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Folks, I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted and I thank y’all for sticking around. Figured I’d fill in a few of the blanks as to why I haven’t been up on the blog as much as I’d like to be lately. What it boils down to is that I’m dealing with quite a bit of pain from my dental situation. The first root canal (last week) and crown prep (this past Tuesday) went great. The second root canal is scheduled for next week and I can’t wait to have it done. The tooth in question is on the bottom left side and right now it just flat hurts. Doc says it’s broken, the root is somewhat exposed, and it’s abscessed. It was minimally swollen last night when I went to sleep and hurt a bit but not too badly. I woke up at 0600 with massive swelling and pain that had multiplied. I swung by the dentist today after leaving work early due to the swelling not going down with antibiotics and the pain pushing through 800 mg of ibuprofen and 1000 mg of acetaminophen. Doc gave me a prescription for different antibiotics and lortab. The pain’s still there through the lortab, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and a bit of benzocaine. I’ll be at work in the morning on time and ready to work – I’ve got to work Saturday, Sunday, and Monday to earn the money to pay for the rest of the work. Any thoughts, prayers, and positive vibes you can send my way will be greatly appreciated As for the dental work I’ve got scheduled, there’s installing the first completed crown, a root canal / crown, two more crowns after that, four fillings, and debridement and deep cleaning. My total bill is going to be $1,260. Without insurance it would’ve been closer to $7,500. The root canals have $0 co-pays as do three of the fillings, the crowns are $250 each, and the debridement and deep cleanings make up the rest of the balance. So far I really like the dentists I’ve found. They’re good people who have a clue what they’re doing and actually care about their patients. I’ll let you know how it all goes as things progress. Wish me luck
Do I even NEED to say anything?? (Thank you to Very Demotivational — a fabulous website!) OK, so it’s taken a while for me to get this post up. Yes, I’ve been a bit of a slacker, but that’s not the only reason. The rest of the story is that there are just so many pictures. We left Price, UT at about 0900 on Thursday and got back at 0100 on Friday. No joke! To see a map of our crazy day’s driving, click here and you can marvel at the audacity boldness lunacy of our road trip Come along on a photo recollection of our day out driving through most of southern Utah  Pumping natural gas out of the Utah ground As I’ve said in earlier posts, oil, natural gas, and coal are a BIG part of life in Utah. You can see quite a few of these pumps (Cindy said this one was pumping natural gas) from the road, but there’s lots more you can’t see easily. I’m going to put the rest of the pictures below the fold because there are something like 90 of ‘em Today at Falcon.  Over the Tehachapi Just after I got to the parking lot.  Getting ready to launch Got him strapped in and the ladder off.  Watching engine start Hot back there. The engine is started by a small turbine that can put out a lot of heat in it’s own right!  Ryan and John Ryan up there working hard and the Tech Rep, John having a laugh.  Ryan and Jeremy Not so portable air and electrical power unit. They tip the scales about 3,000 pounds!  B-52 Stratofortress Just for Buck. This baby has a full fuel load.  I also tow airplanes We were pulling one back from the fuel barn to our line. No laughing at the haircut.  Dan. Nozzle checks After start checks. Part of the launch procedures.  Final Button Up Disconnected. Closing up the comm panel.  Run up for brake check Gonna roll out of the chocks.  Dave-O's new friend It is a Praying Mantis!  Afternoon Thunder Bumper Over the San Gabriel Mountains to the South.  One Hundred Eleven Degrees! Did I mention…………..that………………..it was HOT! Just a few for all to enjoy. Folks, I ain’t gonna lie to y’all. This week at work’s been a bit rougher than usual and I’ve just been flat-out tired. There’s still a few more posts to come with lots of pics from the Utah Vacation Saga. I doubt another one will appear tonight what with the root canal I’m fixin’ to go do tonight, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. That said, you’ve gotta enjoy the little things and memories in life when you can The first video is from March and the first time I drove up on Mt. Charleston to go play in the snow. I’d lost my voice and couldn’t work, so I decided to go for a drive after visiting the doctor and the pharmacy. I loved it! The second one here is from 23 May of this year. I’d just gotten through putting in