Grouse Creek House

  • The first settlers of Grouse Creek were drawn to the area because of the meadows.
  • Grouse Creek borders Nevada on the West and Idaho on the North.
  • The area was originally known as "Cooksville", but it was renamed Grouse Creek because of the abundance of Sage Grouse in the area.
  • Recent census numbers show only about 125 people living in Grouse Creek.

Great Salt Lake

  • The Great Salt Lake is a lasting remnant of Lake Bonneville, an ice age lake, which covered most of the Great Basin.
  • There are no natural outlets to the Great Salt Lake, and as a result, the slat content in the lake grows every year. However, most of the salt is considered to be relict salt left from Lake Bonneville.
  • Interesting fact, the high concentration of salt in the lake allows you to float.
  • It is the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River.

Golden Spike National Historic Park

  • Amidst the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act. This gave the United States permission to build the first railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
  • Two railroad companies raced to complete the railroad. The Central Pacific Railroad was hired to build a railroad east starting in Sacramento, California. The Union Pacific was hired to lay track west, starting at Council Bluffs, Iowa.
  • The two teams met in Promontory Point, Utah on May 10, 1869, and a final spike, made out of 17.6 karat gold, was used to complete the first Transcontinental Railroad across the United States.
  • You can see working replicas of the trains, "Jupiter" and "No. 119", from May through September at the historic site.

Utah State University

  • Utah State University was founded on March 8, 1888.
  • Located in Logan, Utah, it offers 162 undergraduate degrees.
  • The school is famous for their Aggie Ice Cream, which they make in their own creamery.

Hill Air Force Base (HAFB)

  • Hill AFB is the home of the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) Ogden Air Logistics Complex.
  • The Ogden Air Logistics Complex operates as the worldwide manager of aircraft, engines, missiles, software, avionics, and accessory components.
  • Hill Air Force Base is named in honor of Major Ployer Peter Hill (1894-1935).
  • Visitors come to the Hill Aerospace Museum to learn more about airplanes and aero science. In addition to the many educational exhibits, there are ninety different aircrafts on display at the museum.

Powder Mountain Ski Resort

  • Powder Mountain is the largest ski resort in the United States by skiable acreage. The resort has 154 trails, 9 lifts and 2 terrain parks.
  • While there is no snow during the summer, visitors can explore and bike the trails found throughout the resort.

Lagoon

  • Lagoon's White Roller Coaster is one of the oldest operating wooden coasters in the world. It has 2,500 feet (762 m) of track, top speeds of 45 mph (72 km/h), and hills reaching 60 feet (18 m) high.
  • Famous singers such as the Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Johnny Cash, and Louis Armstrong have played in different venues around the park.
  • In 1953, a big fire destroyed much of the park. It burnt down part of the Roller Coaster. Even today, if you look closely at the carousel, you can see faint burn marks on the wood.
  • Sections of the Roller Coaster are replaced yearly.

Utah State Capitol Building

  • The State Capitol building was built between 1912 and 1916.
  • The capitol building houses the chambers and offices of the Utah State Legislature, the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state auditor and their staffs.
  • After a tornado hit the Salt Lake area in 1999, some of the fallen trees were used to make the governor's desk.
  • Interesting Fact: The Utah State Capitol has been used in movies for exterior and interior pictures of the U.S. Capitol.

Eagle Gate

  • This monument is located in Salt Lake City at the mouth of City Creek Canyon. It used to be an entrance to Brigham Young's property.
  • Originally, the gate was topped by a wooden eagle. Eventually it was replaced by the current 4,000-pound, 20-foot wingspan, bronze eagle.
  • The original 1859 wooden eagle is on display at the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum in Salt Lake City.

Bonneville Speedway

  • The Salt Flats were formed when ancient Lake Bonneville dried up.
  • The Salt Flats were first used for motor sports in 1912. These sports did not become popular until the 1930's when Ab Jenkins and Sir Malcolm Campbell competed to set land speed records.
  • In 1960, Mickey Thompson became the first American to break the 400 miles per hour (640 km/h) barrier, hitting 406.6 miles per hour (654.36 km/h).
  • Today, the adrenaline-filled Speed Week is held annually on the Bonneville Salt Flats during the month of August.

