Salt Lake City, Utah (SOC Convention) (September 28 - Oct 5, 2010)

Salt Palace Convention Center

The Send Out Cards National Convention lasted 4 days (Sept 29 - Oct 2nd).  It was held at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City.  Very large convention center -- made COBO Hall in Detroit look like one of its dwarfs.  Heart wrenching -- happy -- motivational -- inspiring were only some of the descriptive words for this convention.  Met some wonderful people and just was a good time for all!!!  Send out those cards and " MAKING A DIFFERENCE "was the theme.  It was nice to see that Send Out Cards also supported two children for the Make a Wish Foundation and also raised over $18,000 at the convention for the Foundation.  That is what makes this company so successful -- it is about caring and sharing for others with a card, a gift or just sharing the opportunity of the company.  We were able to tour the company's facility where the cards are made and sent out and that was a pretty interesting place and amazing for it to be a debt free-company. You can tell they truly do care about their employees and really make them a part of the team.

Once we finished the convention,  we were able to visit Utah's State Capital and The Kennecott Utah Copper's Bingham Canyon Mine.  This mine has produced more copper than any mine in history -- about 18.1 million tons.  It is 2 3/4 miles across at the top and 3/4 of a mile deep. New haul truck cost about $3.5 million and can carry from 255 to 320 tons of material in a single trip. Not Bad!! This mine is so big it can be seen by space shuttle astronauts as they pass over the U.S.  The plan is to extend the life of this mine for another 20 to 30 years.  It is one amazing site.  The Visitor Center provided educational, hands-on and up-close experiences to help you better understand how metals and minerals are an essential part of our everyday life.  Surely a great place to visit.
That evening we road on the TRAX trolley through the City of Salt Lake which we had been watching run through the city all week.  Of course we rode through the "free-zone" only and we were ok with that!!!
Our plans have changed from south to west as we seek full-time work for our son Jason. He's the one navigating now!! OH Boy!!  Here We Go!!!

If You Like To Learn More. Please Go To: www.sendoutcards.com/kohut    OR   www.kennecott.com

Jordanelle State Park, UT (September 23-28, 2010)

After leaving Starvation State Park, UT we were hoping their state parks got better in that they at least offered electric -- especially as we were getting closer to Salt Lake City.  So the first one we stopped at was Wasatch State Park in Heber City, Utah.  It was nestled on the side of the mountain, but the sites were way too small to accommodate our 32' motorhome.  So we moved on.  Before leaving the area, however, we visited Soldier Hollow, where the nordic Olympic skiing took place in the 2002 Olympic games.  Across from Soldier Hollow was a beautiful golf course with a log clubhouse.  The original park I was headed to was Jordanelle State Park between Heber City and Park City, Utah.  It is Utah's largest campground; whereas Wasatch was their first state park.  We loved it when we saw it.  It overlooked the Jordanelle Reservoir where the Jordanelle Dam was built on the Provo River as a water storage area for the Central Utah Project.  The campsites were built into the hillside overlooking the reservoir where you could swim, boat or fish.  We had water, electric, BBQ grill, fire pit, WI-FI and clean nice bathrooms.  There was even a laundry on site.  All for $20/night.  What a bargain after the last few nights of what we went through.  Visited Park City on our first day -- very nice town with lots of rich looking homes built into the Mountainsides.  And a lot of imports!!!  Could not tell that the economy was affected here.  Our 2nd day there, we decided to visit all three ski resorts in Park City to obtain ski maps.    They were Deer Valley, Park City and the largest was The Canyons.  We cannot believe how much ski lift tickets are nowadays.  Something like $87/day.   WOW it has been awhile since we've been out west skiing.  Anyways, the first highlight of our visit to Park City was the Utah Olympic Park.  This 400 acre park gave us a close look at the nordic ski jumps, freestyle pool,  and the bobsled, luge and skeleton tracks used in the 2002 Winter Olympic games.   We also visited the George Eccles Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games Museum where we relived the 2002 Olympic Winter Games through visual highlights and artifacts as well as history of all the disciplines  in the intermountain region through interactive touch screen displays, videos, virtual reality ski theater, games and topographic maps.  For the public, they offered Bobsled rides, ziplines, and an alpine slide which we did not participate because they were only offered on the weekends and we were there on a Monday.  There are  guided tours offered every day and you could take your own walking tour of the grounds which we did.  We loved watching the Freestyle training pool where young athletes were doing their freestyle skiing and landing in a 750,000 pool featuring a bubbling device that softened their landings.  Very interesting park to visit.   The website for this park if you need information when you plan to visit is:  www.olyparks.com
Our second highlight of our stay here, was our visit to Sundance Ranch.  What a beautiful serene place.  No wonder Robert Redford made this his home.  And speaking of Robert Redford.   At Sundance Ranch they have a chair lift that operates in the summer by taking visitors up the Mountain to see the terrific scenery, to hike the trails or to mountain bike the trails or just to ride back down.  As we were getting on the chair lift, coming down on the chairlift was Robert Redford himself.  And we know it was him because a mother had asked Mike to take a picture of her and her two kids of which he obliged and she told him Mr. Redford was at the top of the mountain doing some hiking and he was due back down in about 10 minutes.  So of course we went to get our lift tickets and that is how we knew it was him.  Sure didn't look 74.  He was with a woman whom could of been his new wife but we were not sure.  That just added more excitement to the most beautiful setting we have ever visited thus far.  Plus it is a ski mountain in the winter months -- smaller then usual but manageable.  There was a log lodge to stay in,  and mountain cottages that were rustic and enhanced the surrounding landscape.  There were 4 restaurants and a deli, a spa, conference and meeting rooms and an art shack.  Sundance is dedicated to the balance of art and nature.  Each January, the Sundance Village features 40 screenings during the Sundance Film Festival held in Park City, Utah.  Also there was a babbling stream that went through the village which just made it very serene and it was just a nice quaint place to visit and Mike begged us to leave him there.  Surely a place to visit in Utah and their website is:  www.sundanceresort.com
Now on to our Send Out Cards Convention in Salt Lake City.

