Wilma Jean (Hurst) Bessey 7/28/1932 - 3/26/2012

Three days after leaving Salt Lake City we arrived in Elma, Washington during the last days of August 2011 for a visit with family in the area. It turned out to be the last time I saw my Mother alive. She was living in a nursing home with complications of Parkinson's disease, and I knew in my heart that each visit could very likely be the last. It seemed miraculous that she held on as long as she did, but the human spirit can be amazing! I'll be forever grateful I was able to spend these few days with her in August. Wilma Jean (Hurst) Bessey passed away on March 26, 2012. Be at peace Mom.

Mormon Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah

Our last stop in Salt Lake City was a visit to the Mormon Temple Square, a 10 acre complex located in the center of the city, and owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Attracting 3 to 5 million visitors a year, Temple Square is the most popular tourist attraction in Utah, bringing in more visitors than the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone National Park. Although the Salt Lake Temple is the centerpiece of the Square, it is considered sacred, open only to members, and no public tours are allowed. We were, however, able to visit the Tabernacle, home of the world-renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and given a demonstration of the more than amazing acoustics in this structure. We also stopped in the Visitor's Center, and were treated to a bird's eye view of the city from several stories up. The grounds, swarming with volunteers handing out pamphlets, and talking to visitors, feature a number of gardens, and often host concerts and other events. During the Christmas holiday season, hundreds of thousands of Christmas lights sparkle from  trees and shrubs around Temple Square, but only until 9pm. The lighting of Temple Square time is a popular event, attended by tens of thousands.

Kennecott Bingham Copper Mine

One of the attractions southwest of Salt Lake City is the Bingham Canyon Mine, also known as the Kennecott Copper Mine, an open-pit mining operation in the Oquirrh Mountains. It is the deepest open-pit mine in the world, and has been in production since 1906, resulting in the creation of a pit over 0.75 miles deep, 2.5 miles wide, and covering 1900 acres. Employing 1,800 employees and hundreds of contractors, 450,000 tons of material are removed from the mine daily. Electric shovels can carry up to 56 cubic yards or 98 tons of ore in a single scoop. Ore is loaded into a fleet of 64 large dump trucks which each carry 255 tons of ore at a time; the trucks themselves cost about $3 million US each. There is a five mile series of conveyors that take ore to the Copperton concentrator and flotation plant. The longest conveyor is 3 miles long. As of 2010, Kennecott Utah Copper is the second largest copper producer in the United States and provides about 13-18% percent of the U.S.'s copper needs. Kennecott’s Bingham Canyon Mine is the largest man-made excavation in the world, and is visible with the naked eye from space. It is one of the top producing copper mines in the world with production at more than 18.7 million tons. Every year, Kennecott produces approximately 300,000 tons of copper, along with 400,000 ounces of gold, 4 million ounces of silver, about 20 million pounds of molybdenum, and about 1 million tons of sulfuric acid, a by-product of the smelting process. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966 under the name Bingham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine. Although not much here to appeal to one's sense of aesthetics, the sheer magnitude of the operation is impressive, and the high cost of copper on today's market makes it a tad more interesting as well.

Salt Lake City, Utah

As we continued our trek westward, we stopped in Salt Lake City, Utah, towards the end of August 2011. Unfortunately we only stayed a couple of days, and had to squeeze in a visit to the Capitol, the Copper Mine, and Mormon Square all in the same day. First stop in the Beehive State was the State Capitol. (Most of the nicknames associated with Utah are related to the Mormons that first settled in this territory. Deseret, in The Book of Mormon is actually a honeybee. Early Mormon settlers have been described as having carried "swarms of bees" with them. This nickname commemorates the industry of the people of Utah.) Utah's Capitol building, constructed along the same lines as our nation's Capitol, has an interior dome reaching 165 feet above the rotunda floor, with a luxurious chandelier hanging down off of a 95-foot chain. The beautiful pathway circling the Capitol Hill Complex is lined with 100's of Yoshino cherry trees and connect major monuments around the complex. The inside of the capitol is beautifully adorned with murals, Corinthian columns, stain glass, and marble.

Palisade Peach Festival

Living and traveling in an RV gives us the wonderful opportunity to visit a variety of local fairs, festivals, concerts, and farmer's markets. It is so much fun to see how people across the country observe their unique customs, what foods they grow, how they celebrate, and what makes this or that corner of the world special. So it was when we arrived in Grand Junction, Colorado in mid August, 2011. Our primary reason for stopping here was to visit with our good friends, Janness and Nate, before continuing on towards California. But as we were getting checked in at the RV Park, we picked up a flier for the nearby Annual Palisade Peach Festival and decided this would be fun to explore while we were in the area. Palisade sits along the Colorado River with gorgeous mountains and breathtaking views everywhere you turn. The day of our visit was perfectly warm and sunny, but not too hot. Just right for strolling the festival grounds, sampling the locally grown peaches, shopping at the vendor booths, and taking in the beautiful scenery.