Fall Break

It was funny to hear people's reaction when we told them we were going to Wendover for a trip. But despite being a casino town, it has a lot of history, as well as a lot of history between our house and there. And not to mention cheap motels!

We left our house Monday morning and made our first stop in Fairfield Utah, where Camp Floyd used to be. We stopped at the cemetery first, then went to the museum and Inn.
Camp Floyd was where the army, that the President of the United States sent when there was rumors of a Mormon Rebellion, set up camp. When they found no such rebellion Brigham Young wouldn't let them stay in the Salt Lake Valley, so they moved on and set up camp here.
There is nothing left of the fort, but the museum had a lot of cool artifacts and information and this is the Inn where some of the officers and families lived.

Our next stop was Sunshine! Gichin bought a book a few months back on Ghost Towns in Utah. They are mostly old mining towns, and a lot of them don't have anything left. But we were able to see some of those on our trip too, and Sunshine was the first. It is in the Sunshine mountain's, hence the name. It was a pretty rough road getting up to it, and we wouldn't have made it without our truck and 4-wheel drive! There are some big yellow hills where the mining town once stood.

But we were able to find some brick foundations.

Ophir was next. This was our favorite ghost town of the trip and we decided that if Gichin were to ever get a job in Tooele, we would live in Ophir! I think it has population of about 20 or something, but it was just a fun quaint town.

This old house looked so cool with the changing leaves. I wish I were a better photographer!

This is some of the original downtown buildings that they have recently redone.

Some old mining cars.

The drills.

We stopped for lunch in Tooele, and saw a couple Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Sights, as well as walked around the cemetery where some of Gichin's relatives are buried. Tooele is where the Marsden's originally settled.

Then we headed to Wendover. Along the way there is this random Metal Tree. There is really nothing between Tooele and Wendover and this odd modern art is just stuck out there in the middle of nothingness.
Before Wendover we stopped to see the Bonneville Salt Flats. It is one of the coolest things I have seen in my life!
Amazing how the white just goes on and on and on!

Then we had to go see where they do the speed racing. We had recently watched the movie The Fastest Indian which is about racing on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

We checked into our motel and then went the the Rainbow Casino for dinner, and it was an amazing buffet! But we thought the decor was something else!

Wendover at night

Because of the long, flat stretch of highway along the Salt Flats you can see the natural curvature of the earth. We tried to get a picture but it was too dark and it didn't turn out very well. It was really neat to see though.

Tuesday morning we went to the Airport and Military Base that was used during WWII. This was the airport where the Enola Gay took off, that carried one of the Atomic Bombs to Japan.

This is one of the test bombs used.

One of the barracks.

Also just outside of Wendover are two caves. The first one is called Danger Cave, which is dated as being used about 10,000 years ago. Unfortunately due to vandalism both caves are barred so we couldn't go inside.


The second cave was called Juke Box Cave. During WWII the soldiers would come to this cave to hold dances and socialize. They even poured a cement slab that they could dance on.

Here's a picture of a mountain of Salt at a Salt Factory. That is so much Salt!

On our way home we took a different route and his one more ghost town, Iosepa. This settlement was a Hawaiian settlement of latter-day saints. A group came over from Hawaii and The Church gave them this land where they could live in their own culture. After the temple was built in Hawaii most returned to their homeland. But Iosepa still has a luau each year over memorial weekend.


This is a view during our drive home through the mountains.

We really enjoyed our trip and are already planning another one to a different part of Utah to see more ghost towns!