We're in Salt Lake City!

We always love driving through Utah, it's so clean and colorful! A couple of years ago, we found ourselves in Snowville, Utah, a tiny little town that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, on our anniversary. Yesterday, we missed Snowville on our anniversary by one day [it was two days ago]! We're not unhappy about that as there were only two diners to choose from and I believe we picked the wrong one last time! It doesn't matter where we are, we always have a good time and I'll eat just about anything if someone else cooked it!!

Yesterday afternoon, we arrived at KOA in Salt Lake City. We reserved two nights and thought about staying longer, but the Family History Library isn't open on Sundays so there's no reason to stay another night! We plan to come back in the future when we can spend more time.

As much as I didn't really want to, we got up very early this morning to catch a city tour. I'll never understand why they have to start so early! Here we are with the Mormon Temple behind us.



Kris & Shannon



Mormon Temple



We stepped back in time with a visit to "This is the Place Heritage Park",  where, on July 24, 1847, Brigham Young first set eyes on the Salt Lake Valley that would soon become the Mormon pioneers' new home, following exile from Nauvoo, Illinois. It was fun wandering through the 450 acre park with replicas and restorations of the original historical buildings and people dressed in clothing from the 1800's. The visitor center had a gift shop with the most wonderful quilts [I wanted to buy them all] and other handmade items and foods. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time in the gift shop. 





Meeting House

 


Relief Society Hall




One Room Log Cabin

We saw a lot of the city today for the first time and especially enjoyed Temple Square where, after a scrumptuous lunch, we got to spend 30 minutes listening to the organ music that is usually played in the Mormon Tabernacle but wouldn't you know with our luck, they were having a special meeting in the Tabernacle so we were directed to the LDS Conference Center! It was fabulous in any case and you wouldn't believe the size of the organ pipes unless you saw them yourself!

  



Close-up of pipes



Taken from our seats all the way in back



Organ Player ~ can you spot him above?

  

Our last stop was the Utah State Capitol building, built nearly a century ago, and extensively renovated in 2004 to include millions of pounds of concrete to bring it up to earthquake standards. The interior is made up of beautiful marble and artwork. The exterior is said to resemble the U.S. White House.





Utah State Capitol



Marble Interior

 

We were absolutely worn out at the end of the tour and returned to our RV to rest. I was going to take the free shuttle back to the Family History Library but Kris wasn't interested and I didn't really want to go by myself. Yippee, we are planning to make another trip in the future when we can spend some serious time doing what we want. Kris wants to visit Utah Biodiesel Supply, where he purchases a lot of his biodiesel supplies and maybe go skiing while I'm at the library. Works for me...