Monday morning we left Capitol Reef National Park and headed west on highway 24 through the small towns of Torrey, Bicknell, Lyman and Loa. We cut off to the town of Richfield to see what was there. Not much. We took I-70 to Salina, filled up with gasoline, and then took US 50 highway to I-15 north. We arrived in Salt Lake City earlier than expected but the motel let us check in early. One of the big accomplishments this afternoon is that Rita did the laundry so now we have clean clothes again.
In the evening we drove into the city center (not far from our motel) and had a nice dinner at the Red Rock Brewery. I had their Saison beer which they advertised as a French/Belgian country ale. After dinner we walked a bit around the area then drove around town. We saw the Temple Square where the main Mormon Temple is located plus other Mormon buildings. We saw the State Capitol building of Utah. We saw some historical houses as well as an older well-to-do neighborhood before calling it a day.
Tuesday we started our sightseeing by driving into the historic city center once more and parking the car. First stop was Temple Square where we started at an Information Center. Salt Lake City is to Mormons (Church of the Latter Day Saints) as Vatican City is to Catholics, as Mecca is to Muslims, and as Jerusalem is to Jews. The men, young and old, are conspicuous in their white shirts and ties. The young women are neatly dressed and their long skirts or dresses fall well below their knees. The young women act as guides, some carrying Bibles or The Book of Mormon. They smile at you, say “hello”, and offer to help you if you look lost. Many are not native born Americans – we saw Africans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and spoke with one young woman from Australia who looked as if she was part Aboriginal.
Their Information Center has several displays of Christ, Prophets from the Old Testament (Isaac, Abraham, etc.) and displays of other prophets we never heard of. There are displays of Joseph Smith with explanations of how he was selected to be a prophet as well.
Next we entered the Assembly Hall as it is open to the public. The Temple, which towers over everything, is not open to the public but to Mormons only. After the Assembly Hall we went inside the Tabernacle but the choir was not practicing. We walked around the Temple, where some brides and grooms were having photos taken, to the historic Beehive House and Lion House, both former residences of Brigham Young. We walked back to the car and headed elsewhere. We drove to Trolley Square, renovated 1908 trolley barns, which today house a shopping mall. We had lunch at a Whole Foods store then left the city.
We drove west on Interstate 80 with an occasional view of the Great Salt Lake. Views were mainly blocked by the railroad running alongside of the highway. On the AAA map this road is indicated as a scenic road but we didn’t think it was. We drove west about 80 miles to a place marked on the map as Knolls (but no town there) where the Great Salt Lake Desert begins, took some photos in the 104 degree heat, and drove back into Salt Lake City where rain had started to fall. We returned to our motel and took a little nap before heading to P. F. Chang’s for Chinese food.
We will leave Salt Lake City tomorrow and head back to the red rocks.
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