An Afternoon in Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City is not well known outside of it’s stint as the home of the Winter Olympics. But you shouldn’t write it off too soon if you are heading towards the west coast because it has some real gems. I am sure you could spend a lot of time exploring all that Salt Lake City has to offer but we only had a day so we have narrowed it down to our recommendations for a lovely afternoon in Salt Lake. It’s rich history as part of the rush to go west and the beginnings of the Mormon church give it great character and the beautiful features of the natural landscape will close out your day trip.

Mormon Temple Square

We  enjoyed our tour of the Mormon Temple Square and included buildings.  If you are going to go experience the tour for yourself you must keep a few things in mind. Prepare yourself for the fact that their main goal and interest is to  share their faith, with the ultimate goal of converting new members. It is why the tour is free, why they ask you for your address at the end and why the young female volunteers  who ran our tour were there; in commitment to their faith. This commitment is also why guests are not allowed to go in the main temple, as this is reserved for church members though they do show you an example of what it supposedly looks like inside. No need to be concerned about it though. It is still a pretty extensive tour at forty five minutes and we did not feel they were puttting out anything beyond mild advertising.

We visited the city as a part of a road trip from Wisconsin to California. It was an impromptu stop. We literally saw the highway exit for the city and I was like “oh I have heard of that” and made a stop off at the visitors Center to check it out and were not disappointed. We felt particularly connected to the part of the tour where they told us the story of the Mormon settlers who traveled many miles by foot to finally settle in Salt Lake City which they have commemorated with a statue.  They give a really great picture of the settling by pioneers of the American West and partway through our long trip we felt we could relate.

The square is also beautiful in it’s own right with thoughtfully designed gardens and architectural spaces. They start off the tour through their visitor’s center. Additionally a part of the tour is the  huge auditorium where the well known Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs, pictured above. It really is an extensive space.  You also tour the Home of Brigham Young, the founder of Mormonism. The tour is closed out through the conference center, at the top of which you can enjoy beautiful views of the Wasatch and Oquirrh mountain ranges that surround the city, truly the culmination of the tour.

Salt Lake

If you have the option I highly advise you drive in and out of the city for your trip. We had no idea about what gems were on the route out. The salt that gives the area it’s name glittered on the ground as if it had snowed and we had to pull over and check it out. I later learned that this was part of the Bonneville Salt Flats that are remnant of a lake. Driving out also gave us further views of the beautiful Salt Lake and mountains. Hopefully, you can time it right and like us, though we hadn’t planned it, enjoy the most beautiful sunset  we have ever seen. We have yet to top it and now place it as one of our top romantic moments.

If you ever get the chance, spend a summer  afternoon in Salt Lake City. The Temple Square tour followed by exploration of the surrounding natural areas are not to be missed activities that make Salt Lake City a great place to stop.