Salt Lake City

Monday morning, we had breakfast downstairs and headed out. Destination: Salt Lake City! We already had a hotel booked so we made our way there. Got checked in, then decided to drive out to Park City. We stopped at the University of Utah and saw the Olympic Cauldron. My favorite college professor and adviser went to college there, and I could see why he always spoke so fondly of the school and area. We took a few pictures and continued on to Park City so we could check out the Olympic Park. We wandered around outside and saw the bobsled course and the ski jump. I was hoping to see some athletes training but none were on the schedule for the day. We went inside and spent an hour in the Olympic Museum, which was awesome.

We had lunch at Ruby Tuesday. Funny story about that, actually. We'd had a gift card for a few years and never got around to using it. Then the restaurant near us closed. I knew there was still a Ruby Tuesday in Vancouver, so I figured we could use it on our way home from camping over the summer. And then the Vancouver restaurant closed. Before we left for Utah, I found that Park City has a Ruby Tuesday, so we finally were able to use that blasted card.

After lunch, we did something very uncharacteristic for us: we hit the outlet mall in Park City. Neither of us are big into shopping unless it's for outdoor or sports gear, but it's always fun to wander around outlet stores. We ended up spending a few hours (and lots of money) there. I'm pretty sure we're hooked.

We headed back to our hotel to start packing for the flight home. I did a load of laundry while Chris worked on folding up our camping gear. Later on, we noticed that our hotel didn't have ESPN (?!?) so we went for a drive so we could listen to Monday Night Football on the radio. I wanted to see the Salt Lake Temple anyway, so the plan worked nicely.

I'm not Mormon, and have no interest in being Mormon, but I've got plenty of friends who are so I have some understanding of the religion. I'd heard that the temple was supposed to be spectacular, and it truly was. If you ever go, go at night. The word that kept running through my mind was "magical". The grounds were amazing, filled with gardens, statues and fountains, all of which were lit up. The Tabernacle was open so we walked around inside (we were the only people there). Next time we'll have to go see a performance there. We exited the Tabernacle and walked all around the temple. Once again, it was magic. We were approached by a church volunteer and chatted for a little while. I mentioned that I'm really into architecture, so she suggested that we walk across the street and wander through the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It's 100 years old and was originally a hotel, but was purchased by the church and now houses the Family Search Center, a theater, a couple of restaurants, and a chapel among other things. I'm so glad she suggested it to us.

We walked back toward the temple and took a few pictures. Since it was dark, there weren't many people there. I'm so happy that we went at night. It was quiet and peaceful... a nice end to our exhausting week-long trip. Everyone, Mormon or not, should definitely spend some time at Temple Square if they're visiting Salt Lake City.

Afterward, we drove over to the capitol building to wander around and we came across a nice law enforcement memorial. And after that, we headed back to our hotel. We were pretty much packed, so we relaxed and watched a little TV before falling asleep.