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Show THE OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Page 8 Volume IX Issue VI January 1, 2004 I Love Our Valley and Its People! By Drienie Hattingh They came to Eden from all over the western United States—Idaho, M o n t a n a , Wa s h i n g t o n , Alaska, and Utah. Johan decided not to have his end of the year conference in Salt Lake City this year; he hosted it right here in our beautiful Valley. He knew it would be a memorable conference. **************** “Where did the women skiers come down during the Olympics?” “What are those yellow things that we see in the snow?” “Where did the men come down during the Olympics?” “Where do the skis go? Can they fit into the gondolas?” The ski instructor and our tour guide, riding with us in our Gondola, answered all the questions with a smile. “There it is—just to our left—that is where the Women’s Down Hill events took place. We named the run Wildflower. “Wow!” One of our guests shouted looking at the scary ski run. And then some of us shouted, “That’s crazy!” when we saw a skier disappear over a drop off! Our guide continued, “The Men’s run, which I will show you later, located higher up the mountain, is called Grizzly, and the yellow things in the snow are part of our snowmaking system—the biggest and most modern in Northern America. And the skis fit into those pockets outside of the Gondola . . . ” I felt proud—I just could not help it! The conference had been a success, and now we were riding up to the Needles at Snowbasin in a beautiful, heated gondola with incredible views of our Valley far down below. It still took my breath away, even though I’ve traveled up the mountain several times. The friendly ski instructor was just the cherry on top! You could see that he wasn’t only answering questions and doing his job, he enjoyed sharing this beautiful place with us and he too was visibly proud. This was the last day of the conference and we purposely saved the best for last—coming to lunch at this incredible setting at one of Snowbasin’s exquisite log restaurants. Denzel Rowland, the general manager of Snowbasin, and his lovely wife Mary arranged for our group to go up to the Needles—a special treat. They also arranged for ski instructor/tour guides in each gondola to answer questions. Johan decided to have lunch at the bottom ski lodge after our gondola ride. I was excited about that because I know the excellent cook there! It is Irene, who we fondly refer to as the Soup Nazi—named after the fictional character in the Seinfeld TV show. Just like the cook in the television show, Irene too makes fantastic soups. Johan booked the out-of-towners into the newly renovated Red Moose Lodge in Eden. We were so excited about John Lewis’s newest addition of great-places-to-stay in the Valley! Before our guests arrived, Johan and I went over to the Red Moose and Penny, who is both my neighbor and the manager, gave us a tour of the lodge with its oldworld-international-ski-charm look. Johan booked the conference facilities at Wolf Creek and arranged for breakfasts and lunches at the same venue. We had the final dinner at our house! We ordered Alpine Pizza’s excellent pizzas for dinner. I turned our dining room into a colorful “restaurant” by bringing in extra little tables and decorating them with festive table cloths and centerpieces. I made a huge chopped salad to go with the pizza, and chocolate and lemon-coconut cakes and banana cream pies. We had a great evening, and I sent them all off with a taste of the Valley—creamed honey from the Monastery and “to-die-for truffles” from Planet Rainbow. The out-of-towners told us how much they enjoyed their accommodations; the venue; and our beautiful, peaceful Valley. As they were preparing to leave, they kidded about how they had to hurry because it would soon be peak rush-hour traffic in Eden! They laughed as they drove, surrounded by peaceful horse ranches, admiring the endless open views of meadows and mountains. They marveled at the views in those early morning hours when the sun came up behind Flat Mountain and colored our Valley in a soft pink, and how the mist hovered over Pineview Reservoir in the distance—all surrounded by the awe inspiring snow covered Wasatch Mountains. When Johan and the conference guests pulled away on that typical beautiful Utah winter’s day -brisk and blue-skyed- with vans loaded with new friends, I knew that they had had a great time in our Valley. GUARANTEED d Sol d Sol Call For Details! Eden ays d Sol d Sol Eden $222,000 6 d in 0 in 5 ys Da d Sol 6 in 5 ays 1D Eden $205,000 ys $295,000 9 d in $175,000 ys Da d Sol 12 in 1 Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that’s the gauge they used. Why did “they” use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that’s the spacing of the wheel ruts. So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England) for their legions. The roads have been used ever since. So the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse’s behind came up with it, you may be exactly right, because the Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses. Sol Eden Da Sol ys Da Eden $252,000 D in 4 3 in 6 Why was that gauge used? Because that’s the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the U.S. Railroads. The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot, and bureaucracies live forever. Or We Pay You $1000! ays Does the statement, “We’ve always done it that way” ring any bells? The U.S. standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That’s an exceedingly odd number. And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. * $1,000 CASH Your Home Sold In 90 Days, 7D in 1 “We’ve Always Done It That Way!” ys Da Now the twist to the story . . . When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses’ behinds. So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world’s most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse’s behind! . . . and you thought being a horses behind wasn’t important! THE PACKAGER, INC. Since 1972 Huntsville $172,000 Eden $221,000 Eden $535,000 EDEN OFFICE ONLY 2580 N. Hwy 162, Eden 801-745-8800 Wir sprechen Deutsch Se habla Espanol *Certain Restrictions Apply. “WE HAVE BOXES” MOVING FOR STORAGE SHIPPING Boxes Bubble Wrap Tape Foam Visit our retail store for your packaging needs! No Minimums Shauna Jensen Greg Jensen Associate Broker Sales Associate 791-2114 745-2456 Pete Rasmussen Duane Meacham Sales Associate Associate Broker 791-3814 860-4461 Jim & Linda Simmons Sales Associates 745-6301 / 791-2947 Dick Payne Broker 940-4040 1330 Gibson Ave., Ogden, UT 84404 Hours: Monday thru Friday 1 - 4:30 p.m. Phone: 801.393.5373 Fax: 801.392.0275 |