Jack and Dave played another round of golf this morning BEFORE we headed south to see the huge open pit Copper mine. They were on the course at 6 a.m. and I think they must have needed LED golf balls 'cause it was still dark here at that time.
After lunch Jack and Marilyn picked us up and we drove to the Copper mine. It was a beautiful drive, the sun was shining and all traces of the wind and rain storms had vanished. We drove through the cities (towns?) of Jordan, and Daybreak before we wound our way up the piles of tailings (the material left over after the copper is extracted) to the visitor center.
Its almost impossible to see how huge this mine is from a picture. It is so wide, so deep. I was as mesmerized by the shapes and patterns the mining operations inadvertently made as I was by the subtle color shadings in the tailings. I know this is an industrial site, but I thought it was beautiful. See those tiny little dots in the picture? They are huge haul trucks, moving the rock from the mine to another facility to be crushed and conveyed to yet another plant. Its a very complicated process.
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| big boys watching the trucks |
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| one of the huge haul trucks. see the staircase on the front that the drivers have to use to get into the cab? these trucks are as big as your house and they can carry up to 320 ton of rock. Dave tells me that they are the biggest trucks ever made. Previously, we'd only seen them featured on History Channel's "Modern Marvels". |
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| the white truck following the haul truck is a full sized delivery type van - for comparison |
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Jack reading the specs. on one of the haul truck's huge tire.
Each truck uses 6 of these monsters, they cost $25,000 each and are only used for about 9 months before they need to be replaced. |
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| Are you sure it isn't in here Marilyn? |
After our mine visit, we all went out to another stellar dinner at Trio. Oh, and right next door was a sweet little bakery, so I just had to nip in for some "goodies" for the drive tomorrow.....
Get a load of Dave's huge meatball! Do you think he ate it all? He either didn't know he was going to be in the picture, OR he's tired of me taking his picture, I'm not sure which was the case. At any rate, dinner was delightful, we sat outside under misters surrounded by planters of small, colorful flowers. What a lovely way to end this visit with our friends.
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| This one is for you, JoAnn....it was right across from us. notice the leveling blocks under the front tire. they're the ones Dave told you about.... |
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| A beautiful end to a beautiful visit. Thanks Jack and Marilyn. |
Jeannie, this was a beautiful sunset ,but I think the ones over the valley on Reservoir Road can rival the best, don't you?
Wow ...what a cool mine! Loved those trucks and thanks for the comparison of the van behind it! INcredible! And, YES, the Genesee Valley sunsets can rival any around ....just last night Geneva and I were walking on the access road and looking over the valley sat this huge red ball of sun, just a red ball, no smattering of color on either side of it. Amazing...and we saw a doe and twins too! Very pleasant walk and cooler today. A/C's off for the day! Safe journey.
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