Thur 27th June-Sunday June 30

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 89^th 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.

JORDAN RIVER BIKE PATH SALT LAKE CITY

POOL AT SALT LAKE KOA

CAMPED AT SALT LAKE KOA - #808

MORMON TEMPLE

MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR

BRIGHAM YOUNG AND ONE OF HIS WIVES/FAMILY

SCULPTURE IN GILGAL GARDEN

BRIGHAM YOUNG LIVED HERE WITH HIS 23+ WIVES  AND MANY CHLDREN

UTAH CAPITAL BUILDING

INSIDE CAPITOL BUILDING

VIEW FROM CAPITOL BUILDING

INSIDE CAPITOL BUILDING... MARBLE MARBLE MARBLE!!