Are you Barbershop Singers?? Oh you so don't want to hear me sing!


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Published: March 7th 2007
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Salt Lake City TempleSalt Lake City TempleSalt Lake City Temple

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
The conversation as we are heading to arrivals at the Salt Lake City Airport goes like this...

Me: "Did you send the family a photo of us?"
Him: "No"
Me: "hmmmm"

Me: "Do you know what they look like?"
Him: "No"
Me: "hmmmm"
Me:"How are the gonna find us? I hope they have a sign"

Well we didn't have to worry about that one, coming down the escalators we see a lovely looking couple smiling at us.

"You look just like your dad" They say to my husband.


So after 30 years some people still have good memories..... Well you can't escape those genes unfortunately... (or in our case) fortunately - as we were easy to spot in the small crowd at the Airport. Maybe we just don't look American? Wonder if they said "Yeah... those two... they're Aussie" Or maybe my husband has a bald head just like his dad!!! 😊 It's always good when you can be met by friends or family on the other side of the world... Or aquaintances of your parents from years ago. Funny how anyone you remotely know can suddenly become very useful when travelling. They really looked
HomeHomeHome

Our house for two days. Thanks to our lovely friends for letting us stay
after us.


What a wonderful welcome to the United States of America. Well that's if all the people in LAX Airport don't count.....including the man who tried to get some change off us for some charity, saying that the airport support them in this endevour (yeah right!) Even the line of "We don't have any american dollars didn't work. He says "We accept all currencies" .. Dang... we got cornered and gave him some Australian coins. We will have to put it down to being a bit flustered in trying to get over to the domestic terminal. We wasted even more money on overpriced McDonalds. We tried not to convert to Australian dollars and gasp at the price.


Anyway, back to Utah - we were met at the airport by our *New friends and whisked to our home away from home - A very cute home in the East mountains in the Salt Lake Valley. We were given a room in the basement of the house. Downstairs was also a rumpus room and bathroom. We were then taken to dinner paid for by our hosts... What more could you ask for when arriving in a foreign
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View of Salt Lake City from the Observation Deck
country? After dinner it was off to see some sights in the last light of the day. Being summer and daylight savings the sun is up until atleast 9pm or later... very surreal for us, as the sun is never up that late in Brisbane as we don't have day light savings. It probably didn't help the jetlag but having the sun up that late is great when you are a tourist.


We slept in and woke to a silent house. Always a little weird when you are in someone's house that you don't know that well. We had been shown everything the night before so went upstairs to get breakfast. Open the cupboard, and it is true that American's love their breakfast cereal... I have never seen so many types (apart from at the supermarket) in a home before. So I spent a good while trying to choose which cereal I wanted that we don't have in Australia. I ended up having Cinamon squares and tasting a few of the other varieties. They had a whole shelf devoted to cereal - Atleast 8 opened boxes. They also had a huge glass jar full of candies and chocolates
Workmen Workmen Workmen

They saw us taking photos of the Temple and started to pose for us, we couldn't resist taking a close up
in the rumpus room - very tempting every time I walked past.


We spent the next two days exploring downtown. Firstly the Salt Lake Temple was closed due to renovations being done. We felt like saying "We came all the way from Australia... and it's CLOSED!!! I don't think so people!! So that was pretty humourous. There were some guys doing construction in the big round windows and they saw us taking photos and decided to pose!! They were quite a ways up, but they saw us smile and give them a thumbs up, it was pretty funny. So we didn't get inside but took plenty of photos instead. There is a pretty reflection pool to the east of the temple. We tried to take artistic photos, similar to ones we have seen. We came to the conclusion that the professional photographers used a crane or something to put them up higher as we stood on the side of the pool and stretched as much as we could, but still could only get half of the Temple in. "The Pioneers began the sacred edifice in 1853 and dedicated it in 1893. With six towers topped by finial spires,
Joseph Smith Memorial BuildingJoseph Smith Memorial BuildingJoseph Smith Memorial Building

Previously a hotel, now a vistors centre, reception rooms and a public building
the temple is recognised by Latter-day Saints around the world."


