Catching Up … Our Utah Goings On

Saturday, 30 June 2018
Hill AFB FamCamp — Hill AFB, Utah
Temps: 83F (28C) / 59F (15C)

I’m not going to say that time has run away from me, because you all already know that it has ;-)  So … let’s just catch up on all that Mui and I’ve been up to since we arrived at Hill Air Force Base on June 21.

By the way, every sign and document I’ve come across still refers to J[oint] B[ase] Hill as Hill AFB … I’ll follow suit.

A good number of our days were spent trying to figure out if Utah will fit our fulltiming exit plan.  The short answer … no.  Why?  Too many reasons to go into in this post, but it probably doesn’t help that we have too many memories of how things were prior to the urban sprawl of the recent decade or two.   We’re finding the comparisons to ‘then’ just too hard to overcome.  We’ll be looking elsewhere.

Moving onto the fun stuff …

June 23: Hill AFB Open House & WOW Airshow …

After a day of rest at home, we didn’t have to go far to have fun … the entertainment came to us in the form of the annual Hill AFB Open House and Warriors Over Wasatch Airshow at the flight line.

A C-5 Galaxy serves as a unique entry gate to the flight line for today’s events.

We’ve been to similar open houses before … the first time being in 1983, when we moved to Utah from Washington for Mui’s first USAF assignment (post here.)  Being at the famcamp on base made attendance easier this time.  We went to the flight line in the morning to check out the static aircraft displays and see the early aerial performances.  We watched the afternoon star attraction — the USAF Thunderbirds — from the famcamp … not only was the light conditions better, but we had shade for relief from the afternoon heat.

Mui opts for a photo-op with a modern-day military aircraft … the F-35 Lightning.  While …

… I choose to pose with a Piper Cub.  This particular aircraft was delivered to the US Army Air Corps in 1945 and served in the European Theater of Operations.

The highlight of the Open House is the aerial performances …

… capped by the Thunderbirds’ bomb burst!

June 25: Timpanogos Cave Hike

On 17 June — not this year but in 1984 — we did a hike at the Timpanogos Cave National Monument, which is in American Fork Canyon … not far from Salt Lake City … surrounded by the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The hike we did then — and today — is the only way to get up to the triple-caves located high up on the mountainside.  Back then we visited the caves; this time we did not.  (Link here to the 1984 hike … for photos of what we didn’t see today … namely, the caves.)

We got an early start to beat the heat and were rewarded with both shade and comfy temps on the trail — a paved path that gains some 1,092 feet (333 m) vertically in 1.5 miles (2.4 km) … or to put it another way, a climb not unlike walking up a 102-story skyscraper!

You want to visit the caves?  You have to hike up to them.

At the trailhead, which is accessed through the visitor center, a National Park Service ranger gives a short safety briefing … the gist of which is to keep moving through the sections that are prone to rock slides.  These areas are marked with red and yellow lines.  The takeaway message from the briefing: if you hear a clapping sound, run up or downhill until you get to an unmarked section of the trail … pronto.  Got it!

The trail is steep — some parts more so than others.  But the narrow path snakes around in a series of switchbacks that makes the elevation gain palatable.  Good cardio workout with views.  By Mui’s watch, we took over 1½ hours to get up to the cave entrance, making frequent stops along the way.  Some of the stops were to catch our breath — plenty of benches along the way — others were for photo ops or to read the signage describing the geologic layers of rocks we were ascending through.  The main view along the way is of the canyon with the valley beyond.

The hike starts at the Tintic Quartzite formation and goes up to the Deseret Limestone.

Mui points to a fault … what the sign says is evidence that these rocks are moving.

Standing just beyond the red and yellow “no stopping rockslide markings,” I look back down at the switchbacks that snake up the mountainside.

This canyon view, with the valley behind, keeps us entertained all the way to the top.

Once we reached the waiting area for the cave tours, we chatted with one of the rangers, who pointed out some of the coral fossils in the Deseret Limestone cliffs around us … a product of living organisms from 340 million years ago … and the formation in which the caves were discovered.  Then we headed back down.  The return hike didn’t take nearly as long as the one going up ;-)

The Deseret Limestone is riddled with coral fossils.  when it was a collection of living animals over 300 million years ago, the fossil colonial coral in the cliff (top right) would have looked similar to the photo on the top left.

After the hike, we found a picnic table in a secluded area across the road from the visitor center and enjoyed a light meal along the American Fork Creek.  Not much of a view, but the water trilling over the rocks was a soothing accompaniment to our picnic lunch.

We wrapped up our outing with a drive further up the canyon to the Tribble Fork Reservoir where people were enjoying the beach facilities … certainly, a great day to be doing so … in such a wonderful alpine setting.

June 29: Salt Lake City …

Yes, Salt Lake City has changed quite a bit in the 27 years since our departure.  The urban sprawl has extended west of the railroad tracks and east up into the mountains.  But the downtown core has remained pretty much the same … except that Zion Mall is now gone … though the historic façade has been retained.

Our visit to downtown was primarily to take a peek around Temple Square … the heart of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints … aka, the Mormon Church.  Sort of a trip down memory lane.  On the way there, however, we detoured to check out a Roman Catholic Church … the Cathedral of the Madeleine.

