Rotunda of the Utah State Capitol, Salt Lake City, Utah, August 18, 2017.
On Astronomy Magazine’s 2017 National Parks of the West Tour, Northbound, 89 of us are working our way toward Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for the total eclipse. We’ve toured several national parks and enjoyed the spectacle of Lowell Observatory’s treasures. On Friday, August 18, we enjoyed some of the historic and cultural treasures of Salt Lake City, Utah.
First came a trip to the Great Salt Lake, an amazing natural wonder, where we saw the salty water (now very low in drought status), microscopic shrimp that call the lake home, and a huge copper mine nearby that supplies much of the United States’s copper needs.
We then enjoyed a full tour of Utah’s Capitol, seeing the House and Senate chambers, the rotunda, many statues and paintings, and the architecture that is majestic.
And then we headed to the most famous building in the city, the Salt Lake Temple (Mormon Temple). The amazing and unusual history of this church, of course, dominates the city’s history, from the tale of Joseph Smith to Brigham Young to the modern era. We also went into the Salt Lake Tabernacle (Mormon Tabernacle) to hear a truly amazing organ recital.
And what did I do with good, reliable wifi, and, finally, a little time to myself in the afternoon? Write and post blogs, of course!
Now to dinner, and tomorrow we head north into Idaho, drawing closer to our time under the Moon’s shadow. More soon.
Rotunda of the Utah State Capitol, Salt Lake City, Utah, August 18, 2017.
The Utah State Capitol, Salt Lake City, Utah, August 18, 2017.
Great Salt Lake, near Salt Lake City, Utah, August 18, 2017.
The incredibly ornate Salt Lake Temple (Mormon Temple), Salt Lake City, Utah, August 18, 2017.
The Salt Lake Tabernacle (Mormon Tabernacle), Salt Lake City, Utah, August 18, 2017.
The Salt Lake Tabernacle (Mormon Tabernacle), Salt Lake City, Utah, August 18, 2017.