Salt Lake LDS Temple

  • At 253,015 square feet (23,505.9 m2), it is the largest LDS temple by floor area.
  • Dedicated in 1893, it is the sixth temple completed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and took 40 years to complete.
  • Its walls are nine feet thick at the base and six feet thick at the top.
  • This impressive six-spire structure serves as a universal icon of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Vivint Smart Home Arena

  • The arena is the home of the NBA team the Utah Jazz. Other teams play here like the the Arena Football League Utah Blaze and the Women's National Basketball Utah Starz.
  • During the 2002 Winter Olympics, the arena was referred to as the Salt Lake Ice Center, and was used for figure skating and short track speed skating competitions.
  • The arena was voted "the most intimidating arena for visiting teams" in a 2008 survey of 242 NBA players. This might be because it is one of loudest arenas in the league. During the 1997 NBA finals, sound levels on the court reached 110 decibals. This is close to the amount of noise generated by a jet's engines during takeoff.

Salt Lake International Airport

  • There are approximately 370 scheduled departures from SLC each day. These flights serve nearly 100 cities with non-stop flights.
  • The airport complex is made up of two terminals, five concourses and 71 gates, and is home to ten airlines and their affiliates.
  • As of April 2017, the airport was ranked first for on time departures and arrivals, as well as first in lowest persent of cancellations.

Bingham Canyon Mine

  • Bingham Canyon Mine is the largest man-made excavation in the world.
  • It has produced more than 19 million tons of copper, which is more copper than any other mine in history.
  • The mine has been in production since 1906. The excavation pit is 0.6 miles (970 m) deep, 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, and covers 1,900 acres (3.0 sq mi; 7.7 km2).
  • Bingham Canyon Mine is visible to the naked eye from an orbiting space shuttle.

Utah Training and Testing Range (UTTR)

  • The Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) is located in Northwestern Utah and Eastern Nevada, within the Great Salt Lake Desert.
  • The range is host to a variety of training and testing missions for the Air Force, Army, and Marine Corps.
  • It is currently the largest over-land supersonic-authorized restricted airspace in the United States.
  • Interesting Fact: The testing range will be used as the landing site for the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission in 2023.

Skull Valley Indian Reservation

  • The Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians of Utah live on a reservation in Tooele County.
  • The reservation comprises 28.187 square miles (73.00 km2) of land.

Utah Lake

  • Utah Lake is 24 miles long and 12 miles across (over 96,000 acres total), and like the Great Salt Lake it is a remnant of Lake Bonneville.
  • It is the third largest fresh water lake west of the Mississippi River.
  • Almost half of the water in Utah Lake evaporates each year (about fourty-one percent).

Silicon Slopes

  • Silicon Slopes is a branding campaign to promote Utah's growing technology community.
  • More than 4,000 tech startups are centered in Silicon Slopes.
  • The region hosts events like Tech Summit, which attract 20,000+ people yearly.

Iosepa Ghost Town

  • Iosepa was once home to a colony of Hawaiian pioneers.
  • Iosepa, (pronounced yo-SEH-pa), means Joseph in Hawaiian. The town was named after Joseph F. Smith, a missionary who visited the Hawaiian Islands.
  • The town was well-known for its streets lined with yellow roses. In 1911, Iosepa even won the state prize for being the "best kept and most progressive city in the state of Utah."
  • It was inhabited during the period 1889 - 1917. Many settlers of Iosepa returned home to Hawaii when the Laie Hawaii LDS temple was announced in 1917.
  • The town has been reclaimed by the desert and hardly any of it remains. However, every Memorial Day weekend, hundreds of Polynesians gather in the ghost town for a celebration in honor of their ancestors.

Ute Stampede Rodeo

  • The Ute Stampede Rodeo is a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association sanctioned Rodeo, and it is traditionally held the second week of July in Nephi, Utah.
  • Beginning in 1934, this attraction has become a yearly tradition.
  • The Ute Stampede Rodeo brings thousands of fans, world-class athletes and some of the best bull riders in the country.

Sawtooth National Forest

  • Sawtooth National Forest covers 2,110,408 acres. Four percent is located in Utah with the other ninety-six percent in Idaho.
  • The National Forest includes over 1,100 lakes, and 3,500 miles (5,600 km) of rivers and streams.

Deseret Peak

  • Deseret Peak is the highest peak in the Stansbury Mountains, and the site is a popular destination for hikers.
  • To the south of the peak, there is a distinct wagon trail from the 1850's. This is called the Hastings Cut-Off.

Rio Tinto Stadium

  • Rio Tinto is home to Utah's Major League Soccer club, Real Salt Lake, the National Women's Soccer League club, as well as home to the Utah Royals.
  • The stadium opened on October 9, 2008, and seats 20,213 soccer fans.
  • Rio Tinto Stadium has also been used for rugby matches.

Box Elder County Court House

  • The court house was built in 1857 and was expanded in 1910.
  • It is asserted to be the best example of Neo-Classical Revival architecture in Box Elder County.
  • On February 18, 1887, the 927-pound clock was shipped to Brigham City. After its installation in the Box Elder County Courthouse, the clock functioned until sometime after World War II.