eight hours of overtime. Again, it was snowing and I’d no better place to be, so off I went to go see what was around up on the mountain. I didn’t dress up for this trip – just normal pants, shoes, and T-shirt. The temp up there was about 26° and I did get a bit chilled. People said I was nuts (that happens a lot for some reason So here’s what you do – Turn the air conditioning down way low, kick back, and watch these videos while you take a break from the summer heat 8) Have fun and I’ll either catch y’all tonight or tomorrow OK – One more post today After we enjoyed the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum, we headed on over to the Western Mining and Railroad Museum in Helper, UT just a few miles north of Price, UT. Lots of good stuff there  Western Mining and Railroad Museum - Tribute and memorial to the miners who've been lost Everywhere you go in Carbon County it seems like you’ll find a memorial to the miners who died putting food on the table.  Replica cannon in the lobby of the museum  Information about the cannon I told Cindy I wanted to take this cannon home with me, but she said no – go figure  Simulated coal mine in the basement of the museum - Check in and out board in the back  Blasting and mining equipment in the simulated coal mine  Ore cart and rail bender in the simulated coal mine  Lamps and hard hats worn and used by miners in the coal mines  Lamps and testing equipment used in the mines  More miners' lamps  More miners' lamps  Coal miners in the mine back in 1910  Information about federal mine inspectors  Racal full face air filtering helmet Down in the basement of the museum you’ll find a replica of a coal mine with a lot of the equipment you’d find down in the mine.  Click on the image and read the names and info about this picture!!!  I purchased this poster at the museum - great stuff!!!  Police in Helper, UT many years ago  Items used by the Helper, UT police  Items used by the Helper, UT police  Information about Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch  The scene of one of Butch Cassidy's robberies  Painting of Helper, UT many years ago  Butch Cassidy - Wanted Dead or Alive - $4,000 REWARD!!!  Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch - Click on the image and read the description  Jail cells originally used in the Helper, UT City Jail As I’ve noted in past posts from this trip, Utah was one of the areas known for outlaws and lawmen in the Old West. Take a look around, though, and you’ll find that while it’s not necessarily the Old West – we have cars, diesel trains, and cellphones – the Wild West hasn’t really gone away. I don’t carry a loaded gun most places with me because I like the extra weight  Re-created old time kitchen  Re-created old time kitchen  Panorama - Re-created old time kitchen Go into your kitchen and hug your appliances  Recreation of the Comany Store  They owed their souls to the company store  They owed their souls to the company store Click on the pics and take a good look at the documents here. Now, I’m glad I have better pay and benefits at my job, but there is a downside – my employer won’t sell me explosives. Go figure… In all seriousness, I’m glad the miners have it so much better today. They’re brave for willingly doing the job they do to keep the lights on in our homes and food on their families’ tables.  Panorama - View east from the top floor of the museum  Panorama - View north from the top floor of the museum Helper, UT is kinda scenic dontcha think  Old machine for giving a lady's hair a perm Kath, Snigs, and KC are probably glad they don’t have to use something like this anymore  Coal train making its way up a grade For some reason I thought of Glenn when I saw this picture. That must’ve been quite a sight!  Tamburitza Band from Sunnyside, UT in 1922  Flag of the Croatian Fraternal Union and the Slovenian National Benefit Society I thought this was an interesting slice of life from the early part of last century.  Re-created school room My desks were different, but Mom & Dad have told me they remember using this kind.  