Salt Lake City Tour

Today we did our tour of Salt Lake City. Our motel was within walking distance of the Temple Square and also the State Capital so we headed out on foot in the morning 40 deg air. With a light jacket and walking we kept warm.

In 1994 the State Capital underwent a very significant upgrade to do needed maintenance and significantly more resistant to earth quake damage by rebuilding the support pilings to add shock absorbers. They claim the building may sway 2 feet now if needed during an earthquake.

In the afternoon we drove about 20 miles SW to the Bingham Canyon Mine. This is the largest open pit mine in the world and is visible from the Space Shuttle. It is more than three quarters of a mile deep and two-and-a-half miles wide. The main product is copper and (more than 17 million tons since the origin of the mine) and much less but significant amounts of gold and silver.

Tomorrow we are off to cross Wyoming to Cheyenne. I left my travel plan at Scott's so do not have the exact mileage at hand anymore.

Salt Lake Temple

The gardens in Temple Square are at their peak spring bloom right now.

This is the inside of the Tabernacle where the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs. The shinny gold in the back are the pipes from their pipe organ. They were doing practice run on the organ when we entered so got to hear the organ and the acoustics of the building.

Close up of the Pipe Organ

State Capital of Utah
Designed in 1912 by Richard Kletting and completed in 1916.

Inside the State Capital
The chandelier is hanging from the center of the dome

The center of the Bingham Canyon Mine

A close(er) up look at the ore trucks. Note the size comparison of the standard pickup truck to the ore trucks.

A close up of a loader with the ore truck on the far side of the loader.