Salt Lake City

One of the interesting things about Salt Lake city and Utah in general is that one sees a glimpse of what it would be like to live in a theocracy. The Mormons rule. In the book of Mormon it talks of the beehive, and the symbol on the state highway signs and on the seats in the legislature is the beehive. When I asked about it, I was told that Brigham Young said they would work like bees. (I, of course, recognize that many of the other states have Biblical symbols as part of their seals or mottos.)

I heard recently on NPR a woman studying the young people who lived in Provost, Utah say that those who were not Mormons acted, dressed and talked differently than the students at Brigham Young University. The BYU students were required to have clean shaven faces, etc. while those outside the college had beards, tattoos, ragged clothing, etc, just to set themselves apart.

This is the temple, only Mormon's who had a letter of recommendation from their elder were allowed to enter. There were pictures in one of the museums of the interior. (Remind you of a palace with a king?) This was during the campaign of Obama and Romney. I asked our guide if Romney was admitted and she replied she wasn't allowed to discuss politics.

Temple Square has museums, a convention center, gift shops and of course, the temple.

Brigham Young claims to have had a vision where he saw the place where the Latter-day Saints would settle and make the desert blossom like a rose. As we walked through Temple square volunteers where putting out hundreds if not thousands of non-native flowers. Other volunteers would follow and plant them. They were fulfilling the prophecy.

This is an example of the well kept landscape around temple square.

Next to the temple, the most impressive building on Temple Square was the conference center. The public was allowed in, and individual guides were required. We received subdued evangelical messages during the tour.

Notice the greenery on top, there were trees and a garden up there.

This is the organ inside the conference center. I'm surprised I didn't take a picture of the seating, it holds 21,000 and is thought to be the largest of it's kind. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir does perform here at times. The Mormons hold simi-annual conferences here. We were told that it is available for rent to other organizations.

This is the roof of the conference center where they have trees and fountains and gardens. It is quite impressive.

This is the administrative building of the Latter Day Saints. It is located just off temple square.

And that's it for Salt Lake City.

Last stop, Bonneville Salt Flats, click on tab below.