Kennecott Copper Mine

Tuesday, September 29, 2010

We visited the Kennecott Open pit Copper mine just South of Salt Lake City. Largest open pit mine on earth. So large, that the Astronauts can see it when they orbit the earth...

This truck looks normal...but it is as big as a two story house...and carries a load of ore that is equal to 50 automobiles.

By 2015 the mine will be 650 feet deeper than it is today. After that point in time, they will have perfected the robots who will continue the mining operation underground.

The crane scoops 93 tons of rock in each scoop. It takes about 3 scoops to fill the truck (255-320 tons of rock). And the crane can fill 2 trucks per minute. Can you see the man standing by the back wheel??? He has to climb the ladder to get to that little black box where he drives the truck.

This mine supplies 17% of the world's copper. The copper content of the rock is 1%...it is refined to 99.99 %. By-products of the refining process are gold and silver. Interesting!!!!

Boeing Air Museum

September 22, 2010

We visited the Boeing Museum on Wednesday morning.

It was quite a thrill to walk through Air Force One. (The president's plane.) This one was used during Kennedy, LBJ years. I really didn't know they came up with a new one every few years. $$$$$$$$

We also had an opportunity to go through the Concord. (British Airways.) Hasn't been functional for several years because of cost.

The variety of Military planes was astounding.

A morning well-spent. :-)

Continental Railroad

September 28, 2010

It took 3 days to get to Salt Lake City from Kirkland WA. We don't travel more than 250 miles per day, if we can help it. Our first adventure was to go to Promontory Point (back north from whence we just came...oh, well.) But a journey through 30+ miles of "nothing but miles and miles of...not flat, but rolling hills...with some looking somewhat like mountains"...until we reached the spot where the last spike was driven into the ground to establish the transcontinental railway system. East meets west. Oh, Wow!!!



Replicas of the original trains that met...from the east, driven by coal, and from the west, driven by wood. What a sight. Seriously...in the middle of nowhere!!

There was somewhat of a "show" between the replicas of the two original steam engines.

The original photo of the "day the two engines met" must have been quite an ordeal. With miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles...plus several ravines that needed to be filled to allow the train straight passage to the next point seems unconceivable. Cannot imagine being a "pioneer" traveling these routes.

This area is north of the great salt lake...but, as you can see, there are remnants of salt left behind. The concentration of salt in the great salt lake is 48% greater than the salt in the Pacific Ocean. Give THAT some thought.

The surrounding areas was really desolate. Incredible.

Holly and Ross

September 24, 2010



We skipped posting yesterday, because it was a laundry/ironing/shopping day. Borrrrrring.


Friday, late afternoon, we headed back to Edmonds, WA to see Holly and Ross Anderson. Holly "Monek" was a babysitter for the kids...maybe just Wendi, Brenda, and Brad...she graduated before Jennifer hit the scene. [Kids...surely one of you remember Holly with the braids...she was so cool.] She was an accounting major at Mary College...up on the hill...in Bismarck, ND. We never had an opportunity until Friday to meet Ross. (Nice choice, Holly.)

Their lovely home is situated just a few hundred feet from Puget Sound.

We did a tour of Edmonds, and went to a park to view the evening sunset. Stellar!

Caught a glimpse of the ferry headed out for maybe the area of the Olympic Mountains.

But, What an incredible sunset!!!!

Great dinner at Chanterelle. And wonderful conversations...catching up for the years. We've kept in contact through Christmas cards for all of these years. How much fun it is to put it all back together?

Jean couldn't remember if Ross was with Starbucks, or Seattle's Best...but found our that Starbucks bought Seattle's best several years ago...so there you have it. :-)

Golfing with Lindsey

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

We had to rush (from the Boeing museum)...but got to the golf course just in time for 9 holes with Lindsey and his neighbor Rick. The Nile Shrine course (near Edmonds, WA) was a bit of a challenge. We did OK...but Jean wasn't happy that the ladies T's were only 10 feet in front of the Men's T's. Hardly fair!!! (Or so she says.)

Mina and Dick

Tuesday, September 21,2010



We started the day early in a busy fashion with Susan in her car, and us in the RV...we had appointment to take the RV to Camping World to have stabilizers installed. Long story short...wrong parts...and had to reschedule for Oct 6th.

It ate up pretty much of the morning to come to the final conclusion on what exactly had to be done.



Then, we headed off, a bit late, to visit Mina and Dick Ludeman. Mina is Jean's cousin, and a really long time ago she used to live on 24th street...just through the block from Jean's house in La Crosse, Wisconsin. It's good to keep in touch. Jean last saw her several years ago when she was in Washington State with Brenda and her friend Julie scoping out nursing schools.



We had a great lunch at their favorite diner. We have made a concerted effort not to eat at the well-known fast food chains. Especiall for lunch or breakfast. We did catch an Italian restaurant in Livingston, MT for lunch that was part of a chain that we had never heard of...so we got caught. Just once!

We had a nice visit...stopped at Walmart for supplies on the way back, and went to the Olive Garden with Lindsey...his favorite spot. (Had to make an exception on the "chain restaurants"...but you realize that Olive Garden is one of our favorites, also.)

Downtown Seattle

Monday, September 20, 2010

After the Underground tour, we went up into the Smith tower. 45 stories, and at one time the highest building west of the Mississippi River. (The Smith is Smith-Corona, for those who had typing classes before the computer.) :) The observation deck in the Smith tower was decorated by gifts given by the last empress of China when she visited the tower.

Next was the Columbia tower. 76 stories...although the observation deck was on 73.

We caught sights from all over Seattle from this vantage point.

The needle...the Mariner's "dome" with the baseball stadium behind it.


The clock tower signifies headquarters for Starbucks.

The Olympic mountains across Puget sound.



76 floors from ground level.

Downtown Seattle.

The Smith tower from the Columbia Tower. Interesting, huh?






We were thinking that this might be the boat we were on back in '84 when the family spent a day on Vancouver Island.

The transit system in Seattle is incredible. We did all travel to and through downtown on busses and trains. These pics were the downtown "free zone" underground trains. Yes...they were free!!!

No trip to Seattle is complete without a visit to the Public Market, and Pike's Fish place. (The Home of the Fish Philosophies.)


Our "movie" of the "fish throwing" is 132MB...too big for email...too big for the blog...but, we're trying to cut it down...and send in a couple of pieces. When we get it done, we'll include it on the blog.