Utah

I fell in love with Utah from the moment I came here in from Colorado in 2007. My recent four week stay has re-established my fondness of the state. The Utah scenery is breathtaking. Salt Lake City is in a deep wide valley and looks absolutely beautiful from the approach regardless of direction. The red rocks that make up most of the landscape are just awesome.
For the first ten days I was in a beautiful RV resort called East Canyon which is set, as its name suggests, in a deep canyon, east of Salt Lake City. The weather was perfect while I was there, warm days and cool nights. Salt Lake of course was established by the Mormons, who decided on the location after trekking east from Illinois in the 1840’s. As I travel around I am always stunned by the endurance of pioneers….whether here, in Canada, or South Africa. What they coped with on a daily basis would bring us to a standstill.
Whatever is to be said about the beliefs of the members of the Latter Day Saints movement; I hesitate to call it a religion although I guess it is; they are absolutely dedicated, to their church and their families.
The Mormons came into being in the early 1800s. I don’t know how the movement migrated to Europe but it did. The structure of their hierarchy leaves a lot to be understood. The head of the movement is always called a president and the elders are “apostles.” After the president dies he becomes a prophet….Anyway, when the “prophet” Joseph Smith was “martyred” in 1844 Brigham Young took over as president of the Mormons and led them away from persecution in Illinois toward the Rocky Mountains looking for a place where they could practice their beliefs in peace. I can quite understand why they chose Utah although getting here was no piece of cake AND when they got here, Brigham Young sent the young men out on “missions” to convert the Indians. Other strong young men were required to go into the mountains to get the materials required to build a temple, which left the poor women to do everything as well as birthing and taking care of multiple children, when at the same time they were sharing an absent husband. Today, the members of the LDS church have only one wife but LOTS of kids; the average family has six or seven. The “prophet” Brigham Young however had 57 children, and many wives, BUT that was because the “many prophets and patriarchs of Old Testament times had more than one wife.” These days only the most radical; the members of the Fundamental LDS movement practice “pluralism,” or “polygamy.” It is of course against the law and the members of the mainstream LDS are instructed to obey the laws of the land. The radicals just chose not to follow civil law but the instructions laid out in the Book of Mormon.
After my stay in East Canyon I moved to St. George which is basically desert and right up my street. It has been hot while I have been here, averaging about 95⁰F. The evenings cool off to a comfortable sleeping temperature. I’ve enjoyed the pool both here and in East Canyon have taken several day trips as my pictures show.

---

---