We got to go up to the Observatory in the Church Headquarters building. There was lots of security so we had to wait until a guide came and scanned us in and escorted us up to the 26th floor of the building. It is the tallest or one of the tallest buildings in Salt Lake City so it had a good view of the valley. We also went into the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was once Hotel Utah I believe and the Church bought it and renovated it. The bottom level had a Distribution centre so we took some time to go shopping!! There was also a 500 seat theatre so we saw the movie "The Testaments" which was nice. The building even had a church in it - Some lucky ward gets to meet there! Visitors can use the Family Search Centre and their are two public restaurants on the 10th floor. We saw a sign for a wedding reception - it would be a pretty nice place for a reception right next to the temple.


During our stay there happened to be a
Conference CentreConference CentreConference Centre

View from observation deck at Church Headquarters building. Building below is the Conference centre. It has grasslands and trees on its Roof
'BarberShop Quartet' convention. We were often asked if we were in Salt Lake as part of the Barbershop convention. HA HA HA.... No, we aint no Barbershop singers!!! Maybe my husband has that barbershop look about him 😊 hee hee, because hopefully they weren't thinking I was a barbershop singer, they don't want to hear me sing. The Barbershop convention was being held in the Conference Centre. We went to have a tour and we were taken to all the levels and even to the roof but could not go into the main Auditorium. Hello.... We came all the way from Australia.... and we can't go in!!! (This is starting to become a reoccuring theme!!) The guide took pity on us and said we could pop our head in for 2 mins but we must come back out (as the people inside had paid to see Barbershop singing). So alas we did not get to go down the front and check out the pulpit and where President Hinckley talks from!! But we did get to see Busts of all the Prophets, and the amazing roof. The roof has waterfalls and water features, trees and grass and wild flowers growing on
Welfare SquareWelfare SquareWelfare Square

Grain silo
it. It is literally like a park up there. Apparently it is specially designed to hold the weight of all the dirt and plants and water so as not to leak or cave in on all the people sitting inside! The building features a 21 000 seat auditorium and a 900 seat theatre.


We then went on a tour of Welfare Square. There is a courtesy bus/van that seats about 8 that will pick you up at Temple Square that run on the hour. I think it was about a 10-15 min drive away. Welfare Square has a grain elevator, cannery, bakery, milk processing plant, thrift store and employment centre and a storehouse were food can be obtained in exchange for work. It was very impressive to see the Wheat Silo's and how they manufacture canned goods to be distributed to poor and needy across the whole world. They also had a dairy and we got free taste tests of chocolate milk and cheese. We were able to see the kitchens and how the dairy products were produce on mass. Lastly they take you through where second hand clothes are sorted and then displayed for sale in a
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Sculpture in the Visitors Centre
retail section of Desert Industries. This was a place where people could get work experience or work for food.


The North Visitors Centre has an 11 Foot marble Christus statue, two art galleries, an interactive map of Jerusalem, exhibits on scriptures and revelation and you can view leagacy a film about the pioneers. The South Visitors Centre has two displays on Stregthening Families and Building the Salt Lake Temple. A room for contemplation or meditation features a beautiful view of the Salt Lake Temple. We also went to the Family History Library which houses the largest genealogical collection of it's kind in the world. We looked at some books and just browsed as we didn't really have time to do any searching of our family.


Beehive House which was the home of Brigham Young is just metres away from the Salt Lake Temple. It was built in 1854 and was the official residence of Brigham Young - the second President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the first Governor of Utah. It is one of the most ornate homes of early Salt Lake City. It is named Beehive house as, a beehive
This is the Place MonumentThis is the Place MonumentThis is the Place Monument

Monument to Brigham Young declaring the Salt Lake Valley as where the pioneers would set up home
- representing industry caps the top of the house and appears in decorative motifs throughout the house. Free escorted tours take place every 10 mins. The house looks small from the outside but inside it has like 3 levels!! This tour was pretty good and we got to see their ballroom and the bedrooms of all his daughters and the big kitchen/shop. Many people came to their house for rations of flour and sugar etc. The stairway is very tiny though, nice and squishy trying to get our group through. It was good to see they way people lived at this time and to hear the stories of all the visitors this house had.