Steam engine diagram - I would've bought it but I didn't have $45 If you want your own copy of this diagram, just call the museum – they take credit cards over the phone  Old time telephone operator's equipment My, how times have changed! My headset is wireless and probably weighs a lot less  Old safe in the re-created railroad office  Information about the desk in the re-created railroad office Sorry I didn’t get a bigger picture of the desk, but I thought the info and the safe were cool  Panorama - A collection of old washing machines at the museum OK, remember the kitchen? Now go to your laundry room or the laundromat you use down the street and hug your washing machine  Nearly 100 year old caboose outside the museum  The story of the traveling roundhouse I thought the story of the traveling roundhouse and the nearly century old caboose were pretty cool  View north from the entrance of the museum I got this pic as I left the museum. I’m really starting to like small towns, even if they do roll up the sidewalks at 2000 hours and everything seems to be closed on Sundays That’s it for this post. Hope y’all liked this slice of life from Carbon County If you ever want me out of your hair for a few hours, all you have to do is stuff me into a good museum with a camera  Allosaurus sculpture near the street in front of the CEU museum This is a sculpture of Al the allosaurus out in front of the CEU Prehistoric Museum. Al was the first skeleton put together by the College of Eastern Utah and more than 90 nearly complete fossilized skeletons have been found out at the Cleveland-Lloyd dinosaur quarry a short distance from Price, UT. I’m going to go light on the commentary for this post as it would just take too long to go through every single picture and I did my best to get legible photos of the information placards. I figure the museum did a pretty good job putting those together  Dimetrodon display  Al the allosaurus The one that started it all – Al the allosaurus  The kids' area is hands on  Large exhibit in the center of the dinosaur side of the museum  Close-up of petrified wood  Petrified wood display  Display of the information about the Cleveland-Lloyd dinosaur quarry  Camptosaurus  Panorama - The large central display in the dinosaur side of the CEU Prehistoric Museum  More information about the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry  More of the hands-on kids' area  Cross section of a dinosaur bone fossil  Alligator on display in the mesozoic gardens  Soft shelled turtle on display in the mesozoic gardens  Information about the mesozoic gardens  Information about the mesozoic gardens  Duck billed dinosaur display  Information about the dinosaurs on display in the large center exhibit  Fossils of impressions of dinosaurs' armored hides  More petrified wood on display  Utah Friends of Palentology display  What an allosaurus likely looked like when it was alive  Information about the allosaurus head recreation on display  Fossils from an iguanodon and information about them  A new dinosaur - Falcarius utahensis  Theropod claw display  Information about oil shale  Information about oil shale  Duck billed dinosaur  Dinosaur tracks are fairly common in the coal mines  Chasmosaurus  Utahraptor  Animantarx ramaljonesi  Information about Animantarx ramaljonesi  Information about Animantarx ramaljonesi  Information about Animantarx ramaljonesi  Utahraptor! One of the most exciting creatures for me in the CEU Prehistoric Museum is Utahraptor. As you can read in further pictures, Stephen Spielberg doubled the size of the Velociraptors when he made Jurassic Park to make them more intimidating. About that time, scientists found Utahraptor which was 2.5 times the size of Velociraptor – even bigger than Spielberg’s over-sized dinosaurs! If there was a way to bring these predators back, I’d use ‘em for guard animals around sensitive installations – Dobermans would have nothing on a pack of Utahraptors  Utahraptor!  Teeth and claws of Utahraptor  Skull and claws of Utahraptor  Information about Utahraptor  Information about Utahraptor  Information about Utahraptor  Close-up of an oversize velociraptor claw from the movie Jurassic Park  Reconstructed Utahraptor claw  Display of Utahraptor and Jurassic Park oversize velociraptor claws  Display about the Ute/Nuche People About half of the museum is dinosaurs with the other half being dedicated to Native Americans.  Information about the Fremont Indians  Big horn sheep aren't just in Nevada  The 900 year old Mickelson Pot  The 900 year old Mickelson Pot  Debris found inside the Mickelson Pot  Information about the Mickelson Pot  The Vision of Washakei  Information about the Vision of Washakei  Information about the Vision of Washakei  Information about the Vision of Washakei  Information about the Native American technique of twining  Rabbits were rather important to the Native Americans I might have to try making a rabbit skin robe like these one day  This is an actual animal skin tepee Any negative comments about this tepee from the PETA types will either be mocked or deleted  Ram's horn and seashell headdress  Panorama - Colombian Mammoth skeleton found near Price, UT  Panorama - Colombian Mammoth skeleton found near Price, UT  Information about the Colombian Mammoth skeleton found near Price, UT One of the really cool things in this museum is this skeleton. We stopped by the area where it was found on a trip to the mountains for a picnic (sorry, no pics of the site, but there will be pics of the