05-17-2009

We left Idaho Falls...I forgot about taking a picture of this amazing picture of their spill-way. I did remember to get a picture of the welcome to Utah sign though! Probably the worst looking one I have seen. They are still trying to ride the coat tails of the Olympics here as well. I think it is time to give it up.

This is the monument that was placed out in the middle of no where Utah, where the golden spike was hammered in to the ground. For the longest time this was the only monument to recognize the place of the transcontinental rail line completion point. Then they built a road and a historic center...


Here is a wider angle...

I was happy to see I was apart of an organization that had a monument somewhere...well here it is....


The piece of wood they had down for a cerimonious recreation of hammering in the golden spike. We showed up on a lucky day. They were recreating the event because a huge biker rally was driving in. About 250 bikers showed up for the event. They were going to hammer in the spike and drive the wood and coal engines. We left because we had to get on the road. They were doing the activities about an hour later.


The two replica trains...

On the monument above, there is also the surveying marker...so I took a picture of this one as well.

The sign out side of the location.

I dont know if you can tell but this seems to be the begining of the salt lake area...the area pictured has intermiten spots of salt areas mixed with grassy areas.


Can anyone tell me what this means besides what it says?


This is a man made mountain...


Inside the mountain is a huge open pit mine. Everything in there looks either gianormous or like a tonka toy....dont tell me that doesnt look like a dump truck you used to play with as a kid...if you were a boy I guess.

Little toy cars! They say you can see this place from space. There is some argument going on saying this is the biggest open pit mine in the world...this has not been confirmed so take this info with some idea that it may not be true.


Wide angle view for the win!

And another one... Notice the size of the vehicals

Now notice the size of the vehicals again compared to a pickup truck. Which one is the tonka truck now?

It is hard to imagine but it looks like the steam shovel there could pick up a car....easily. It is big enough to park two of my cars in. I wonder how many scoops it takes to fill a dump truck? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a blowpop?

They have different size dump trucks! I didnt realize this!

This is the little one. Feels like I could just pick it up...granted it is several hundred feet below me...this mine is 3/4ths a mile deep if you can believe that.

Here are "fun" facts about the dump truck tires!

Me in front of a tire...it is probably 12 feet in diameter. Huge!

Matt at the mine. He didnt get pushed off the edge.



This is the upper portion of the mine. Notice it has snow on it still. It was some where around the mid 80's where we were. We were perhaps mid way from the top of the mine. This should give you an idea of how big this place truly was.


This is from the outside looking in at the Bingham Canyon Mine. The mountain you are seeing here is completely man made from the over fill that is kicked out after all useful minerals are sorted out.

Well that is it for today. Afterwards we headed to our hotel and now we are heading to the pool to go swim and the hot tub to relax.