Thursday June 27 – Sunday Jun 30
Decided to
combine our 4 night 3 day stay in Salt Lake City into one update.
What a
city! Mormon base now down to 55% of the population (from 85%) as Utah has
become a mecca for Americans who have moved. The temperatures all around us
have been at, or setting records. It was 106F in Salt Lake versus the usual
90F. In parts of Arizona that we visited only a week or two ago it has exceeded
115F. 19 firefighters lost their lives in a blaze in Prescott, Arizona on Saturday,
we travelled through Prescott en route to Lake Mead two weeks ago. Very very sad news indeed.
Salt Lake City
is pristine, there is no litter, buildings have been renovated and sandblasted,
even the poor parts of town are well hidden, residences are well maintained and
everyone seems to walk around with a smile and says hello.
The Capitol
building is about the prettiest we have seen. Built with granite on the outside
and beautiful marble from Georgia on the inside. With a huge cupola and 26 marble
pillars the interior is reminiscent of our dreams about Roman architecture.
We went on
a city bus tour and saw…the pioneer village, Brigham Young’s house (where he
lived with his 23 wives), the enormous Rio Tinto copper mine, The Tabernacle,
Temple Square, the late 1800’s mansions built by the miners who arrived with
nothing but made a fortune in silver and copper and of course the 22,000 seat Convention
Centre that is home to the Tabernacle choir. Any expectation greater than 3,000
participants is no longer held at the tabernacle…..which is therefore almost all
events especially the weekly broadcast of “Music and the Spoken Word” the longest
continuous radio broadcast in the world now in its 89th year! We
were there Sunday to hear the 350 person choir and orchestra. The theme this
week of course was very much centred on Independence week, and finished with a
rousing version of “76 Trombones” from Oklahoma. What an experience and
certainly a highlight of our trip to the City.
We also
played golf early in the morning to avoid the heat and did a 23 km cycle down
the Jordan River bike path, we even spent one afternoon actually just sitting
and reading…had to tie ourselves to the chair to achieve that!!! Oh and the
swordfish we got from Whole Foods and BBQ’d was a tremendous success.
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| JORDAN RIVER BIKE PATH SALT LAKE CITY |
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| POOL AT SALT LAKE KOA |
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| CAMPED AT SALT LAKE KOA - #808 |
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| MORMON TEMPLE |
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| MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR |
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| BRIGHAM YOUNG AND ONE OF HIS WIVES/FAMILY |
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| SCULPTURE IN GILGAL GARDEN |
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| BRIGHAM YOUNG LIVED HERE WITH HIS 23+ WIVES AND MANY CHLDREN |
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| UTAH CAPITAL BUILDING |
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| INSIDE CAPITOL BUILDING |
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| VIEW FROM CAPITOL BUILDING |
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| INSIDE CAPITOL BUILDING... MARBLE MARBLE MARBLE!! |