area). The placard at the site said it had been buried in nearly frozen mud for about 10,000 years which acted like a refrigerator and that the people who found it could still smell rotting meat  Dire Wolf  Information about the Dire Wolf  Skull from a Great Bison  Information about the Great Bison  Sabretooth Cat  Information about the Sabretooth Cat If these animals were still around, I’d want to see ‘em in a zoo. Not in the wild! Sorry, but a bison with an 80″ horn span sounds like a steamroller and the Dire Wolf and Sabretooth Cat sound like meat shredders. I do wish we had a way of seeing them alive. That’s about it for this post and possibly for the day. Putting these photo posts together takes quite a bit of time as you’ve got to build the post even after you wait for the images to upload to the server. I’m gonna go kick back for a while, but I hope you enjoyed the CEU Prehistoric Museum almost as much as I did. Make sure to visit if you can  Panorama - One of the swimmin' holes in Price, UT Yes, there’s a real city owned swimming pool in Price, UT. But many of the kids in town would rather swim in a place like this Sorry for the delay, but I’ve been trying to get all the pics uploaded to save time on the back side for each of the posts to come in the future. Hopefully I’ll be able to get the rest of the posts up in the next couple of days As you’ve seen from the title, these pics come from my trip north from Price, UT up to Salt Lake City 8) Please make sure to click on the pictures – especially the panoramas – to see the pictures full size. I put up the full size pics because they’re the best I can offer even if they do take forever and a day to upload  The Castle Gate This entire area is known as “Castle Country” and got that name from this place. Before the road was cut through, it used to look rather like a castle gate  Panorama - Just north of Castle Gate and Helper, UT Shortly after going north through the Castle Gate, we found this turnout area and I had Cindy pull over so I could get pictures.
 Coal processing facility and the Castle Gate Two things you’ll find in abundance in Carbon County, UT are coal and railroads. This is a processing facility for a nearby coal mine.  Memorial to lost miners near Helper, UT  Memorial to lost miners near Helper, UT Mining is a vital but extremely dangerous job. The people in this area of the country are proud of their hard working miners and you’ll find many memorials to those who’ve lost their lives in the coal mines.  Part of the history of the Helper, UT region There seem to be as many informational signs and plaques about mining and railroads as there are memorials to miners around Carbon County, UT.  Rock strata in the Castle Gate showing black layers of coal Remember how I said there’s lots of coal mines? Here’s an example of just how much coal there is in the hills. All those black lines are coal layers in the rock. This coal is too low of a grade to mine – there’s too much stuff in it that’s not combustible.  Historic site marker showing the site of one of Butch Cassidy's famous robberies It’s not just mining and railroads in the history of Carbon County – there’s also tales of outlaws and lawmen. Cindy’s grandpa told stories of Butch Cassidy stopping by the family farm to trade for supplies and horses when he was young.  Windmills at the north end of the canyon near Spanish Fork, UT The trip from Price, UT to Salt Lake City, UT takes you through a high mountain canyon which is usually windy. These windmills make sense here.  Hill Aerospace Museum timeline of aviation at Hill AFB We got to the Hill Aerospace Museum at Hill AFB about 45 minutes before it closed, but I still got plenty of pictures  Hill Aerospace Museum - C-124C Globemaster II - One BIG cargo plane!!! Talk about a HUGE cargo plane  Hill Aerospace Museum - F-89H Scorpion - This type of plane had a starring role in the Battle of Palmdale One of the earlier jets in the USAF arsenal was the F-89 Scorpion. I recognized it and immediately thought of The Battle of Palmdale.  Hill Aerospace Museum - MiG Alley - Images of MiGs and Sabres come to mind! Scholars of the Korean War will know exactly what MiG Alley was. For the rest of my readers, I’ll just tell you that it was a stretch of North Korea near MiG bases in China where aerial combat between F-86 Sabre Jets and MiG-15s was frequent.  Hill Aerospace Museum - F-102 Delta Dagger The F-102 Delta Dagger was an Air Force interceptor during the Cold War with the mission of downing Soviet bombers over the U.S.  Hill Aerospace Museum - F-101 Voodoo - One fast jet for its time Another interceptor from the Cold War was the F-101 Voodoo. I’ve met quite a few men who flew these jets and they all speak well of it. Speed and a high rate of climb were a couple of its strengths.
