"Everything that is happening at USU and the U (University of Utah), especially with genetic research — it's whiz-bang stuff," House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake, said. "It's opening whole new worlds. . . . It's enormously important to the state."

Participants on the education tour learned about new ways to educate disabled students, from autistic to the deaf and blind, Rep. Tim Cosgrove, D-Murray, said. It was just one of the many things he gathered during this trip, many of which he hopes will be taken to other parts of the state by legislators who made the trek.

"There are programs that I'd like to replicate around the state," he said.

The legislative trip, the first in five years that went to another part of the state, culminated with a steak fry dinner hosted by Envirocare and the Cache Chamber of Commerce at Logan High School — it was moved from the Logan Tabernacle because of a chance of rain — and a performance by the Utah Festival Opera.

More than 70 legislators made the journey, many of them with their wives or families. The trip costs were primarily covered by private donations, especially from the local chambers of commerce, although legislators did receive a two-day per diem to cover their expenses.

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