A Giant Hole plus Arrivals & Departures

Our church office was closed Monday, since on Friday of this week (my usual day off) our staff is going to a leadership conference together.

So our fam decided to do some cheap stuff we'd never done before.

First, a trip to the largest man-made hole in the world:

Located in South Salt Lake County, the Kennecott Copper mine is 3/4 of a mile deep and 2 1/2 miles wide. It's so deep you could stack TWO Sears Towers on top of each other at the bottom and still not reach the top. It's an open pit mine; no caves, just one big hole in the ground.

We stood at the edge of the giant hole and looked down and across.

It's WA-A-A-A-Y big...I mean gi-nor-mous! There are these huge trucks the size of a house that carry the rock away and when they're down at the bottom, they look like ants. Here's us next to one of the truck tires.They say it is one of the few man-made objects that shuttle astronauts can see from space - along with the Great Wall Of China. And although both required many years to accomplish and much man power, somehow I imagine the Great Wall is a little more inspiring than an open pit mine. Not that the mine wasn't incredible to see...I just couldn't imagine a John Williams soundtrack playing behind it as we looked. More like Bob the Builder's theme song.

Next we headed to the Salt Lake Airport. To take a flight? No, silly reader, to watch the flights. Emily informed us a few days ago that she had always wanted to go and watch the planes take off and land, so we decided that we would fulfill this deep longing in her soul.Yep, that's the airport behind us as we stand in the parking garage, savoring the delightful odor of jet fuel. It actually is kind of fun watching the jets come and go.

It was a bit bright, and I'd forgotten my sunglasses, but found these in G'pa's glove box. I think these were G'ma's extra pair or something. I can't imagine that G'pa would have bought them, but my Mom always had, uh, shall we say eclectic tastes.Karen said I looked like Eliott Gould in Ocean's Eleven. Not a look I aspire to, but the glasses did keep me from being blinded by the midday sun.

After a time of watching the jets, the girls became enamored with spitting...off the side of the parking garage...from the third level.I was reminded of Jim Croce, "you don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't spit into the wind..." However, they were wildly entertained. Anya finally decided to quit relying on her own glands for liquid and to fill up with water for more distance. The result:It's moments like this that a parent dreams of.

We're so proud.