1 Feb 07 Ogden, UT to Cedar City, UT

 

[ First: Happy Birthday to Logan Dodsworth, who is 4 years old today. Hi 5, Logan! ] 
We found it much easier to navigate once we found a Salt Lake City map. It’s still a convoluted city with numbered streets working out from Temple Square [headquarters for the Mormon Church, worldwide ],

It’s possible to be at the corner of N 300 W and W 300 N – I think. Anyway, we parked about 3 or 4 blocks from Temple Square, and walked there on falling snow. We were warmly greeted by two lovely young women – missionaries from Australia and Paraguay - who gave us a tour . As non-Mormons, we couldn’t enter the temple, but there are virtual tours. [ as well as tours of supporting buildings ] It’s just amazing! We chatted with several people – they are, for the most part, volunteers or missionaries. All very interesting and friendly. After Temple Square, we crossed the street to the Conference Centre, an awesome building with an auditorium that seats 21,000 people

and has no pillars or other obstacles,  so all seats have clear view. [ we were treated like VIPs with a private tour guide, much like our 2 little missionaries in the Square ] The other spaces and the exterior are also wonderful. The snow continued to fall as we walked uphill several blocks to the state capitol environs. Then back to the Temple area where we found a mall with a food court and a Macy’s. After lunch we headed back to the car, successfully navigated our way back onto Interstate 15 and headed south. We were concerned about the roads, since we had seen two cars skid into each other at a stoplight; however, Larry managed the difficult, snowy conditions for the first few hours after entering the highway. It had cleared well before we reached Cedar City and found a hotel. Now for Thursday night TV. [ the country-side was rolling, barren hills, plains with mountains on each side and a few snowy passes – some spectacular vistas. All through our trip through Utah we listened to a 5-DVD narrative about fanatically religiously inspired murders by 2 brothers of another brother’s family. The narrative of the murders was interposed with a very complete history of the Mormon Church, from its birth in New York State in the early 19th century to present day. It was chilling and interesting at the same time and offered a fascinating juxtaposition with our tour of Temple Square.]

All Photos 1 Feb 07