The other day, the kids and I were in the car and Allison mentioned the "volcanos" up on the mountain. I realized she was referring to the copper mines up in the Oquirrh Mtns. I had been wanting to take the kids up there to look around since we live so close, so I decided that we would just go do it. So, after getting our errands done at the store we drove up. Apparently, they were having a free week so we didn't even have to pay the typical $5 a car load. Because it was free, I guess they were expecting a lot of people so they had parking down below the mountain and then they bused everyone up in big fancy tour buses. I think the buses were the kids favorite part of the whole trip. They loved watching those "volcanos" get bigger and bigger and the big trucks get smaller and smaller.
When we were done, we got to ride the bus back down to our van. It was a fun little excursion for the me and the kids. I was amazed at how well they did and they were pretty excited to be able to come home and tell dad all about it.
When we got there, the first thing you see is that giant tire! I remember being there years ago and the tire was still there. Back then, you could actually climb inside the tire. Now they have it covered.
We walked all around looking at all the old mining equipment and we even paid our quarters to use the big binoculars to look down at all the trucks working down in the mine. 
The kids amazed me as they sat quietly and watched a movie about the mine and how it all works. The kids loved the part where they drilled holes and filled them with explosives. The whole process of getting the copper out of the mountain facinated me! Our copper mine provides 25% of all the copper used in the US. Apparently it is a big mine! After the movie the kids had a great time running from exhibit to exhibit. Holly's favorite was a little doll house that had buttons you could push to light up the different rooms. It showed how copper was used in our homes. Did you know that the metals used for the medals in the Salt Lake Olympics were donated by the Kennecott Copper Mine? I didn't. 
3 comments:
I'll have to bring my kids out there sometime this summer. I bet they'd think it interesting.
ah, that's been on my to do list for some time. Even before Maddy was born I wanted to go just me and Scott as a day trip. He's less interested. I'll just have to take Maddy and maybe Scott will go if it's for her.
So fun! I got to go with our scout group on Friday of that week and it was great to see all that's going on at the mine. Glad you got to go with your kids, it looks like they loved it!
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