Salt Lake City

Since I spent the night in Ogden rather than Salt Lake City, I almost skipped going into the city. But I figured I could stop by in the morning and I'm definitely glad I did. It was a city worth seeing: very different from any other city I've ever been to, and I learned a great deal about Mormons and their history. I can't say it was something I wishing I knew more about, but I also can't say that it wasn't worth learning.

The approach:


The Salt Lake City Temple. Unfortunately visitors are not allowed inside.






The Tabernacle, as in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Unfortunately they're out on tour now so I did not get to see any performances.


Here is the Conference Center, built only a few years ago to create a larger space for their twice yearly conference. It used to be held in the Tabernacle, which seats about 6,000; the Conference Center seats 21,000 (I think). I got to take a tour of the Conference Center--definitely the only way to really see how huge and impressive it is.



Here's the auditorium that seats the masses. Check out (1) the skylights and (2) that there are no columns holding up the second or third levels. Very





Now here we are on the roof. Those pyramid skylights are the skylights from the auditorium.





Here's a prairie full of Utah wildflowers they planted on the roof. Glad to see the Mormons are building green.



A shot of Temple Square:


One of Joseph Smith's houses. I missed the tour, but apparently it has multiple rooms for all the wifeys.



I would definitely have been interested to stay longer in SLC and see all the stuff in Temple Square, not to mention the rest of the city. But I had to get going to the most polar opposite place I could find: Reno.