Catching Up With Us....: Salt Lake- Take 2

The saga continues.......

It's Friday the 24th. Pioneer Day. In Utah it's quite a big to do. I mentioned the hordes of people slumbering in the streets to get dibs on the parade hot spots. Well we decided we would join them for the parade, but not until 9am when it started. We did get a spot and it was even in the shade of the trees on the lawn of the Romanesque city/county building. My mom bought Lauren and Jace these obnoxious horns, that they blew throughout the parade, from some random street vendor.

There were over 100 entries in the parade, lots of horses, bands and floats. We even got to see Henry B. Eyring riding in a convertible.

After the parade we walked around the city/county building and took a few pictures. It's such a beautiful building; why don't we have anything like that in Vegas?? I guess if we did they'd implode it anyway! Here's Lauren taking a moment to relax by the fountain.

After the parade we drove to a place called Gardners Mill and had lunch and walked around the cute shops they had there. I forgot my camera for that little excursion, so no photos.

This tore up house was, according to Ma, built by my great, great, great, great, great Grandpa Mac Gregor. He was Scottish, which explains why I love men in kilts!

Since it was Pioneer Day and all we drove up the hill to This is the Place monument. It's crazy to think as we just drove up there w/ air conditioning, that those pioneers stood there at the same place and saw that valley. It was a pretty hot day and we were complaining about it, but I thought how the pioneers must have felt, they couldn't just stop off at 7 Eleven and get an icy cold drink like we did. In fact they didn't even have ice in the summer to have a nice cold drink.

We attempted the zoo but there wasn't much time before closing and Jason (who didn't want to go) said that none of the animals would be out anyway because it was too hot. So it was off to see the Great Salt Lake. Wow, not much going on there. The building that they are trying to pass off as the Saltair was musty and gross. You would think people would use it as a beach to swim, but I guess not. There were a few boats parked at the harbor but it was kind of sad to see this huge lake sitting lonely. It has been cursed by it's salt and destroys everything that tries to tame it. Although, Aunt Rose says there is a nude beach out there somewhere! Maybe next trip.......
Check out this link to see how awesome this place used to be- in fact my great grandma "Nana" used to hang out there.

http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/statehood_and_the_progressive_era/saltair_exhibit/19.html

Jace and the barren Great Salt Lake

Somebody had a busy day!

We spent the rest of Friday at the Gateway mall and had Crown Burgers for dinner that night before crashing from exhaustion.

Saturday, July 25th. Haven't been inside the Salt Lake Temple since I was really little and was sealed to my parents. Therefore we decided that we would get up early and hit the 9am session. Ma volunteered to take Lauren and Jace and she made them pancakes then they went to the children's museum. I'd never been to a live session before and although it was different than what I'm used to, it was a great experience. All the detail they put into the craftsmanship, especially the celestial room, was just beautiful. We met back up with the kids and Ma, who had a great time at the museum, and drove around to look at some of the ornate homes and churches.

This was our 1st stop Saturday morning

Our next stop was the St. Mary's Cathedral which was built in 1900. We got there just in time to hear the noon bells ringing. The kids were fascinated by the GARGOYLES.

Family photo op at St. Mary's. It was open so we even got a chance to sneak a peak inside.

I snapped a pic out of the sunroof as we were driving down this street. I thought it was neat- like the road you're on should lead to the temple.

After all that fun we stopped for lunch and at the Distribution Center. Then we went to Kearns and picked up Aunt Rose to go visit the open house of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It was so simple and so tranquil. The decor was neutral w/ a lot of natural elements. Most of the flooring was travertine and there was no laminate on the desks and counters- it was all natural stone. Very soothing color scheme of cream, green and yellow. This is a pic of Lauren and Jace in front of the temple by the fountain.

Ma and Aunt Rose by the fountain

My parents in front of the temple

Ma's birthday was August 3rd so we decided we would celebrate it early while we were there with her. My parents had been to this restaurant called Rodizio's w/ some friends before so that's where we decided to take Ma. It's Brazilian food so they bring out these skewers of meat- steak, ham, pork, halibut, even grilled pineapple and tomatoes, plus there's a full salad bar and hot sides like mashed potatoes and beans etc. Of course it was "all you can eat"- so we did, until our bellies were past the point of stuffed!

Jason getting some ham HOT off the skewer!

Lauren and Jace w/ their fancy strawberry lemonades- they were GOOD!

After dinner we figured we better walk some of that food off, so we found Brigham Young's grave and took some pics. Then we stayed and walked around downtown some more while my parents and Ma took Aunt Rose home. We went back through the Joseph Smith Building where there was an Osmond wedding reception being held, then caught the tail end of a concert going on in the Assembly Hall. We were wandering around downtown looking for an ice cream shop and somehow walked farther than we thought in the wrong direction so we had to backtrack and we were getting tired so I called my mom to see how far away they were and they said about 10 minutes, so we just plopped down on the grass where we were and told them which corner to pick us up on. We then drove down the street and got some ice cream from Leatherby's. And yes, Leatherby's there is just as sticky and dirty as the one here- curse that delicious caramel sauce for making me crave it even if I have to ward off ants for a spot at the table!

Lauren and Jace sitting w/ Brigham Young's statue