 Hill Aerospace Museum - MiG-1y - NATO codename Fresco Used by countries around the world, the MiG-17 Fresco was similar to the MiG-15, but was equipped with an afterburner. Bill Reesman is a Vietnam Veteran who once trained to fight against MiGs but now flies a MiG-17 painted in the colors of Red Bull.  Hill Aerospace Museum - MiG-21 - NATO codename Fishbed Still serving as a front line fighter in some countries’ air forces, the MiG-21 was the most advanced fighter in the North Vietnamese Air Force during the Vietnam War. A worthy adversary for the U.S. fighters of that era, the MiG-21 also saw action against Israeli forces during the Six Day War. Shortly after the Six Day War, an Iraqi pilot defected to Israel with his MiG-21 which was made available to the U.S. for testing and evaluation later on. You can read about the U.S. Air Force’s exploitation of that foreign technology asset over at TD Barnes’ Area 51 Special Projects website  Hill Aerospace Museum - Inertial Measurement Unit from a Peacekeeper ICBM You don’t often find a part of a Peacekeeper ICBM’s guidance system on display at most aviation museums.  Hill Aerospace Museum - The only SR-71C ever built  Hill Aerospace Museum - Inlet and wing of the SR-71C  Hill Aerospace Museum - Vertical and ventral fins on the SR-71C  Hill Aerospace Museum - Tail end of the SR-71C  Hill Aerospace Museum - Information about the SR-71C  Hill Aerospace Museum - Main landing gear tire from a Blackbird Any Blackbird is a rare bird, but this one’s the rarest of them all and it’s one of the main reasons I wanted to make this trip. The only SR-71C was built from unlikely parts. The back half of the aircraft came from a YF-12A interceptor version of the Blackbird and the front end was originally an engineering mock-up. Can you spot the differences between this SR-71C and most of the SR-71 Blackbirds out there?  Hill Aerospace Museum - F-111 Aardvark  Hill Aerospace Museum - Nose art on the F-111 Aardvark Still in service with the Royal Australian Air Force, the F-111 was made to go very fast at very low altitude to avoid detection by enemy air defenses so it could hit its targets and hit them hard. F-111s made history with a very long range raid flown from Great Britain where they bombed Libya in 1986′s Operation El Dorado Canyon.  Hill Aerospace Museum - F-4 Phantom One of the most famous Air Force and Navy fighters during the Vietnam War was the Phabulous F-4 Phantom. This one’s painted in the Southeast Asia camouflage paint scheme normally used during that era.  Hill Aerospace Museum - F-105 Thunderchief Another star of the Vietnam War was the F-105 Thunderchief. Also known as the Thud, the F-105 was supposed to carry a nuclear bomb, but also made a great conventional bomber. Thuds did get some air to air kills over Vietnam and some were made with its 20mm cannon  Hill Aerospace Museum - F-106 Delta Dart The F-106 Delta Dart was another delta wing interceptor from the Cold War. The plan was to get close enough to a Soviet bomber formation to launch its air to air rockets with their nuclear warheads before turning tail and running away from the blast.  Hill Aerospace Museum - AQM-34L Firebee target drone Cindy seemed to like this one for some reason  Hill Aerospace Museum - F-100 Super Saber AKA Hun Another Vietnam veteran in the museum was this F-100 Super Sabre.  Hill Aerospace Museum - GAU-8 Avenger cannon from an A-10 Warthog You don’t usually see this weapon outside of the aircraft that was designed around it, so enjoy it when you can
 Hill Aerospace Museum - F-4 Phantom undergoing work  Hill Aerospace Museum - F-4 Phantom undergoing work The Hill Aerospace Museum does quite a bit of restoration work. This F-4 Phantom is getting some TLC for later display.  Hill Aerospace Museum - TH-13C Sioux helicopter - As seen on M*A*S*H I can’t help but think of Alan Alda and the rest of the cast of MASH when I see this helicopter  Hill Aerospace Museum - F-86L Sabre Dog A later version of the F-86 Sabre Jet was this F-86L Sabre Dog. It got the Dog name from the big black radome on its nose.  Hill Aerospace Museum - Restored P-38 Lightning recovered from a crash site in Alaska  Hill Aerospace Museum - More info on the P-38 Lightning  Hill Aerospace Museum - More info on the P-38 Lightning  Hill Aerospace Museum - Original engine from the P-38 Lightning This P-38 Lightning was recovered from its Alaskan crash site and restored for display.  