Salt Lake City (August 24)

After Yosemite we drove several hourse to Wendover, UT on Tuesday (Best Western Plus) so that we were only an hour and a half from Salt Lake City which we wanted to explore on Wednesday (Auguest 24). First we went to the town square and visited some temples and projects under construction. Then headed out to Antelope Island State Park to see the Great Salt Lake. Ron had told us he swam in it so we tried that. Unfortuanetly it was a muddy mess. I sunk in mud up to my knees and never reached any nice water. Bonnie didn't go in at all but walked to the edge. The whole area smelled of dead fish and decay. I guess the wrong time of year. After leaving Salt Lake City we drove to Idaho Falls, ID and stayed overnight at Motel West.

Assembly Hall on Temple Square was built in a gothic style from 1877-1882 using mostly granite discarded from the temple building process. Like the neighboring Tabernacle, it has historically been used both for musical/artistic performances and religious meetings. Today the Assembly Hall is used primarily for free weekend concerts featuring local and international artists. If you happen to visit on a Friday or Saturday evening, be advised that the concerts are free and do not require tickets, although only those eight years of age and older are admitted.

Salt Lake Tabernacle - Home of the world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Tabernacle, located just north of the Assembly Hall, is an architectural and acoustic wonder. The famous organ at the front of the Tabernacle contains 11,623 pipes, making it one of the largest and richest-sounding organs in the world, and the building was constructed so that even the drop of a pin at the front of the building can be heard throughout the building.

Beehive house - Brigham Young's Salt Lake City residence. The mansion has been beautifully restored and offers tours showing what life was like in the home but we skipped the tour. The gardens were all kept perfectly much like in England

Statue of Joseph Smith - He reportedly recieved messages from God and started Mormon Church

The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints

The architecture was beutiful everywhere we looked

Also everywhere they had beautifully manicured gardens

We stopped for a berry smoothy in a cool place overlooking a square which revitalized us before heading out to the lake

We found that the water was way far (half mile) from the start of the beach but took the exhausting walk to see if we could swim.

When Bob finally arrived he tried to wade in but never got past mud and it smelled terrible. After sinking up to his knees he decided it was not safe or worth it. Bonnie never went in.

The walk back was exhausting and seemed hot and muggy. It was hard to walk on the sand. Bonnie said she needed electrolytes badly and nearly died. She got some when we got back to the car.