Day 22

States: still Utah

Sites seen: Temple Square, the Beehive House, a trolley tour, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Some observations/facts about Salt Lake City

• This is the cleanest city I have ever been to. You have to look very hard for a piece of trash to pick up.
• The train system here is great. Easy to navigate and understand and operates on the honor system. You buy your ticket but you may never have to show it to anyone.
• Salk Lake City was the 5th City in the world to have electricity.
• The Ute Indians were here before the Mormon settlers arrived and referred to anyone living among the mountains as Utah (those that dwell among the mountains). Hence the name.

We started our tour this morning at Temple Square. When developing this city (from a desert of literal nothingness) the Mormons built everything around this Square. It’s a grid with temple square being the middle. We took a guided tour of some parts of the property given by missionaries.

The acoustics in the Hall where they have music and spoken word are amazing. The building was designed and built by a bridge maker who put 9 bridges together. To absorb some of the sound they had to add a gallery, or second level, or no one would be able to make sense of the noise. They did a demonstration of the acoustics without microphones from where the pulpit is and you could hear a page rip as well as a pin drop. It was very cool.

Not a lot of options for building materials in the desert. The pew benches and the columns are made of the same white pine materials. The benches are original to the property but have been raised and given cushions for modern comfort.

Because we aren’t Members of the Mormon church we cannot go in the temple. But they have a replica in one of the visitor centers that shows you what it looks like inside. The temple took 40 years to complete.

Next we walked around the block to Brigham Young’s property called the beehive house. It has been restored to look like it might have during his time.

The Mormons have a huge focus on family. Every evening at 6:30 they would have gathered in the family room pictured below for a scripture reading and family meeting. This doorbell is original to the property.

After this, we decided to take a trolley tour of the city. Totally worthwhile!

This tour was great and we couldn’t stop talking about how informative and entertaining it was. Plus, any tour that gives you coke and cracker jacks mid-tour can’t be too bad, right?

It’s a 90 minute tour departing across from Temple Square and is an excellent way to see much of the city.

The Olympics were held here in 2002 and left the city with a surplus budget. The fountain from the Olympics has been turned into a little play fountain for people to enjoy and cool off.

We returned to our campsite midday to nap and swim and regroup.

On a side note, this sign is everywhere we’ve been traveling. The girls find it hysterical that people need to be told how to use a toilet. We have explained that it’s not the same for all cultures/countries.

After our break at camp, we headed back into the city to grab dinner and to watch the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at their open rehearsal. There are so many people who want to watch during the busy seasons that they move the rehearsal into their conference center. They are so amazing to hear! There are 360 choir members and a full symphony orchestra.

Midway through rehearsal, Miss A had to go to the bathroom. She came running back from the bathrooms saying that there were literally a hundred stalls. So before we left, we decided we needed to see this for ourselves. She wasn’t kidding, there are seven stalls initially but then it goes back forever and ever and ever and ever.

And yes, I took a picture of the bathroom.

So now we are headed back to our campsite to finish out our evening.

Tomorrow we head to Yellowstone!

Talk to you soon-

Deanna