Monday (6/1)  June 1st!!!!!.   Where did April and May go?    After all our anticipation of this trip, it will be over before we know it.

I guess we have a thing for state capitols.   We visited the Utah State Capitol this morning.   It is a lovely domed building built in the early 1900s at a cost of $4 million (see picture.)   It had been very neglected and in 2006 they completed a $230 million renovation.   It is just beautiful inside, fresh paint, cleaned paintings and it can now withstand an earthquake of 7.5 - pretty impressive.  They said that during an earthquake, the building can actually move 24 inches without sustaining any damage - How do they do that??????

Our next stop was the Bingham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine near Salt Lake City.   It is the largest man made "hole" in the earth and can be seen from outer space (see picture.)    They have 70 gigantic haulage trucks that can carry 250 to 320 tons of material in a single load.   They are as big as a house, have 12 ft. high wheels and cost $3.5 million EACH.  They mine about 55,000,000 tons of copper ore and 120,000,000 tons of overburden (the excess soil) each year.   It is impressive to see something so large and know that it is man made.

We had some time to kill before going to a baseball game, so we went to the Family History Library (sponsored by the Mormons.)  Rich did get a few dates to add to his family tree in the little time that we had there.   They have several (approx. 50) computers there for the public's use.   It is all free of charge.   The library was very busy - there must be something to this family tree stuff.  I guess that is why Rich spends so much time doing it - it is infectious.  

The Salt Lake Bees were playing again tonight, and one of the KOA Kamp Workers was kind enough to get us free tickets.  It was a great night to be there because this is Air Force Week through the Nation and in Salt Lake City.   There were three Air Force sponsored recreational vehicles outside the park, an Air Force Band, and many Air Force personnel that you could talk to.  Inside they had a four-start general throw out the first pitch, four sky-divers, and a fly by.   It was a great night to be at the game.