Salt Lake City

We took off Sunday for the 5 hour drive from Arches to Salt Lake City. It will be nice to leave behind the sand for pavement. Most of the way was on a 2 lane Hwy 191 and we didn't hit interstate until we were outside Provo--it was a long trek for the driver. Pony Express in North Salt Lake was a terrific stop--centrally located for the sites we wanted to hit for our 1 day tour of Salt Lake. The state capitol, the Mormon Tabernacle and the Great Salt Lake were our main attractions. First, the city was sooo clean and after 2 weeks in the sandy National Parks this was a welcome relief. Downtown was full of darling homes with pretty gardens, lots of men in white shirts and suits and beautiful young ladies in dresses. They all seem to work for the Mormon Church. Ol' Brigham Young built quite the religious complex. Next to the Tabernacle sits the Beehive House and the another big house that housed his 27 wives and 56 children (the numbers change according to where you look but it seems more than 1 wife at a time is a little overwhelming).


Their state capitol sits on a bluff overlooking Salt Lake City

Brigham Young was probably this big for all he did

Great house on the downtown bluff

Very pretty gardens

My mama used to say if I had a pretty little church to go to I would go!

The Tabernacle--only worthy Mormons can enter

We went to a half hour recital in the Tabernacle Organ House --Awesome

 We headed to the Salt Lake which was very big, dense and interesting. This was a great stop. 

This lake used to cover most of Utah and some of CO, Nev, and Arizona

Tuesday we leave for a 2 day drive to the Oregon coast. The first stop is the fairgrounds in Jerome, Idaho -- perfect weather followed us there and we plugged in for 10 bucks--Terry was fascinated by the horses and I tried to get over the smell of horse poop. Next will be a Walmart in Mt. Hood (for our 43rd Anniversary), and a drive through the beautiful velvet mountains of the Columbia River Gorge. Then on Thursday into Portland and Olde Stone Valley Wineries in McMinnville, OR--unexplored territory