Starvation State Park, UT (September 22, 2010)



Flaming Gorge National Rec. Area Overlook

After leaving Green River, we headed south into Utah through the Flaming Gorge National Byway and it started raining and followed us through into Utah.  By the end of the day, so we found a park overlooking a lake which was Starvation State Park outside of Duschene, Utah.  Beautiful view; but to our dismay no hookups whatsoever.  We needed showers and their restroom was very "just old".  Of course, we had work to do to keep on our blogs, so we turned on our generator around 8:00 p.m.  Sad to say, I had some ornery man yelling in my bedroom window to shut the "damn thing off".  Then ten minutes later he was at my window again saying "go to the interstate you morons".  I thought that was rather rude since most parks you have to turn off your generator by 10:00 p.m.  By 8:30 I was feeling guilty and finished my work so I turned it off.  I noticed this man's lights went out -- so he was an early to bed kind of guy.  Sure enough when we woke up, he was gone.  I am sure he did not pay his camping fee because the Ranger did not collect that evening nor first thing in the morning.  When I told the Ranger what had happened he said that it was quiet time at 10:00 p.m. so we were not violating any rules.  I paid my $16.00 camp fee and we moved on.

Green River, Wyoming (September 21, 2010)

Jason found this area in a travel magazine.  And why did it perk his interest?  Because there was a bike park there.  So we decided to check it out.  Also there was an exhibition kayak area along the Green River which perked Mike's interest.  Well, lo and behold, this small town had 28 parks to be exact.  Even more interesting, is that there was a paved bike trail that connected all these little parks and traveled along the Green River.  So after Jason and Mike just had to ride the bike park -- both managing minor injuries; and riding along the river south of the bike park, we decided to camp the night overlooking the bike park.  No one bothered us or told us to move on.  The next morning where it was sunny and warmer, Mike decided to tryout the kayak through the small rapids on the Green River.  It was a great morning to do that; while Jason attempted the bike park once again.  I chose to ride along the Green River path to see if I could follow along side Mike as he traveled on the river.  I must have missed him somewhere along the line and ended up almost in the town and he was already back at camp.  We enjoyed the park(s) and thought what a great recreational town.  So many people playing soccer, riding their bikes, walking the trails -- we shall be back someday!!!

