Tuesday, March 30, 2010

ABC Wednesday Challenge - K


It's ABC Wednesday again, and this week, the letter is K

I thought about just throwing out random KILOBYTES of KNOWLEDGE like:

KANGAROOS can hop up to 75 KILOMETERS per hour.
and


KOALA Bears are not bears at all, but are really a cousin to the wombat.
and


From places in the south of KENYA, you can see Mt. KILIMANJARO, which has three volcanic cones, one of which is named KIBO.
and

KIM KARDASHIAN KEEPS KLUTZY KITTENS in a KING-SIZED KENNEL.

(OK, I just made that last one up)

But I just wasn't too KEEN on a whole page of that KIND of KOOKY stuff.

Then, my KIND and KNOWLEDGEABLE wife reminded me of my roots...

There is a country song that says:
I feel no shame,
I'm proud of where I came from,
I was born and raised in the boondocks.


Well it may not be the boondocks, per se, but KEARNS Utah sure felt like it when I was a KID.

It was a little windy, dusty corner of the world.


OK this isn't exactly what it looked like when I was growing up. This picture is from about 20 years earlier.
KEARNS came into existence May 1, 1942 as a World War II United States Army Air Force training facility known as KEARNS Army Air Base.
It was redesignated: Camp KEARNS on January 1, 1944.
It was named after Senator Thomas KEARNS, a Utah Senator who had amassed a fortune in silver mining in Park City.
.
After the war was over there was no need for the facility, and it was decomissioned, but since water and sewer lines had already been installed, it was an excellent place to build houses, and soon they began springing up everywhere.

My parents bought their home there two years before I was born. So, I went to West KEARNS Elementary School. This cannon and flagpole, remnants of Camp KEARNS, used to sit on the corner of our playground at West KEARNS, and as KIDS we got to play on them, but they were moved in the 80's to a street corner where they sit today.

And of course KEARNS High School:


I last lived in Kearns in 1987, and it has grown and changed a little since then.

The Utah Olympic Oval in KEARNS was the venue for long-track speed skating events in the 2002 Winter Olympics. Because of its altitude, which gives it the thinnest air of any such facility in the world, and its unique architecture, which allows for close control of temperature and ice conditions, the Oval saw numerous records set during the games. It remains arguably the fastest ice surface in the world. The Oval is still in operation, hosting both competitive events and public skating.

Incidentally, the oval was built at the site of the KEARNS swimming pool, where I was a lifeguard in my teenage years.

Please take some time to check out what others were INSPIRED to blog about this week, at

ABC Wednesday,

and feel free to add your own blog to the list as we work our way through the alphabet.

~{@ @}~ ~{@ @}~ ~{@ @}~ ~{@ @}~


Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures.


Read all about it here

21 comments:

  1. A knice kpersonal khistory.

    On behalf of the ABC Wednesday team - in oyther words (in part, yourself) - thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very informative. I liked learning about the place you grew up. Forgive my ignorance. I can't believe I never heard of Kearns before.
    Great K post.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kool! Really that was interesting about Kearns, Utah and how it came to be.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Interesting info about Kearns and I love the vintage photos. Also enjoyed your random bits of knowledge....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fun and interesting post, Troy! Love reading about the history of Kearns and the old photos are great! Hope your week is going well!

    Sylvia

    ReplyDelete
  6. I like the lets build a town here attitude, great B&W photos.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great to know your hometown has a history.

    ReplyDelete
  8. wow.. that's a long story huh. That's cool! A lot of K's also, thanks for the information about Koala bear and kangaroos, can hop in about 75 kms per hour and about Khim Kardashian too. Thankie!

    Here's by the way my ABC Wednesday --- K is for KITTEN :)

    Have a great Wednesday!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think you pretty much covered it all! What a great assortment of K words.

    ReplyDelete
  10. A very knowledgeable entry! thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is great! You certainly put a lot of effort into the letter "K!" Very informative and entertaining at the same time...

    ReplyDelete
  12. How interesting that an army base became the basis for a town!

    I love Utah, but of course, we tend to visit the pretty bits, and Kearns looks remarkably flat!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Lots of historical K's ! From Utah I only know the beautiful landscapes.
    Gattina
    also from the ABC team

    ReplyDelete
  14. Kearns sounds like an interesting place - love the photos and the history!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Really interesting bit of history about Kearns. And now I know more than I knew before. :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great K words, Troy! I enjoyed the old photos - very vintage!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Loved the fun stuff in the beggining,and all the info about your hometown which I didn't know until now!

    Great K post.

    Kisses from Nydia.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Well written piece of blog and take us through all kinds of interesting and land in your birth place.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Cleverly-written K-post! Nice to find out a little about your background. If you left Kearns, Utah in the 1980's, where do you live now?
    Best wishes,
    Anna

    http://annasadornments.blogspot.com/2010/03/abc-wednesaday-kalphabe-thursday-k-k-as.html#links

    ReplyDelete