Though we did quite a bit of sightseeing in SLC when we were living here, neither of us recalls visiting the cathedral, which was completed in 1909.  From what I understand, it is the only one in the US that is under the patronage of St Mary Magdalene.

Left: When one enters the cathedral, the first thing that catches the eye is
the baptismal founts … one of which is used for immersion baptisms.

Right: Closer look at one of the murals decorating the sanctuary.

I like how the filtered light through the rose window is reflected on either side.

From the cathedral, it was just a short drive to Temple Square, which covers 35 acres (14 hectares) of the downtown core.  Our first stop was at the Church Office Building, which we’d never been inside before.  LDS volunteers stood at the ready to offer private tours, but we declined … and also skipped the observation terrace on the 26th floor … too much heat haze today.  A quick loop around the lobby to check out the artwork and we were on our way to explore the grounds.

The temple, built by the Mormon pioneers between 1853-1893, is dead center.
The building to the left is Hotel Utah.   Though it still stands on the
corner of Main and South Temple, it is a hotel no more.  Rather, it is
now the Joseph Smith Memorial Building … housing a 500-seat
theater where the film “Meet the Mormons” is screened.

"Go Ye Therefore and Teach All Nations" is one of the religious-themed artworks
in the lobby of the Church Office Building.  An original painting by
Harry Anderson, this enlargement is by Grant Romney Clawson.

Only LDS members in good standing are allowed inside the temple itself.  Today, however, the gates to the gardens around the building stood open to welcome several wedding parties milling about as they waited to take their turn inside.  Not ones to miss the opportunity, we took a stroll around the beautiful gardens before continuing our self-guided tour of the square.  Assembly Hall, which anyone can enter, was open.  However, with the choir apparently on tour in Europe, the Tabernacle was closed.

The SLC temple is one of more than 100 worldwide.  Today, several wedding parties
are here … I catch one couple during a photo op by the reflecting pool.

One of my favorite photos from today … kids in the inner garden around the temple.

Gothic Revival in style, the Assembly Hall was constructed between 1877-1882.
In front of it stands the Seagull Monument, which commemorates what the
Mormons refer to as the “Miracle of the Gulls.”  (Click here for the story.)

The Assembly Hall can seat around 1,400 people.

We continued our outing with a delightful lunch at Ruth’s Diner — one of our favorite restaurants from the “olden days” — in Emigration Canyon.  Neither my favorite wilted spinach salad nor Mui’s seven layer dip is on the menu anymore, but we both found delicious new menu items to replace them.

We wrapped up our day with a quick stop at This is the Place Monument, located near the mouth of Emigration Canyon.  The monument sits outside Heritage Park, which allows visitors to step back in time to the early settlement days of Utah.  As hot as the temp was, we decided to skip the park this time.

Mui chills while I wander around taking photos at “This is the Place.”

Named for the statement Brigham Young is said to have uttered in 1847 to indicate the pioneers should settle in the Salt Lake Valley.  The current monument, installed in 1947 to honor the 100th anniversary of the pioneers entering the valley, replaced a smaller one that was not far from this location.

June 30: Hill Aerospace Museum

We prefer not to stray far on weekends, so this was our day to visit the Hill Aerospace Museum in Roy … just up the road a bit from the base.  Also the home to an Aviation Hall of Fame, the museum has one of the finest collections of vintage military aircraft in the US.  The welcome board states its mission as “… to preserve, display, and bring to life those aircraft and thousands of their artifacts relating to Hill Air Force Base and the story of the U.S. Air Force in Utah.”

We arrived just before the 9:00a opening and started our visit with a stroll around the outdoor static aircraft display.  The light wasn’t the greatest for photos — an afternoon visit would have been better — but we persevered.

A C-124 Globemaster and a C-7 Caribou (right) welcome us to the static aircraft display.

KC-135 Stratotanker … we flew one of these aircraft, operated by the Utah Air National Guard, to Hawaii a couple of times for weekend junkets.  The Guard would be flying over for a military exercise, and if there was space available, they would take passengers, too.

You never know what you might find painted as aircraft nose art.

Inside the museum we found a wall describing the life and career of Maj Ployer Peter Hill, for whom the base is named.  As well, here was the Aviation Hall of Fame and several indoor galleries filled with more aircraft on display.  This museum is definitely a must for aviation aficionados.

Hill Air Force Base, previously Ogden Air Depot, was named in honor of Major Hill, a test pilot who died following the crash of an experimental aircraft that was the prototype for what became the B-17 Flying Fortress of WWII.

The Kaman HH-43B “Huskie” served as rescue mission helicopters during
the Vietnam War, aiding boats patrolling the Mekong Delta.

F-16A “Thunderbird”  … flown by the aerial demonstration team between 1983-1992.  Before coming to the museum, this plane served as a static trainer at Sheppard AFB in Texas.

And with this museum visit, we are wrapping up the month of June.  We’ll be in Utah through the 4th of July, so we should be able to get another outing or two under our belt before we move on down the road.  But that’s a story for another post.

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