Hill Aerospace Museum - P-40 Warhawk  Hill Aerospace Museum - P-40 Warhawk I’ve always loved the P-40 Warhawk and especially when it wears the shark’s mouth made famous by the Flying Tigers over China.  Hill Aerospace Museum - L-4J Grasshopper Developed from and very closely related to the Piper Cub, this L-4J Grasshopper was used for artillery spotting and actually served in Italy during WWII. It was later used by the Civil Air Patrol, but was retired after a flying accident.  Panorama - Hill Aerospace Museum - B-24D Liberator Produced in larger numbers than any other heavy bomber in WWII, the B-24 Liberator was very fast due to its wing design. There are now only two B-24s flying in the world and very few in museums. Seeing this one was a real treat!  Hill Aerospace Museum - P-51 Mustang Often called the greatest fighter in WWII, the P-51 Mustang is one of the most numerous warbirds flown today. A flying P-51 can be purchased for about $1,000,000 but they’re not for the faint of heart – the torque from that Rolls Royce Merlin engine can make it a very tricky airplane to control during takeoff and landing.  Hill Aerospace Museum - P-47 Thunderbolt - AKA The Jug The P-47 Thunderbolt excelled at ground attack during WWII in the European theater.  Hill Aerospace Museum - B-17 Flying Fortress I hope everyone recognizes a B-17 when they see one. Daylight raids by B-17s like this one helped break Nazi Germany.  Hill Aerospace Museum - Curtis JN-4D Jenny The Curtis Jenny was one of the most prolific trainers for the U.S. Army Air Force during WWI. Surplus Jennies were cheap after the war and helped spark the golden age of barnstorming.  Hill Aerospace Museum - F-86 Sabre  Hill Aerospace Museum - F-86 Sabre An absolutely gorgeous jet and a true classic, the F-86 Sabre Jet carried six .50 caliber machine guns and had a radar to feed the range to its gun sight which made first round hits much more common. This jet had a greater than 10:1 kill ratio over the MiG-15 over Korea.  Hill Aerospace Museum - F-80 Shooting Star One of the USAF’s first operational fighter jets was the F-80 Shooting Star. These jets saw combat over Korea before the F-86 Sabre Jet arrived.  Panorama - Hill Aerospace Museum - Replica of the Wright Flyer The Wright Flyer was the first airplane to demonstrate controlled, sustained, powered flight. This is a good replica and very true to my recollection of the original Wright Flyer which is on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.  Hill Aerospace Museum - Burgess-Wright Flyer F Model This is a replica of a later Wright airplane.  Hill Aerospace Museum - Statue - Mail From Home  Hill Aerospace Museum - Plaque on the statue - Mail From Home This was a rather touching poem and statue near the museum.  Hill Aerospace Museum - YA-7 Corsair II AKA S.L.U.F. S.L.U.F. stands for Short Little Ugly F**er and wasn’t always said with affection. Still, the A-7 was a good ground attack aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and a few foreign air forces as well.  Hill Aerospace Museum - F-4 Phantom gate guard Standing guard at the front gate is this beautiful F-4 Phantom. The high visibility white and orange paint scheme is often used on aircraft in training squadrons.  Panorama - Hill Aerospace Museum - C-130 Hercules and B-29 Superfortress  Hill Aerospace Museum - B-29 Superfortress The C-130 Hercules is an outstanding cargo aircraft which can operate off concrete or unprepared surfaces, but I really wanted pics of the B-29. The Superfortress is the same type of plane that firebombed Japan and dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. B-29s are rather rare in museums, but even more rare flying. The Confederate Commemorative Air Force is the owner of the one and only B-29 still flying today.  Panorama - Hill Aerospace Museum - B-47 Stratojet I’d love to see a B-47 fly, but there are none that I know of in private hands. Movie buffs will recognize this type of aircraft from the movie Strategic Air Command with Jimmy Stewart.  Hill Aerospace Museum - Bomarc surface to air missiles Bomarc missiles guarded the United States and Canada against bomber attack from the Soviet Union during the Cold War. They were initially boosted by a rocket motor which accelerated the missile to a high enough speed for the Marquardt ramjets to function. These missiles had a slant range of several hundred miles at speeds of about Mach 2.5 which helped them to get close enough to a bomber formation for its nuclear warhead to take out many of the enemy planes.  