We had a quiet day ahead of us today. David and Elizabeth are in Tacoma as part of her search for the best job once she completes her Residency next June and Riley is in the Dog Park, so we have a free day ahead.
Just half an hour north of SLC is Hill Airforce Base, which, since before the Second World War, has been a maintenance and repair base for the US Airforce. It has an excellent museum and, as we both love looking at aircraft, we decided to pay it a visit.
Many big transport aircraft, including a Globemasterand a Hercules, and bombers, including a B52 and B1, were outside, but the real gems were inside in the jet fighter hanger.
M made a beeline for her favourite, the A10 Tankbuster known as "Jaws" or, less flatteringly, as the "Warthog" ( she used to see them regularly flying over her house in Daventry, as they were based at nearby Upper Heyford).
Her second favourite is the SR71 "Blackbird", and the museum had one of those too. It tends to be photographed from the front, which makes it look quite small, but actually, it is huge when you see it from the side.
We gazed in awe at the two massive and ungainly helicopters - the "Jolly Green Giant" and its successor the "Super Jolly". There was also an F111, which had also been based for most of its service life at Upper Heyford in the UK, coincidentally where MM was built. M had probably seen this F111 flying over her house more than once.
There were two excellent photographic histories of the Korean and Vietnam wars, something that we don't tend to hear much about in the UK, in museums or elsewhere.
As we went to leave, the sky had clouded over a bit and we saw a perfect example of a "lenticular" cloud as the air rose over the mountains to form a stationary wing-shaped cloud that hovers over the mountain.
The rest of the afternoon passed very pleasantly, walking around the city centre. We had coffee and cake in Eva's Bakery - including an excellent cappuccino - in a very continental bakery serving lovely fresh food.
After wandering around Macy's and the City Creek Shopping Centre, we went back to "The Pantry", in the Mormon Lion House, for an early supper. It serves very good home made food at a very reasonable price.
Tonight, the English Chamber Choir, Tenerbrae, is performing the "Messiah" in the Tabernacle. We would dearly love to have gone, but unfortunately all the tickets were allocated long ago (performances in the Tabernacle are free), so we had a quiet evening at home listening to Classic FM.
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