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Salt Lake City

A few months ago I was in Salt Lake City visiting some close friends. I am not Mormon but my ancestors were and so are my close friends. So while there I took the time to visit the temple grounds and took a tour of the convention center. This panorama I took while standing on the convention center roof.

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Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City panorama

My ancestors were the original settlers of Salt Lake City. So we also visited the cemetery to see where they were buried. Through help from my friends and a little sleuthing we found the graves where my great-great grandparents were buried. They’re in the Salt Lake Cemetery, which is the resting place of many of the original pioneers.

It was for me an amazing experience because I came away learning about my heritage that heretofore I’d only heard from my grandmother before she died. It goes without saying the Mormons are big on ancestry and so they were more than happy to help me fill in the gaps. I am fortunate to have such a recorded history and now that I know a little more I’m eager to share it.

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Back home the other day I was taking some photos along the waterfront. Two Mormon missionaries approached me and rather than ignore them I engaged them in conversation. I pulled out my iPhone and shared this photo and told them about my experience and ancestors. They seemed genuinely surprised to meet me and equally happy to see a picture of their main temple. It was a fun encounter. While I am not planning to convert to the Mormon faith, there are many things we share in common. And for that connection and fellowship I am truly grateful.

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Dystopian Dreamscape

This is adjacent to a marina at the Great Salt Lake. I took this as an afterthought and didn’t think much of it at the time. Only after I processed it in monochrome does it come across as a dystopian dreamscape. Surrounded my mountains it has an otherworldly quality to it.

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Dystopian Dreamscape
Dystopian Dreamscape just outside of Salt lake City

This is a furnace stack from a smelting plant just outside of Salt Lake City. It towers above the landscape and was the visible for many miles. It’s so big it creates an optical illusion of sorts. From afar it appears much closer than it is. Next to the surrounding hills it looks like something on Mars or the moon. The area is rich in minerals and home to some of the largest mines in the world; it’s little wonder the scales are so large.

Speaking of worlds, the cooper mine over the ridge is so large it can be seen from space. The tip of it can be seen from all over the Salt Lake City valley, but it’s in the background, not really a main feature. It’s easy to spot and I suppose the same holds true if you’re looking out the window from the ISS. Here is a picture of it from the NASA archives.

more monochrome images

When we go back to the moon or make it to Mars, we’ll be doing quite a bit of mining. The idea is to use the resources available to build, construct and sustain. Maybe in a few hundred years when someone sees this picture they’ll think it looks just like some places they saw on Mars while on vacation. You just never know.

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Bridal Veil Falls

This is Bridal Veil Falls near Salt Lake City. To get here it’s just a short drive from the city into the bordering mountains. In a previous post I mentioned that it’s a routine for us to go for a drive on Sunday. As we were in Utah we decided to take the Alpine Loop, which is a scenic drive that winds through the mountains. The road traverses mountains with switchbacks that are open only during the warmer months. There are spectacular views all over and we found ourselves stopping nearly every mile to see one sight after another.

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Bridal Veil Falls
Bridal Veil Falls along the Alpine Loop in Utah

I’m related to some of the original settlers of the area and I couldn’t help but think that they had a much harder time of it. For us it was a Sunday drive through the mountain passes on a paved road; for the settlers in covered wagons it was another thing entirely. It’s little wonder they decided to stop after making it through the mountains; I would have done the same. I have no idea which route the settlers took, but back then there were no highways so it was no Sunday drive.

To get a sense of scale of this waterfall you can see a couple of people at the very bottom of the image. The falls are over six hundred feet high and were once serviced by a gondola and a restaurant at the top. That’s gone now but the falls remain and you can take a short hike to the base or just look from a parking lot next to the highway.

other waterfalls in the gallery

Anyway, the Alpine Loop is a spectacular drive and the parks within it are open to hiking, camping and fishing. And not too far from this spot is where the Sundance Film Festival takes place each year. All in all the Alpine Loop is a must see if you’re in the area.

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Park City Utah

Recently we drove through Park City Utah and stopped in at the Olympic training center. It was about eighty degrees outside yet skiers were practicing ski jumps at a specially constructed summer training facility. This athlete was practicing multiple rotations before landing in a pool of water. It was amazing because anyone could just walk up and watch and there were no crowds. Once I got over the surprise I setup to take some images sitting next to the pool.

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Park City Utah
Park City Utah where winter olympians train

After each jump the athletes would discuss the jump with a coach standing along side of the pool, then they would walk back up the ramp in their boots and carrying skies. I was thinking to myself the act of getting up to the launching point would be exercise enough, but from what I could tell they didn’t seem winded at all. I suppose that might be why they’re Olympic athletes and I’m not.

That aside it was a beehive of activity. Some athletes were working out on equipment; some appeared to be in rehab, ostensibly from recent injuries, and others were training on the ramps like this.

To be honest this was my first time seeing Olympic winter athletes in person. Normally I watch them on TV like everyone else, but being able to watch them train in the middle of summer was an unexpected surprise of our little day trip.

Some of my favorites

After watching for about an hour we headed into town for some lunch. With little shops and sidewalk cafes the town is pretty cool as well. Park City is an awesome place that reminds me a little of Banff, but different and unique. We only had a few hours but in that time we saw a lot. We decided right then and there we would make it a point to come back a stay longer.