arrival in SLC

Hello from out west!

We got into Salt Lake City on Saturday night after a smooth flight ... no delays, no lost luggage ... and that's always good, I say! Just one glitch: the 2 bratty kids that sat behind us on the plane, who insisted on screaming and kicking our seats! UGH! Finally, after I gathered that the parents weren't going to do anything about it (despite numerous dirty looks) and deciding that I was NOT willing to tolerate it for the entire 5-hour flight, I turned around and loudly scolded the kids. They and their parents were stunned, and the kids settled down. Why are parents so oblivious to this obnoxious behavior?

But I digress. On to the fun stuff...

As we flew into SLC, I caught a glimpse of snow-capped mountains, shrouded in misty clouds, and all while the sun was setting, so I grabbed my camera:

I'm happy to be in Utah, and we began exploring SLC first thing this morning. We got up early to attend the live weekly broadcast of the world-renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir, it's called Music and the Spoken Word. It was REALLY nice.

As the name implies, the beautiful singing is combined with some spoken reflections; today's message was that happiness is contagious, and we should share it. The broadcast is only 30 minutes long, but the choir members --- and all 11,623 pipes of the giant Tabernacle Organ! --- sounded great together. The Tabernacle is nestled in among several buildings that comprise Temple Square, in the heart of downtown SLC. The acoustics are fantastic, and you can really hear all 360 choir members singing, wow! Today was their 4,149th broadcast ... they've been performing every Sunday morning since 1929. And the broadcast is sent out live to thousands of radio and TV stations worldwide.

The centerpiece of Temple Square is Salt Lake Temple, a gorgeous 6-spired structure constructed of local granite. The Temple is the iconic symbol of SLC. No tours of the Temple are given, but since the sun happened to start shining, I snapped some photos of the grand exterior:

(oops, the above photo's a little dark, but I hope you can see Sal in the foreground)

Here I tried to use a bit of what I learned in my recent travel photography seminar, that is, to capture a unique perspective:

So, after our walking tour of Temple Square (which we braved with temps in the low 40s, and the wind really whipping!), I dropped Sal off at the convention center. The American Chemical Society's National Meeting began today, it's a conference that draws about 15,000 chemists ... yes, that's an incredible attendance! This afternoon, Sal was the Chair (moderator) of one of the technical sessions. He was invited by ACS to do this, and it's a big honor.

While Sal's busy with conference stuff this week, I'll spend some time checking out the numerous scrapbooking stores here. I opened the phone book and voila! there's a whole category devoted to them in the Yellow Pages, and let me tell you there are A LOT of them in the SLC area! Utah is a scrapbooking mecca, it's where the sb'ing hobby/industry was born. Scrapbooking has a real history here, with Mormons using it as a way to detail their genealogy. Family history is central to their beliefs. So, I'm in scrapbooking heaven here! *wink*

Even as I write this, it's getting colder and more windy here, and snow showers are in the forecast for tonight and Monday. This Florida gal is glad she brought a parka!

So thanks for stopping by! I hope you'll come along with me for a journey through Utah over the next couple of weeks. See you back here soon! :-)