Boysen State Park, WY (September 20, 2010)

The first white men through the Wind River Canyon where the wind river flows North, built the original  dam in 1908 from whom the park and the reservoir are named Boysen State Park.  The CB and O Railroad went through the canyon in 1911 and the state highway went through in 1925.  In 1923 a flood filled the power plant with silt and thus operations ceased.  The existing dam was completed in 1951 and Boysen became a state park in 1956.  Very pretty setting but primitive camping with pit toilets; that is why they probably called it the Tough Creek Campground.  In fact, we were the only ones camping there for the night and the ranger did hunt us down for the $17.00 camping fee. Come to find out All of Wyoming State Parks are Primitive Camping.  We were surrounded by the reservoir on two sides and we could smell that old algae smell from the water.  Thankfully it was cool out and we really did not need a swim.  We did make a fire and got a good nights rest since it was so peaceful in the middle of nowhere!!!!  Keep heading west we told ourselves so we set out to drive wherever the motorhome took us as long as we were going westward.

Casper, Wyoming (September 19th, 2010)

The only good thing we can say about this KOA ($35/night) next to the highway campground; is that the person who checked us in suggested we visit the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper.  And we thoroughly enjoyed our journey through the western plains  between 1840 and 1870 where 500,000 travelers journeyed across this territory as they traveled to the Oregon territory, the Great Salt Lake Valley, and the California and Montana gold fields looking for free farm land, freedom of religion and new business opportunities.  During this time, the Pony Express was created as well.  We experienced a journey across these trails including the hardships that were encountered;  their meeting and trading with the Indians, and we decided that this is how history should be taught in the schools.  We experienced a virtual river crossing and we rode a stage coach.  Very interesting indeed and kept us busy for a good couple of hours.  There were seven interactive exhibit galleries and a 18-minute multimedia program as well.  We also visited the town of Casper and Jason purchased his first cowboy hat.  From there we traveled to Boysen State Park in The Wind River Canyon of Wyoming.

Custer State Park, SD (September 16 - 19, 2010)

We remembered this time and made reservations in Custer State Park at the Bell Campground.  Last time we were here (the busy summer months) you could not get in unless you made reservations.  This was one of maybe a half dozen campgrounds in Custer State Park; some being completely primitive; others being horse camps -- so they had a variety of what you prefer.  Of course we preferred the electric hookups and it was still a beautiful campground.  The scenery surrounded the campground and we were informed that there were 3 buffalo that visited the campground on a daily basis.  Of course it was evidenced to us by a big pile of poo just about 25 yards from our chosen campsite.  The camp host told us we just missed one of them coming in through our campsite earlier that day.  Our next full day we spent driving the 18 mile Wildlife Loop in which we caught a glimpse of some grazing buffalo, a couple of prairie dogs, and a couple of friendly donkeys in the road.  We also saw several antelope roaming on the grounds as well.  We then proceeded to Mt. Rushmore  on the twisty winding road of the Peter Norbeck National Scenic Byway.  We passed through 3 granite tunnels; of which one of them we remembered we had visited on the way to Alaska and were fortunate with our  3 kids to climb up on one of the bridge tresses and watch the 4th of July fireworks right over Mt. Rushmore which was back in 2000.  Ahh the good ole memories!!!  We had a picnic lunch at the Peter Norbeck park sitting on top of granite stone looking at the view of Mt. Rushmore.  But that was still not enough scenery for photographer Mike; we had to travel back to camp on the 14 mile drive on Highway 87 called Needles Highway.  It was called that for a reason; there were hairpin curves and narrow granite tunnels.  The name needles comes from the slender granite peaks that characterize this area.  There were also Cathedral Spires, a series of pinnacles that resemble church spires and the Needles Eye, a granite formation that looks like the eye of a needle.  The following day it became very cold (in the high 30's) and drizzled off and on during the day.  We were wiped out from our previous day's journey so we just hung out at camp waiting for the buffalo to show up.  Jason found one grazing behind one of the log cabins that you can rent; and then the other 2 were spotted behind a couple of campsites.  That was our excitement for the day.  We hear what the exciting event for the fall at Custer State Park is the Buffalo Roundup on Monday, September 27th.  Over 12,000 people annually attend to watch the Rangers round and corral the 1500 est. buffalo to a certain area for testing, branding and sorting to keep the population of 850 that's  the  number they say for the  park this size. The rest they will then be auction  off at an later date.  Best part -- it's a FREE event with concessions and exhibit vendors.  We will have to attend one of these years.  We had  great dinner at the Blue Bell Lodge which was a very nicely built log cabin style lodge and the corn bread was the Best.  Thus we conclude our visit at the Custer State Park and we will return someday to enjoy the cycling or hiking or horseback riding.  The park will keep you busy all during your stay.  Interesting websites regarding this park include:
www.CusterStatePark.info
www.CampSD.com      
 www.CusterResorts.com