Yesterday was our day to tour the area near Brigham City.
We went first to the very nice Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Visitor's Center. It sits right off the Interstate. I'm not sure the birds really like the Interstate, but it was convenient access. The weather was cold, wet and raw with sleet as we drove around the loop in the refuge which was at least 30-miles around. We came to know that the "refuge" was not really a "refuge" as the bird hunters were evident everywhere. I think they were hiding in their little camo boats, but we knew they were there by their white pick-ups that were everywhere. (Comment: Are white vehicles a Mormon thing? People here have mostly white vehicles, but there are a fair number of black, as well). We saw a slew of coots, a few pelicans and many harriers, but no birds with any real shooting value. No doubt they saw the hunters, too, and took off for warmer climes.
From there we stopped for lunch at the Golden Spike Cafe in Corrine, UT, enroute to the Golden Spike National Historic Site in the Promentory Mountains. We passed a huge, sprawling complex, spread over the hills of an outfit called "ATK Launch Systems" which obviously had very "top secret" trappings. We saw a missile on prominent display in front of the main complex. We realized that part of this organization was Thiokol (Sp?) which, of course, is famous for their "O-rings" on the Space Shuttle Challenger's launch rocket that belew out and resulted in the death of all of the astronauts back in 1986.
The Golden Spike site was very interesting. The highlight was the two replica steam locomotive engines that they run up and down the tracks outside the visitor's center. I have attached a few pictures for you. As you can see, the elevation was 4505', and they had snow the night before.
Well, we awoke to snow on the ground this morning and will head for a hopefully warmer Moab, UT, later as soon as we can get our utilities disconnected and the tow vehicle reconnected.More later...
Love, Rich
