We had a great time searching out the gems of Helper and Price and the weather was gorgeous -- around 50 and sunny.
First stop -- Helper (about a 2 hour drive past Salt Lake). We ventured down the tiny Main Street and found a large statue of a miner for a photo op.
Further down the road was Helper's Western Mining and Railroad Museum. This museum was bigger than I expected and it was also pretty cool. It is located in a historic building with three stories plus a basement and showcases lots of random, old stuff.
Each floor has 5 or 6 rooms that portray different themes. For example, one room shows what your kitchen would have looked like if you grew up in a coal mining family in Helper in the 1930s. It was nice because you could walk through the rooms to get a close up look at the items on display -- in this case, an old stove, ice box, dining furniture and different kitchen gadgets.
Other themes included post office, beauty parlor, doctor office, dentist office and an old school room. Here, the kids are trying out old desks:
Lunchtime arrived while we were still in Helper, so we dined at Balance Rock Eatery. They had yummy homemade food. Brian got plate size whole wheat pancakes, and the kids got gigantic bacon cheeseburgers with homemade potato chips. I had a veggie sandwich. The portions were huge, the waitress was friendly, and we passed the time reading trivial pursuit cards that were in a holder on the table. The next picture is taken outside an old, vacant building on Helper's once thriving Main Street.
Ten minutes down the road -- Hello Price. This city is a bit larger and more populated than Helper. Helper practically seemed like a ghost town with lots of vacant buildings. Ian was a tiny bit disappointed in our trip because he was hoping we could visit ghost towns and coal mines. The locals said most of the ghost towns have been leveled and we couldn't visit the mines for safety reasons. About 40 of Carbon County's original 50 mines have been shut down as the mining industry has lessened.
However, we visited the Prehistoric Museum and the kids loved it. I wouldn't drive to Price just to go to this museum, because we have a dinosaur museum in Ogden and a great one at Thanksgiving Point too. This one was small, but it was a nice addition to our tour de Carbon County.
2 comments:
I never thought I'd want to see Carbon County, but it sounds like fun. I need to do a better job of sightseeing in my homeland. I think it might be time to take my kids to Dinosaur National Monument.
your hair looks fabulous in the photo by the statue. Ian was ok including it on his poster, yes? :o)
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