VACATIONING IN SALT LAKE CITY

IRON BLOSAM LODGE, SNOWBIRD, UTAH
We were able to work ahead on our hours so we could take our last week off to tour the Salt Lake City area. We traded for a lovely time-share condo at 8,000 feet in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Snowbird, Utah. We had a studio with a full kitchen and large bath on the 11th (top) floor. The balcony overlooks the mountain and ski slopes. There was no need for AC in our Condo, just opening the door allowed the cool mountain breeze to blow through. The drive up the canyon east of the city included a 9% grade. It was very beautiful with the changing leaves.

KENNECOTT BINGHAM CANYON COPPER MINE


After church on Sunday, we took a self-guided tour of the world's first open-pit copper mine. The mine, opened in 1903, supplies 15% of the world's copper needs. This massive pit mine has yielded more than 19 million tons of copper as well as gold, silver and molybdenum. Enough material has been removed to create a pit that is more than 3/4 of a mile deep and two and a half miles wide.
This 18 foot tall tire is from the huge trucks that remove the rock. If you look closely, the small dots at the bottom of the mine are some of the huge trucks. This helps with perspective of just how massive this pit is!




On Monday we took the mass transit train, UTA TRAX, downtown. We toured the extensive Temple Square gardens and both Visitors centers.

At noon we attended a 35 minute organ demonstration. This is one of the largest organs with 11,623 pipes in a near acoustically perfect room.



After Temple Square, we walked up a steep hill to the Utah State Capital Building.





This panoramic view of the city is from the front porch of the Capital Building.


After visiting Bear River National Wildlife Refuge on Tuesday morning, we drove to Golden Spike National Historic Site near Promontory, Utah.


This is the point where the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad connected the East to the West on May 10, 1869. This is an exact replica of Union Pacific Engine No. 119. Over 143 years ago, two locomotives pulled up to the one-rail gap left in the track. After a golden spike was driven in the last rail, the country was connected. Although we didn't have time to wait to see the engine operate, we could hear the water and steam gurgling in the boiler.

The following day we drove downtown to visit the Tracy Aviary. One of the world's oldest public aviary, opened in 1938. More than 400 birds from around the world can be seen, including 135 species.
We also saw a free-flying bird show.
This pair of black-necked stilts were willing to sit still to have their picture taken.




After the Aviary we stopped by the University of Utah Ute Stadium where the 2002 Olympic Cauldron is located.






Virginia was honored to light the Olympic flame.


Thursday found us in Ogden. We discovered the Union Station Museums, which actually houses three museums in one, a Railroad Museum, Browning Firearms Museum and a Classic Car Museum. We really enjoyed all three.


After lunch in the Ogden historic district, at Karen's Cafe, we toured the Hill Aerospace Museum at Hill Air Force Base.
On the way back to our condo we drove the 5 mile causeway to Antelope Island within the Great Salt Lake. We discovered some great bird watching along the causeway. We saw thousands of California Gulls, Phalaropes, Black-Necked Stilts, American Avocets, Eared Gribes to name a few. Around the island we also saw chukar. The island also has a large herd of Bison, as well as big horn sheep, prong horn antelope and mule deer.

The Nordic Ski Jump in Park City was quite a site. They have both a 120 meter and a 90 meter jump. The view on the right is from the top of the 120 meter jump.


During the 2002 games the park hosted bobsleigh, skeleton, Luge, Nordic ski jumping, and Nordic combined events.
They offer bob-sled rides on summer sleds (with wheels) for $60.00 a person, which works out to $1.00 a second. The sleds are piloted by professional drivers. Reaching speeds up to 80 miles per hour and 5 G's of force we chose not to partake.

We decided to take a 120 mile detour on our way back to Arapaho NWR in the hopes of seeing Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. We didn't spend much time there, but at least we saw it. This may be a good place to explore more thoroughly in the future.