Monday, August 15, 2011

Surprise Date

Jon and I went to the Bingham Canyon Mine last week - he took me there for a "surprise" date, followed by walking around Gardner Village and looking at the cute shops and sampling the fudge.

Unfortunately, we forgot our camera at home, but the open mine was amazing! It is the largest open mine in the world. Look at the size of that truck!! They were HUGE! The workers have to climb a tall ladder just to get to the steering wheel.

If you look really closely, you can see how tiny
the huge trucks look on the road. We saw a semi truck
pass one of them and it look SMALL compared to it!
We walked around the Visitors' Center and watched a few informative videos and put quarters in the  magnifying machines so we could see some action up close. (I'll remember not to wear a dress up there again - the wind was blowing around like crazy and I had to hold my skirt down the whole time!)
Here is what the official site said about their huge hauling trucks: "There are about 80 gigantic haulage trucks operating in the mine. These trucks carry from 255 to 320 tons of material in a single trip. The largest haulage trucks have 1,300-gallon fuel tanks and use very low-sulfur diesel fuel. The fleet of trucks will travel more than 10,000 miles a day."  CRAZY, huh?! No wonder they have to be so big.

It was a nice 45 - 60 minute drive to get there, and on the way we stopped by Daybreak - a community of newer homes. I drove by this neighborhood once before, 2 years ago, and could never find it again. It's right by the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. I'm so excited we passed it!! I have been wondering where it was located for forever, and I had forgotten what it was called. I love these houses -  you usually don't see these kind of houses in Utah. Jon said there are houses just like this in North Carolina, so we may have to settle there. (I really don't like the brick/brown stucco houses in Utah - I like more character and color!)

Daybreak has their own shops, community parks, running trails, lake and the yards are beautiful (because of the HOA).
I always thought I would want to live in a place with a huge, well taken care of yard, but I definitely do not have a green thumb (and I lack the passion for it). They have small yards, but they each look so nice and have flowers/trees/etc. The houses range from small to large, depending on your budget and the size of your family.

Here are a few of the houses they have there:






 
 
 
I just think they are so cute and pretty. They remind me of houses by the beach back home. Someday....!

1 comment:

Chelsie! said...

Molly! It's such a small world, I'm telling you. I'm working for Komatsu Equipment right now, and for the next 6 weeks I'm working IN the mine! It was so fun to see you mention it. It is one of the most interesting places I have ever worked in my life.
Daybreak is really cool, isn't it? I love to drive through on my way home from work sometimes. I don't know if I'd ever live there though (It's built on top of old Kennecott landfills and you have to sign a million waivers to live there). Hope you're doing well!