Hill Aerospace Museum - Minuteman missile transporter and emplacer I initially thought this was a mobile launcher, but it’s actually a vehicle that was made to transport Minuteman missiles to their silos before lowering them into the ground. Still, it’s pretty cool  Panorama - Brigham Young's houses in Salt Lake City, UT  Panorama - Information about the Beehive House - the one on the right  Panorama - Information about the Lion House - the one on the left These houses looked like they were in very good shape, but we were running out of daylight and wanted to get to the Temple so we declined to take the tour. Maybe next time  Panorama - Mormon memorial to the pioneers who settled in the area of Salt Lake City  Panorama - Mormon memorial to the pioneers who settled in the area of Salt Lake City This memorial to the initial pioneer settlers in Salt Lake City was originally placed in 1897, but looks brand new.  Panorama - The Temple of the Church of Latter Day Saints in Salt Lake City, UT The Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was built only with hand tools, oxen, and simple machines like ropes and pulleys as were all the furnishings inside. It took 40 years to complete and is a wonderfully beautiful structure. Only members of the Church of Latter Day Saints are allowed inside the Temple, but the rest of the grounds are open to the public. The visitors’ center has a large cut-away model of the Temple showing the details inside. That’s it for tonight, but I’ll be back with more tomorrow Have a great night Day two of the trip didn’t start too early, but we still had quite a bit of adventure  Freight train passing through Price, UT Two things you’ll find in abundance in Carbon County, UT are coal mines and railroads. This was a very quick pic taken with my cellphone because I thought Glenn would like it  Cindy's grandma's back yard garden Cindy’s grandma may be 90 years old, but she has one heck of a garden! There’s squash, corn, cabbage, several types of fruit trees, a couple of different berry bushes, and lots more I can’t remember now. Some of it’s eaten fresh but most of it is put away in the basement in cans and jars.  Panorama - Old corral near the road to the San Rafael Swell I’m a real sucker for old places and places that just look old. I don’t know for sure which this is, but it’s still cool 8) Somehow it brings to mind scenes of cattle and cowboys on the open range and outlaws like Butch Cassidy who used to hide out on the San Rafael Swell years ago.  Purple dirt on the way to the San Rafael Swell Cindy told me she was going to show me purple dirt and she sure did! I don’t know if it’s true or not, but Cindy seemed to think the color comes from uranium in the soil. Utah was one of the hot spots back in the early days of nuclear power and weapons because of all the uranium that’s in them thar hills. Uranium camps were the reason that liquor by the drink was first legally sold in the state of Utah.  Driving through the high desert in Utah to the San Rafael Swell We only made it to the Wedge Overlook due to the weather (you’ll see more about the weather in a minute  Panorama - Cattle grazing with a storm moving in on the San Rafael Swell I keep saying it, but it’s true – Things haven’t really changed all that much out in the wild west. The ranchers might use pickups and quad runners instead of horses and wagons, but cattle are still raised on the same land.  Plaque at the Wedge Overlook on the San Rafael Swell  Panorama - The Wedge Overlook on the San Rafael Swell AKA The Grand Canyon of the North  Panorama - The Wedge Overlook on the San Rafael Swell AKA The Grand Canyon of the North We managed to reach the Wedge Overlook before the storm hit full force. It’s known as the Grand Canyon of the North for good reason. I wouldn’t mind getting down on the floor of the canyon sometime – that river looks nice The storm was advancing on our location even while we were on the way in. It started to spit on us – just widely spaced drops – and the lightning and thunder got pretty darn close before we got back into the car. If you’ve been around this blog for a while, you probably know how much I like thunder and lightning. There’s something different about thunder in a place like the Wedge. The sound echoes off the land around you, but also bounces around the canyon for a bit before it reaches you. It gives a feeling of being even farther from civilization than you are – the place seems just a bit more wild and I really enjoy that when I can find it.  