Salt Palace at Night

Visitors
My parents flew out to Salt Lake City to hang out with us for a week. We hadn’t seen each other since the Christmas holiday—it was really nice to catch up and enjoy some face to face time. We enjoyed a few outings together (baseball game, rodeo, Antelope Island, early birthday clothes shopping), but chose to mostly sit and enjoy each other’s company. There was a lot of talking, game playing, and eating.

Thanks for sharing your vacation time with us, Dad and Mom!

Temple Square
Mike and I attended an EE meet-up in the city while the kids had an evening alone with Grandpa and Grandma. After the meeting, Brian walked with us to the Temple Square. Most of the buildings were closed for the evening (like the visitor centers), but the tabernacle doors were open. We entered and stood in the back of the sanctuary, listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearsal. It was beautiful to the ears!

Brian left to catch his train home, and Mike and I wandered the grounds a bit. We were not approached by any Mormon missionaries while there (probably because of the later hour), for which I was grateful. The statues and plaques answered some of our questions about the Mormon faith and raised others.

Thanks, Mom and Dad for hanging with the kids a little later that evening so we could explore the Temple Square.

Salt Lake City Library
We had hoped to visit the Salt Lake City Library while in the area, but chose not to go while my parents were here. Well,“lucky us”, we ended up staying in SLC longer than expected (due to the trailer repair), so we were able to fit it in.

The library is HUGE! And beautiful. And full of books. The kids immediately went looking for the teen area. Mike and I explored the rest of the library (including a walk through the roof top garden) before settling down for a bit of reading.

Olympic Park in Park City
Several people suggested we make the drive to Park City to visit the Olympic Park (one of the 10 locations of the 2002 Winter Olympics). On Sunday, we packed up a picnic lunch and did just that.

We are not skiers, but totally enjoyed watching some freestyle skiers practicing their flips/turns. The museum is free was well done and interesting. The first floor focused on the history of skiing and the second floor on the 2002 Olympics.

We had hoped to catch one of the hourly tours, but the bus was full for the time we wanted and we didn’t want to wait around for an hour for the next one. In addition to the tours, visitors can buy tickets for zip-line rides, ski-lift rides, and bobsled-like rides. We chose to stick with the free attractions this time—although I’m still hoping to ride a zip-line in the not too distant future.