Firsts...

I've lived in Salt Lake City my entire life. Born and raised. There are two MAJOR landmarks here in the Salt Lake valley that sort of define Salt Lake City as we know it. One of them is The Great Salt Lake.

I watch the sunset over the Great Salt Lake practically every night and have never actually drove out to the lake to see it up close. I'd never been to it's beaches, islands, Saltaire, nothing, nada, no Great Salt Lake for me. Why? I don't know! Maybe it was rumors I would hear from others about the terrible smell out there. Maybe it was all the rumors of giant bugs and biting flies. Oh yeah, that was why I didn't want to go!!

Well a couple of weeks ago, I took my FIRST trip out to see the Great Salt Lake up close. I was surprised at a few things... FIRST: how the smell really wasn't bad...just smelled like the ocean. Not really stinky! Second: How beautiful it was!

First we went to this old rusted out, spray painted rail car. The boys thought it was super cool...so did Matt. And of course my thoughts were, "I can't wait to do a photo shoot here!!" (yes, I'll admit I'm a little obsessed with photography)

There was also an old cement building that was covered in graffiti. It was pretty cool looking too.
So then we thought we'd better get a picture of the kids out by the actual water. So we walked a few feet out to the water and took a few pictures.

It was at this moment that all the rumors of bugs I learned were not rumors. EEEW!!! Tiny little flies you could barely see landed on my face, arms, and neck. I brushed them off and ran for the car. By the time we got to the car, I had red blood marks where these flies had bitten me!! EEWWW!!!! YUCK! I even had little black dots around the corners of my eyes. As I wiped the dots off I realized it wasn't dirt, it was bugs! And they bit me!

Despite the bugs, we decided to drive further down the road to a place called "black rock." Why it's named black rock, I don't know. It's obviously very brown. Maybe it used to be black? Not sure. There were no bugs here, so we got out and went exploring. The boys climbed to the top of the rock in 2 seconds flat! They do love to hike...

Here's Matt and Spencer showing off their hiking skills...

Here's Spencer and Ethan way at the top!!!

While the boys hiked, Sadie and I walked around. I took a couple of fun pictures of Sadie...isn't she just adorable?

There was this cool broken pier that Matt and Sadie walked out on...it's one of my favorite pictures. Then Spencer said he had a great idea for a photo. He told me to go out there and hold Sadie's hand too. I think Spencer took a great picture don't you?

So will I go back to the Great Salt Lake again you ask? ABSOLUTELY!!! It's a photographer's paradise! Will I completely bathe myself in bug spray head to toe before getting out of the car? YES.

The second landmark in Salt Lake City is the Bingham Canyon Copper Mine. I remember growing up looking across the valley wondering what those lights were that looked like a roller coaster on the hill. I wondered why the mountains were a dug up out there! I'd never visited the mine before. Never! Well on Memorial Day I went to the copper mine for the FIRST time!

Observation #1: It's very, very big.

Observation #2: Still can't get over how big it is!!!

The trucks that haul all the sediment out of the mine are the most enormous trucks I've ever seen. There is a tire at the entrance of the visitor's center that shows you just how big these trucks are! They are 12 feet 6 inches high!! And there are 6 tires per truck. Each tire costs $25,000. Crazy.

The trucks themselves are the size of houses. You can see in the picture below, there is a white normal size truck that looks tiny next to the giant truck!

We had lots of fun looking out at the mine, walking through the visitor's center and watching the movie presentation they had. Matt also taught us about his great grandfather who worked in the mine for 38 years. Matt's grandma was born in Bingham Canyon (the small mining town), which is now gone...it was all mined away!

The kids love taking pictures with my "small" camera. I still haven't looked at them yet. I'm sure that will be another blog post someday! I think Ethan makes a great photographer, don't you? And I loved seeing this old camera on display in the visitor's center.

Another thing we learned is that this copper mine is the largest open pit mine IN THE WORLD!!! WOW! And to think I'd never been...