We had come to the United States as we had won a prize of a historic church sites tour through our business. We were able to meet people at Desert Book and even walked past Sherri Dew!! She was in a meeting with a client which was a shame, as our escort said He would have introduced us otherwise! We got to see the goings on behind the scenes which was very exciting for us, meet editors and some writers and see the people
ReflectionReflectionReflection

Us trying to be artistic using the reflection pool. If you wanted to get the whole Temple in you would have needed a crane to get high enough
we speak to on the phone. Putting faces to voices is always fun. There was so much to buy in Desert Book we didn't end up buying hardly anything at all. We did spend a couple of hours looking though.


We also went to the This is the Place Memorial. It marks the spot where the Mormon Pioneers first entered the Salt Lake Valley and marks the end of the 1,300-mile Mormon trail. It was here that Brigham Young stopped his carriage in July 1847 and, after surveying the desert valley near the shores of the Great Salt Lake, declared, "This is the right place." On July 24, 1947, exactly 100 years after his declaration, a heroic-sized bronze sculpture of Young and two of his colleagues was placed atop a 60-foot pedestal overlooking the Valley. There is a historical village here that we were told is good. However we visited after open hours (once again due to daylight savings we were out sightseeing at 8pm at night). We couldn't get into the village or the gift store, but just took photo's and enjoyed the sunset.


That pretty much covers our two days in Salt Lake City.
ValleyValleyValley

This picture was taken at 9pm at night... Gotta love daylight savings when you are on holiday
However our evenings were full of lots of fun - see the next blog for our Mountain Trek and FIRST viewing of snow ever! Our hosts were so good to us. One night we were tucking into a BBQ dinner outside on the varandah and I said "Oh this reminds me of Christmas" Our hosts looked at us with disbelief thinking "What crazy talk is this?" So I cleared it up by saying " This is what we do around Christmas.. BBQ, eating outside, lots of fruit, warm nights, socialising etc" I have come to the conclusion that Northern Hemisphere people are lucky as they get christmas and they get Summer to do the things we only do around Christmas!!


Utah is a beautiful place full of amazing scenery and lovely people. We enjoyed our time there so much and the people we met. Two and a half days is definately NOT enough time to see all that Utah has to offer!!

*This trip took place July 2005



Additional photos below
Photos: 23, Displayed: 23


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ViewView
View

Downtown Salt Lake from the Observation Deck
Vault in the MountainsVault in the Mountains
Vault in the Mountains

Vault in the mountains where records are kept. It is hard to see but door is on the middle right
Snow!!Snow!!
Snow!!

Snow in the mountains during one of the hottest ever summer in USA
Salt Lake ValleySalt Lake Valley
Salt Lake Valley

view of the valley from the house. We were on the East mountains, you can see the West side of the Valley in the distance
SunsetSunset
Sunset

While we were at the This is the Place monument
Capitol BuildingCapitol Building
Capitol Building

Lots of building works going on during our visit. Many buildings were being made Earthquake proof
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Fountain

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Headquarters
Adam and EveAdam and Eve
Adam and Eve

Sculpture visitors centre
close upclose up
close up

Close up of This is the Place Monument
Joseph Smith Memorial BuildingJoseph Smith Memorial Building
Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Inside we saw the movie "The Testaments"
View from the houseView from the house
View from the house

Night time Salt Lake City
Me and TempleMe and Temple
Me and Temple

Beautiful gardens everywhere, unusual for downtown


11th March 2007

SLC
See I didn't know there was a reflecting pool by the temple. I heard that there are severe 'allergies' in the theatre where you see The Testament...make people's eyes water!!! Great photos! And I got a laugh re Barbershop Quartet convention - don't thing your hubby qualifies does he? I am enjoying your travels.

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