One of my 37 Goals is to see new things. While I was in Utah I wanted to do things that I'd never done while living there. So visiting Kennecott was at the top of my list. I lived at the base of this mine for over 20 years and never got up there to see it. (I think that I tried one time, but they were closed.) In fact, most of the families that lived on my street worked at the mine or for them in some way.
When I lived in Riverton, the waste rock that was dumped over the side of the mine was mostly only in the center part of what it looks like today. The mine has taken over about 20 towns. And though I have mixed feelings about the effects of open pit mining, I must admit that I think it looks kind of beautiful. The many colors of rock and dirt look nice against the colors of the desert.
P.S. This is the view (above) from my parents' back yard. Pretty impressive.
The pit is 3/4 mile deep. It can be seen from space. The mine produces more copper than any other on earth. They also produce gold, silver, and a few other ores as waste products. Those dark specks? Those are giant dump trucks.
Luckily, our visit overlapped with Karl's visit, so he came with us. It was kind of breezey.
The kids liked looking through the binoculars.
at these giant trucks. A grown man isn't even half as tall as one of the tires on those giant machines. Each dump truck can haul 340 TONS of rock!
Next time you are in Utah, this is a pretty cool place to go. The movie they show in the visitor's center is really interesting as well. I wish they had tours in the other parts of the mining operations (the smelter and refinery parts) It looked cool on the video. I think I'd like to go again!
Mesa Verde is home to some of the best preserved cliff dwelling and pueblo sites of the ancient Puebloans. They used to be called the Anasazi. However, that was a Navajo word and these people are ancestors to the Pueblo indians. So they are using ancestral peubloans for their name now.
The first dwelling we visited is called the Cliff House. It is the one pictured above. You can get a fabulous view from a lookout point above. Then we hiked down with a ranger guide to tour inside. These dwellings are in the sides of cliffs. There weren't stairs or a nice trail when the people lived here. They would cut little toe and fingerholds into the rock to get in and out of the cliff. I can't imagine having a 3 year old in a place like that. 
Some of spaces to get into and out of the dwellings were really small. I had to give the backpack to one of the kids so that I could get through the small openings.
The ladder below was 32 feet high. It was a little disconcerting to look down.
It's a good thing we had spent some time in Utah before hand. The elevation made the hikes a bit more strenuous for us sealevel dwellers.
Aspen is in 8th grade! She is just growing up way to fast too. She is taller than I am!
The "if you freeze a banana, you can use it like a hammer" demonstration failed miserably.
We did some more thermite, which is always spectacular. We put a board under the frying pan this time, which kept the molten iron from seeping into the lawn like last time. This spot of grass may never grow back.
