founder of Tour Ogden. I have lived in Ogden my entire life (40 years!) and feel so incredibly blessed to have been born in this beautiful part of the world! The beauty of our surrounding mountain range that literally sits in our backyards, and the rich history of Ogden as the Junction City for the first ever U.S. Transcontinental railroad just can’t be beat! Ogden’s mountains and city are so incredible, they were hosts to many of the 2002 Olympic Winter Game events! Only 40 miles North of Salt Lake City, Ogden is worth stopping in for a ski, a hike or a historic walk of 25th Street and Union Station.
I grew up as a competitive/show figure skater and this was my life up until my early twenties. The highlight of my figure skating career was performing in the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies (which was an experience of a lifetime!)
I then went on to earn my Bachelor degree from Ogden’s own Weber State University in Communications. I worked for the Utah State Courts for 8 years and traveled abroad with my husband during this time. This is where my love for history, culture and travel began my life passion.
I am now a mother of 3 amazing little girls and 1 dog while building my local business of Tour Ogden. I’ve always absolutely loved my hometown of Ogden and particularly, Historic 25th street. I love supporting and promoting local businesses and people. I love writing, hiking, jogging, being outdoors, nature, mountains, history, culture, dogs, neuroscience and most importantly- Jesus. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me for a private tour or any questions at all!
Creation of Tour Ogden
Years ago, in my twenties I traveled Europe extensively and created a blog about all of my experiences as an American traveling in Europe. Once I got pregnant with my first child, I knew I wouldn’t be able to travel and blog about Europe as I once had. This was actually a great opportunity to finally focus on my greatest love – my hometown of Ogden, Utah. This was a chance for me to show my International blog followers, my hidden gem in the world.
I quickly began researching my most interested part of Ogden’s history – the underground tunnels of Historic 25th Street. For those who don’t know, 25th Street is the street that leads out directly from the Union Station where for nearly a century, all train passengers came to eat, drink, sleep and be entertained while waiting to switch trains.
In 2015 when I became pregnant with my first child, I had an opportunity to write a blog series for the Historic 25th Street website. When I wasn’t at my day job, I was out talking to local shop owners and touring the basements of Historic 25th Street. My passion, interest, love and excitement for my hometown grew but after publishing my blog series, I found little time to continue pursuing my research with my continuously growing family.I forgot about my blog entirely and writing faded away with my busy life of being a mother of 3 little girls.
In 2022, while going through some life challenges, a mentor had reminded me of my passion for history, culture, writing, travel and most of all – my desire of building something more with my love for Ogden. This was when the seed that was planted in my 2015 Ogden blog series began to blossom into what is now Tour Ogden. Since this time, I have grown a small business that is shedding a light on Ogden in a way never done before. Tour Ogden is just so many things to me – a way to promote my passion for supporting local businesses, sharing local stories, preserving Ogden’s incredible history, showing off our mountain trails, exposing history that locals didn’t even know – the list goes on and on. Tour Ogden at its core is one of my main purposes in life and I can’t wait to share my incredible piece of the world with you.
I have inserted my blog post from my travel blog, Jackie’s World Travel that began my journey of creating Tour Ogden.
http://jackiesworldtravel.wordpress.com
Contact
Text or call (801) 668-9103
or
Tour Ogden 