The impending thunderstorm finally hit About that thunderstorm… It finally did reach us and it hit full force. The rain was heavy and hard enough to splash back up and fuzz out the road a bit. It made driving that much harder even with the wipers going as fast as they could. Winds were probably somewhere between 50 and 65 miles per hour. I love stuff like this but I wasn’t disappointed by the lack of damaging hail  Panorama - Waterfall in the desert fed by runoff from the thunderstorm  Closer view of the desert waterfall We decided to try to get down to the Buckhorn Draw after the storm passed, but that didn’t quite go as we’d planned. A very nice carload of people flagged us down and told us that my HHR wouldn’t make it where we were planning on going. We’d actually already decided to turn around about the same time we saw this waterfall, but it was still nice of ‘em
 Our thunderstorm after it had passed As quickly as it had arrived, our storm was gone off to the north. You can see just how heavy the rain was if you look at how much it obscures the mountains in the distance.  Flash flooding after the thunderstorm which gave us second thoughts about our route  A bit of a different view of that same flash flooding When heavy rain comes to the desert, you can count on some flash flooding. We’d planned on taking a different route back to town, but thought better of it. You can never tell just how deep the water is in a place like this and you can easily wind up stuck or worse. The last thing I needed on my vacation was a car that was a total loss or winding up drowned in the desert.  These cattle seemed to like hanging out on the road for some reason These cows just didn’t seem to mind cars and didn’t want to move. They finally did, but making a bit more noise than a horn did cross my mind  Panorama - Thunderstorm still heading north and away from us The storm kept on truckin’ north and left quite a bit of humidity in its wake.  Scenery near Price, UT on the way back into town It really is pretty country in Carbon County! I could live with a house and some land up there. Cindy told me someone recently bought a three story house on a couple of acres for about $50,000. I’ve sold cars that cost significantly more than that and it sounds awfully inviting to this former resident of the land of insane real estate prices
 The food's cheap and I hear it's good at this restaurant, but it was already closed Small town burger joints are pretty cool in my book. The prices are great and the food’s supposed to be awesome as well, but we couldn’t get dinner there. It seems they close a bit early on Sunday. Actually, the whole town rolls up the sidewalks at about 2000 hours every night.  I think we might have driven through just a bit of mud out on the San Rafael Swell By the end of the day you could certainly tell my car had been in the middle of a thunderstorm while driving on dirt roads. No, I still haven’t washed it yet – money’s gotten a bit tight with all the dental work in my future. I did manage to get the license plate and taillights cleaned off We had a good time that day and it only got better as the week went on 8) That’s it for this post, but there’ll be even more pics soon. Have fun everyone |
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Make sure you click on the pics to see ‘em full size – the panoramas are HUGE as usual and I tried to make sure the text in the informational placards was legible as well 
), but I told ‘em that I don’t mind freezing my butt off every now and again in winter and soaking up the searing heat from time to time in the winter. I store those memories and think about how nice it was to be that cold when it’s hot and vice versa. Oddly, that brought a few more strange looks and eye rolls…
I just think it’s awesome to see something like this. It’s bigger than any elephant I can remember seeing at the San Diego Zoo or Wild Animal Park and just look at those tusks!!!