Written by Kim
Utah is the 45th state and became a state in 1848. Salt Lake City is the capital. Utah is called the Beehive State because early settlers, who were primarily members of the Church of Jesus Christ saw the beehive as the perfect metaphor for their industriousness and hard work. Ironically, the seagull is the state bird due to its storied role as a protector of crops because there is no sea in site for this desert area. Go figure!
Salt Lake City was founded on July 24, 1847, by early pioneer settlers led by Brigham Young who were seeking to escape persecution they had experienced while living farther east. The Mormon pioneers, as they would come to be known, entered a semi-arid valley and immediately began planning and building an extensive irrigation network which could feed the population and foster future growth. Salt Lake City’s street grid system is based on a standard compass grid plan, with the southeast corner of Temple Square (the area containing the Salt Lake Temple in downtown Salt Lake City) serving as the origin of the Salt Lake meridian. Salt Lake has a population of 200,000. About 1/3 of all 2 Million Mormons in the US live in Utah. You can’t visit SLC without learning about the Church of the Latter Day Saints.
Our walking tour through another app called “Walk N Tours” started at the Capitol and took us downtown. The app crashed a few times but was very informative. We love walking tours.
Ensign Peak holds a lot of significance for the Mormons. Brigham Young told him as he was coming over the mountains, he had a dream of an angel standing on a conical hill, which pointed to an area where a new temple should be built.
The administration building for the Church of LDS is their world headquarters. It is 28 stories high
Brigham Young was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president (after Joseph Smith) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as church president, Young led his followers, the Mormon pioneers, west from Illinois, to the Salt Lake Valley. Brigham called himself the American Moses. Young was a polygamist and had at least 56 wives and 57 children. He formalized the prohibition of black men attaining priesthood, and led the church in the Utah War against the United States. Brigham Young Park is a few blocks from Temple square
We took a tour of the Church of Latter Day Saints Conference Center. The tour was conducted by 2 very sweet sisters, one from Brazil and one from Peru.
They showed us around the conference center and explained their faith. They shared that their mission assignment is 18 months where they only talk to their family for 1 1/2 a week and only communicate to others in 1 email a week. What a commitment!
The temple is under construction. Only members who have prepared to go into the temple can join there. The temple is a place for personal or family prayer. All who enter wear the same white outfit and special shoes that don’t make noise so all are equal and can be reverent in this place.
It was good to learn a bit about the Church of the Latter Day Saints (they don’t want to be called Mormons anymore). Some of their beliefs trouble me as they claim to follow the Bible but have the Book of Mormon which is referred to as a record of God’s dealings with ancient inhabitants of the Americas. Also they call their leader a prophet and their “board” the Twelve Apostles. Lastly, when I asked about the Second Coming photo above they refer to what I call heaven as a spiritual world where people go when they die. They don’t believe you are reunited with Christ until his second coming. I struggle with that. This caused me to do some research and I found this comparison if you’re interested to read more Methodist vs. Mormon Beliefs – Denomination Differences
We had lunch at City Creek a little mall across the street then walked through the gardens in Temple Square adjacent to the Temple. The grounds are gorgeous. There’s lots of wealth in this square.
Another city, another brewery. We had dinner at Level Crossing Brewery. Alex says the beer was good and I say the salad and pizza we had was delicious.
After dinner, we went to Abravanel Hall which is home to the Utah Symphony. It seats 2,800 people. We saw Cirque Cinema here which included the orchestra playing movie scores with circus performers performing for some pieces. It was excellent.
Salt Lake is a beautiful city with deep history. Tomorrow morning we are going to hear the Mormon choir and orchestra in the Tabernacle then we will head south to go to Bryce Canyon on Monday. Until then…
Thank you for sharing SLC! Very interesting and great pictures!