On The High Road: Temple Square

May 25 ~ 26

It's a gorgeous day! Halleluja! Temple Square (visittemplesquare.com), is a ten-acre area in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City owned by the Church of Latter Day Saints, more commonly called the Mormon Church. In 1847, Brigham Young and his followers crossed the desert and selected this site to build a temple. Today the six spire granite structure is the centerpiece of the extensive Temple Square buildings.

The Temple is surrounded by a beautiful garden that is just coming into its own in late May. We see brides all over the place….and this is a Tuesday. One guide tells us that in one record day there were 130 weddings performed in the Temple.

Non-members are not allowed in the Temple, but there are many other buildings to explore. The Assembly Hall is a very handsome building built in 1882 that is now used primarily for summer concerts.

Every day at noon, there is a free half-hour organ concert in the spectacular Mormon Tabernacle, also home to the famous choir. The building holds thousands of people and the organ sports 11,623 pipes. The acoustics in this building are extraordinary…..the organist gives a demonstration by stepping away from the microphone and tearing a newspaper….crisp and clear. On Thursday evenings there is an open rehearsal for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and symphony….we will be there.

The two visitor’s centers are essentially museums about the LDS. It is truly extraordinary the money that has been invested here. This statute is 11 feet tall accessed by a Guggenheim-like staircase and surrounded with celestial murals. BTW, all these exhibits and concerts are free.

Red Butte Garden

We get started the next day in fits and starts….household chores take up the morning and we plan to set out to Antelope Island in The Great Salt Lake. Unfortunately when we plug it into the GPS, we find it’s well over an hour away…we’re not up for that. So we try to find the 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park. It’s very odd, the visitor’s center is not really clear about where it is…and there is no information about anything Olympic….it’s like they’re letting Park City take over all that and trying to forget the latter scandals.

Find the cauldron on the campus of University of Utah….it’s worth only a passing shot from the car.

I research an area pretty well before we get there.. keep notes, books and brochures in a tote bag to be at the ready when we’re looking for something. Red Butte Gardens it will be. Also on the University campus, it is quite lovely.