Days 9 & 10 Salt Lake City, Utah

Thanks for all the encouraging comments.  Sometimes I think I'm crazy doing this.  Maybe I am.

Mormon Tabernacle

Thursday, 9/1, I drove into Salt Lake City (in the car).  The first thing Terry and I would do in an unfamiliar city in which we were spending some time, would be to reserve seats on the Trolley Tour.  That is exactly what I did.  The Trolley picked me up at the rendezvous point at 9:30 a.m.  We made several stops to pickup other guests.  Our first tour stop was Temple Square.  Our guide, Chris, gave us some background on the Mormon religion.  We had a five minute photo stop and we where on to the next attraction.  Here are a few shoots from the tour.  Unfortunately, my phone did not charge last night and I ran out of power before the end of the tour.

Angel Moroni

The fountain activates on the hour and half hour.  Our guide made sure we were there for the 10 a.m. viewing.
The gold Angel Moroni, atop the temple, is an angel who visited Joseph Smith numerous times beginning in 1823. According to Smith, the angel was the guardian of the golden plates, which Latter Day Saints believe were the source material of the Book of Mormon.





The tour took us passed the Utah State Houses.  Yes, old and new right across the street from each other.  We had an opportunity to see State Street. It is 17.3 miles long and said to be the longest straightest street in the US.

We had the option to be dropped off back at Temple Square.  I was the only one who took that option.  The Tabernacle Choir was not singing, but I did enjoy an organ recital in one of the smaller tabernacles.  The recital was half an hour consisting of seven pieces ending with Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries.  It was awesome!

By the time I got out of there, it was time for some lunch.  Our tour took us passed the City Creek Center.  It is a shopping mall with a retractable roof and a re-creation of the south fork of historic City Creek.  It is a very relaxing environment.  My mile and a half walk back to the car took me right passed it.  Looking around for an eatery, I stumbled upon Kneaders Cafe & Bakery.  It is similar to Panera Bread but different. Waiting in line to order, a young man (who used to work for Kneaders) made meal suggestions and was quite helpful.  I ended up with a chicken panini that was delicious.
 
 After lunch, I completed my walk to the car and back to the Famcamp.

Friday, 9/2, I planned a trip to Antelope Island State Park.  My friends Jim & Sherry told me about this park and recommended I check it out.  Antelope Island is the largest island in Great Salt Lake.  It is home to free-roaming herds of bison, bighorn sheep, mule deer and pronghorn antelope and many different types of birds.

Great Salt Lake from Visitor Center

This lake is the largest west of the Mississippi River.  On average, it is 75 miles long by 28 miles wide, covering 1,700 square miles.  Maximum depth is about 33 feet.  Size and depth vary greatly with seasonal evaporation and precipitation.
There is no outlet for the water; so as the water evaporates, it leaves behind high concentrations of minerals.

 

I was able to catch a photo of the south bound end of a north bound bison before I left the park.

From Antelope SP, I drove to Golden Spike National Historic Site on Promontory Summit.  About 95 miles northwest of the state park.  Once I got off the interstate, the drive took me on the north side of the Great Salt Lake.  Interesting.  This site is where the Central Pacific (from the west) and Union Pacific (from the east) railroads met and connected railroad track. 
There was disagreement on where the track was to meet. Congress, finally declared the meeting place to be Promontory Summit.  On May 10, 1869, two locomotives - Central Pacific's Juniper and Union Pacific's No.119 - pulled up to the one-rail gap left in the track.  After a golden spike was symbolically tapped, a final iron spike was driven to connect the railroads.  Central Pacific laid 690 miles of track, Union Pacific 1,086.  They had crossed 1,776 miles of desert, rivers, and mountains to bind together East and West.

That was it for my day.  I made my way back to the Famcamp to take care of the dogs and eat some dinner.  Oh, on the way back to the interstate, I got this shot of the evaporation on the Great Salt Lake.  Look closely at the mountains.  The white in front of them is evaporation.

Great Salt Lake From Promontory

Some of the information in this post was pulled directly from literature found at the places visited.