A Day in Salt Lake City

We stayed in a hotel out near the Salt Lake City airport. I really didn't feel like driving in downtown traffic and finding a place to park, so we took the hotel's free shuttle to the airport and then hopped on the TRAX light rail. It cost me $5 round trip for the TRAX ride, and Betty got to ride half price as a senior citizen. We were dropped off right at Temple Square.

We started off at the North Visitors Center watching a private screening of the "Legacy" movie. Because it was Saturday, we couldn't go inside the Mormon Temple because it was booked up with weddings. Here are pictures of the buildings and grounds of Temple Square. We did go in and take a tour of the Beehive House that was Brigham Young's office and residence. The landscaping throughout Temple Square was beautiful with flowers everywhere.

Salt Lake City Mormon Temple

Salt Lake City Mormon Tabernacle

Salt Lake City Mormon Conference Center

Salt Lake City Mormon Offices

Beehive House - Brigham Young's office and residence

Brigham Young's bed

beehive carving at the foot of the bannister 

After a nice lunch at the Lion House, Betty and I spent several hours in the Family History Library. While Betty researched the Molloy family history, I worked on the Wible family history. We each had a helper, but Betty got the one that was very knowledgable. I started off with an older gentleman who had to leave, and I then got a very young man. They could answer some of my questions, but the woman who was helping Betty was the best. In addition to answering all of my questions, she gave me a tip that got me back one more generation in the Wible family tree.

We also went to the Cathedral of the Madeleine, a very beautiful Roman Catholic Church just down the street from Mormon Temple.

Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City

We had dinner at the Blue Lemon restaurant across from Temple Square before taking the light rail back to the airport to catch our hotel's shuttle. Note in the picture Betty took of me outside the restaurant that I am wearing long pants. I decided to dress up for my day of church visits.

Joe waiting in line at the Blue Lemon restaurant in Salt Lake City

Heading toward Salt Lake City

On our way to Salt Lake City, we drove past the Bonneville salt flats where one goes to set land speed records.  The road is long, flat, and you can drive 80 mph.

Bonneville salt flats

Construction puzzle -- with answer

On our drive to Salt Lake City, we saw structures like this a couple times.

What are they building?

At first I couldn't figure out what they were building. There was no need for an overpass since there was no road trying to cross the freeway. The arches looked like something that might provide shade for a traffic stop that you would see crossing the border.

Then we saw the structure below.

land bridge for wildlife to cross to freeway

Betty and I both realized at that point they were building land bridges to allow wildlife to get from one side of the freeway to the other without having to dodge cars going 80 miles an hour.

The "death drive"

Betty and I both loved the morning we spent driving and hiking Lamoille Canyon. If you are ever in the area, it is worth your time.

When we were done we headed back to Elko for lunch at a place I had already picked out called McAdoo's. It was delicious. We then visited the Chamber of Commerce. We had stopped by the day before, but they were closed by the time we got there. However, they had filled bags with brochures, maps, etc. and left them hanging by the back door for you to take -- a nice touch. The reason we stopped by again was because the chamber is housed in a complex of 110 year old ranch buildings known as Sherman Station.

Sherman Station which is now the Elko Chamber of Commerce

the one room school house in front and the creamery in the back

view inside the one room school house

There was more to see in Elko such at Northeastern Nevada Museum and the Western Folklore Center, but we decided to move on. The hostess at the Chamber of Commerce suggested we check out Angel Lake in the Ruby Mountains just outside Wells, NV. It is an alpine lake that doesn't require a strenuous hike to view -- you can drive right up to it. We looked it up in one of our guides, and it mentioned that the drive up to the lake was precipitous. They weren't kidding. The long, winding, narrow road had no shoulder or guard rails and dropped off just as describe, precipitously. Fortunately there was very little traffic, so I was able to drive toward the center of the road. I have some photos Betty took from the road, but they do not do it justice. Both my hands were glued to the wheel, and eyes were glued to the road.

road to Angel Lake outside of Wells, NV

Angel Lake was a bit disappointing as I was expecting a blue lake, and it was green.

Angel Lake in the Ruby Mountains, Nevada

Lamoille Canyon

There are quite a few things to do and see around Elko NV, but my main reason for choosing to stop in Elko was to drive down the Lamoille Canyon.

start of Lamoille Canyon drive

cliff side of Lamoille Canyon

It was a beautiful sunny day, and despite my leading Betty on a death march yesterday, she was game to take a short hike along a nature trail.

Betty with walking stick at trail head

This was a great hike, and we had the whole trail to ourselves. The highlight was the lake created by the beaver dam.

lake formed by beaver dam

beaver dam

After coming out of the canyon, we drove on a short distance to see the quaint town of Lamoille.

church in Lamoille

farm land in Lamoille

We could have even stayed in Lamoille as there was a hotel. We could even have arrived at the hotel via horse -- notice the livery.

hotel in Lamoille

California Trail Interpretive Center

On our way into Elko we visited the California Trail Interpretive Center. This is run by the Bureau of Land Management.

Entrance to California Trail Interpretive Center

Betty at California Trail Interpretive Center

The exhibits were very well done, and I learned a few things. I enjoyed reading about how the wagon trains worked. I learned about the advantages and disadvantages of using oxen vs. horses vs. mules to pull your wagon. They also compared the speed of these three with modern means of transportation.

One thing that surprised me was that the wagons used odometers. Some were automated as shown in the picture below. Others did it by hand by tying a handkerchief to the spoke of the wheel and counting the rotations. This was important as there were no road signs (or GPS). Directions were given by indicating how many miles it was to the next watering hole or other landmark. The settlers had to know how far they had travelled to know where they were.

wagon odometer

A missing Washoe Lake

Leaving Lake Tahoe, we headed toward Washoe Lake State Park. After paying our $7 entrance fee, we discovered the lake was mostly dried up.

Trail to Beach sign, but there is no beach

What is left of Lake Washoe can be seen in the distance.

As we walked the path to the non-existent beach, we came across drifts of grass seeds that would billow up in the wind. We had a great time watching them.

a mound of grass seeds across the trail

a closer look at the mound of grass seeds

a couple of individual grass seeds

We then headed to Reno. After checking into our hotel, we took a shuttle to the Grant Sierra Resort for dinner at their buffet before crashing for the night.