City Tour and "The Day of Mormon"

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Yesterday, we began by driving 30 miles to the Saltaire. It used to be a vacation spot where the first of seven floors of the exotic building was a gigantic salt water pool. It burned to the ground twice, and was flooded once; has now been rebuilt (smaller) as a popular concert venue. We waded, but did not swim, in the water that is 6-8 times more salty than the ocean!

At 4 p.m., we hopped on a tour us with 4 other couples to enjoy a spirited 5 1/2 hour guided Salt Lake City tour with a terrific guide. Included the Capital; the park-area where Brigham Young once declared, "This is it!" to make his choice of the valley here the new home of the Mormons; a SLC history film; old architecture of houses and storefronts; an original pony express station; supper in Brigham Young's original home; and an evening rehearsal of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The symbol of the beehive was to indicate the importance of the Mormon community working together like an industrious group of bees.

Today was Mormon day. Visited the Beehive House and took a free guided tour; went to a noon organ concert in the Tabernacle (11,00 pipes, 5 keyboards, incredible acoustic demonstrated by tearing a piece of paper, and dropping pins); went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building where Ron and I were each assigned a personal assistant to research our ancestry. Lots of fun, and learned some things too!

Today was Comicon downtown in SLC. Comicon is a huge conference where people come dressed as their favorite comic book character. There were thousands (!) of adults and children; deemed so important that many parents had taken their kids out of school to attend. The streets were filled with people in costume; some costumes way too hot for the 95 degree heat outside!

We spent the last part of the day visiting the magnificent Cathedral of the Madeleine (Catholic) with some of its stained glass windows dedicated to music and musicians.

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Comments

[Kathy Webb]

Salt Lake City
Great tour of Salt Lake City, Carolyn!!! Loved the stain glass windows at the cathedral. I wonder is that St. Celest at the organ?! :) I am sure she plays through your fingers on the harp! Quite warm there, but then you guys are used to heat! Safe travels, Kathy & Grant

[tucharpist]

Almost home!! Salt Lake City is nice and you saw alot--wonderful tour!! Is Tucson on the itinerary soon? Ursula and Winston are great. Trish

[Michael]

That Brine Shark sign is a joke, right?
never heard of a brine shark. Love the Salt Lake pics. you guys really did the town right. Pam like the picture of the comicon family. That reminded us of our past family halloween costumes.

[Barbara]

Great photos of Salt Lake City! There is a lot to do there. I bet you are really looking forward to getting home though!

[Janet]

Very interesting. I didn't know that about the beehive, makes sense.