Later Than Day 6

We tried to find information about parking a MH in Salt Lake City, but nobody had any advice for us. We sorta wound our way up to the Capitol parking lot, and backed into a level area where we mostly fit and were definitely out of the way. The Utah capitol was just re-opened this January having gone thru a 4 year makeover. It was a beautiful sight. The House was just on our walk from the Capitol to the LDS Temple Square, which was just a few blocks down the hill. It is twice as far going back up the hill.

We got to the Tabernacle just in time to hear the daily organ recital. In the full size picture you can make out the man who was playing, and see the proportion of the pipes...over 11,000 of them!! He played some classical numbers, Bach and ?, and also some lighter stuff. Hey Edie, guess what he played??? Yep, Shenandoah. Not our barbershop version of course, but sounded terrific!

Between numbers he demonstrated the acoustics of the hall. He dropped three pins onto a table, and they sounded pretty loud. He dropped a nail, and it was louder. Then he turned around and spoke to us without a mike, and you could hear him equally well whether he faced us or not. Pretty remarkable for such a huge hall! The organ was originally constructed in the 1860's, and rebuilt and enlarged through the years. Its 206 ranks, totaling 11,623 pipes are in eight divisions and played from a 5 manual console.

The LDS church owns 35 acres in and around Temple Square. The newest building is really impressive. It's the Conference Center featuring a 21,000 seat auditorium and also a 900 seat theater. Attendees can hear their own language much like the United Nations can. However, we were told that the LDS attendees can hear any of about 120 different languages, while the UN is limited to eight! The most striking thing about the center to me was that there were no posts in any part of the huge auditorium, not even under the 2 balconies. They use a cantilever design to accomplish that feat, and the result is just amazing. Imagine sitting in the back and not having to look around pillars! We were given a 'one-on-one' tour, and taken up to the roof for a look over the city. The roof had been planned as a pleasant patio with trees, shrubs and waterfalls. However, both 9-11 and the injury of a small boy who fell over a rail, have led to the closing of the roof except during guided tours. Pity, it was a really nice area. Fortunately the boy didn't fall all the way to the ground, he fell onto another deck area just one floor down. He was injured but survived.

The remaining photo is of the 1st LDS church in SLC, constructed of 'reject' stone from the temple. The temple stone was moved by ox cart from the mountains, taking up to 4 days to bring down just one stone.

When we got back up the hill to the capitol, we looked in the parking lot for signs that said no overnight parking...there weren't any, so we decided just to stay there for the night. It was really quiet, peaceful and we felt safe. Next morning a policewoman asked when we were leaving, and we told her we wanted to get a short walk in before pushing on if that would be okay. She said sure and hoped we had a good time in SLC. (She did say that a couple of workers in the capitol had asked about us, and seemed concerned.)

Today we came through some pretty high passes, upward of 7,000 ft. At about that height we ran into some snow but it didn't last long. You could see that there was some fresh snow up higher but we have lucked out so far. The wind however, remained with us most of the day.

The storm was moving in last evening while we were in Idaho Falls. The temperature while in Salt Lake was in the 90s, record highs for this time of year. While we were in Idaho Falls the storm moved in, winds came up and the temperature dropped. The temperature in the MH when we awoke was 52. We had a quiet evening in a Lowe's parking lot except the wind rocked us like a boat on a rough sea.

We have now reached Helena, MT. We're staying in a 'real' RV park because we mis-managed our coach battery. A $28 a night mistake!

Note: Just noticed that when I posted this one of the pictures was cut off in the blogg. If you are interested in seeing any of the pictures, including the one that was cut off, just click on the picture and it shows an enlarged form. Then if you want to return, just click the back arrow.

Later...