Salt Lake City

This morning James took the van to a Honda dealership in Salt Lake City to have our brakes checked.  The rotors needed to be resurfaced and we had to get new brake pads.  The steep mountain roads can really take a toll on a car.

The girls and I made it down to the free breakfast only to discover they stopped serving at nine.  ARGH.  James was on his way back so we walked up the street to a Belgium waffle place.  It wasn't free, but it was delicious.  

Today we toured a bit of the city.  We started at Temple Square.  Since we did not know much about the Mormon religion or the Temple area, we took a guided tour.  The tour was given by two sweet missionaries - one from the US and one from Madagascar.  They were very informative and answered all of our questions.  I learned there is a difference between a Mormon church and a Mormon temple.  As only baptized Mormons are allowed in the temple, we could not tour it.  They had a replica inside the visitor center that gave us an idea of what it looked like inside.  It was a beautiful structure built from granite that came from a local canyon.

 A view of the tabernacle from outside.

 The assembly hall from outside.

 The assembly hall from the inside.  Services are no longer held here so we were allowed to take pictures.

 The Temple

 This is inside the tabernacle.  The tabernacle was built with acoustics in mind.  They demonstrated the acoustics by having two people stand up front and rip a newspaper, then drop beans in a cup.  It was amazingly loud and clear.

The Temple

After leaving Temple Square, we crossed the street to City Creek Center.  We ate lunch in a food court area.  I am pretty sure I saw Pink!  If this wasn't her, then she sure has a twin out there. 

Of course the girls wanted to spend all of their money in Claire's.  We eventually shuffled them out the store while convincing them we had a Claire's at home.

We shopped around for a bit then left to get ice cream.  We were a bit surprised by the huge homeless population in Salt Lake City.  

Back at the hotel, we swam for a bit in the pool.  We had dinner at the Copper Onion and it was delicious.  Tonight we only ordered two desserts.  After all, we did have ice cream earlier.

Heaven help me - he is turning into a mountain man!