Day 17 - Mormons & Nutters?

Hello! Hello! Hello! My Name is Elder Annals, I like to share this blog of Jesus Christ.........This blog will change your life.......Hello!

We have woken up in the Mormon dominated conurbation of Salt Lake City. A leisurely start to the morning, including a phone call to my Mum to wish her a ‘Happy 80th Birthday’🎂. She was at hospital, where Dad was having a routine check up!!

It took a while for the sun to warm up, but by 10.30am we were on the move. We had to walk just 50 yards to the little train station to catch the train into the centre of the city & Temple square. The ticket machine wasn’t working so we jumped on without paying.

Four stops later we got off at the Arena stop, outside the enormous Vivint Smart Home Arena....catchy name. After taking stock of our bearings, we passed the impressive music venue called The Depot & Devereaux House. We the headed straight for Temple Square with its domineering skyline of steeples & gold statues.

We entered Temple Square via the South Gate & headed straight for the Visitor Centre. There were various exhibits explaining how Joseph Smith & Brigham Young founded the Mormons & established their epicentre in Salt Lake City (my words, not theirs). We ducked & dived to avoid the hoards of volunteers waiting to trap you in conversation, take you on a tour or possibly more.

We went back outside & bumped into 2 ‘Sisters’ who welcomed us to Temple Square. As soon as we replied we were deep in conversation, because one of the sisters originated from Manchester, the other was Australian. We had quite a pleasant chat with the 2 sisters & we told them all about our travels....they made their excuses & left. Not really, but we made it abundantly clear we were not looking for any divine intervention.

We strolled around the complex, admiring the statues & particularly the well tended gardens. We entered the Assembly Hall, then circumnavigated the Tabernacle & entered the North Visitors Centre, where we ascended a spiral ‘Stairway to Heaven’. At the top was an oversized Jesus Christ statue surrounded by sky painted walls & ceiling. There were various unmarked doors off this dome like heaven, one I opened & we walked into a full sized cinema, playing a feature movie of the story of the Mormons. We stayed to watch for at least 20 minutes. It was interesting, but just too long.

Next we went back out & as we walked past the Tabernacle, I enquired if we could look inside. The sister said we had to wait for the organ recital to finish, but her colleague suddenly opened the door & allowed us in. Inside, an elder then let us & another couple into the auditorium, where we with a reasonable crowd watched a spellbinding organ recital played on the organ with it’s 11,632 pipes.

During the recital, I received a WhatsApp message from Craig Boswell informing me that I was missing out an all you can eat Brazilian meat feast. After I rang back & we ended up having a video call with my old Fusion Team. They were all sat in a restaurant gorging on endless meat & I was admiring an organ recital........wow, how things have changed!

Jackie & I then moved on to the Salt Lake Temple, which apparently you are not allowed to enter unless you have converted. However, there were several weddings parties in the grounds. I infiltrated them & started taking photos, whilst Jackie disowned me.

Leaving Temple Square, we headed uphill to the Utah State Capitol building resplendent on the hill against the azure blue sky. We took a look around the interior, then headed back down the hill towards the Downtown District. We paused in Brigham Young Historic Park, then carried on down the road for a selfie with the Salt Lake Temple. We passed the Beehive House, then headed into Downtown, where the person on the street changed dramatically.

We went from happy clappy geeks to being surrounded by the homeless & nutters. I don’t think care in the community is practised much here in SLC. Too be fair they didn’t blatantly beg, just barked random noises......Tourette’s?

We treated ourselves to lunch in Spitz, where we had a pitcher of local beer & shared a doner kebab, not as we know it. After a pleasant lunch, we walked nearly a mile through the badlands of Salt Lake City to the State Liquor Store, because Jackie fancied a white wine. Wine & spirits can only be purchased in Liquor Stores in Utah. That alone is enough to persuade Jackie not to be a Mormon.

I was instructed to leave my rucksack at the entrance by the heavily armed security guards & only then were we allowed in. We purchased a box of Bootlegger white wine, with a cool wanted poster from Sing Sing Prison for Charles “Lucky” Luciano wanted for Prohibition crimes.

We walked back to the Arena train stop & jumped on the wrong train. 2 stops later we got off & waited in Old Greek Town with lots of nutters for the train back to the Arena. Seriously there are way too many people wandering the streets that need help. Eventually we got the correct train & arrived back at our campsite at 5pm.

We enjoyed an hour in the sun, before we were forced to retreat to the RV for warmth. As I write, we have just had a German couple ask us advice on the hosepipes. If only the knew.

The plan is to get up at silly o’clock & race across Nevada on I-80 to Reno, just the 550 miles. Jackie is even threatening to assist with the driving or is that the white wine talking? We will only know tomorrow.

We are currently listening to musical soundtracks & quaffing the newly purchased white wine!

FITBIT = 15,967 steps / 7.41 miles.

Song of the Day - Hello! by The Book of Mormon (Original Broadway Cast).

Bonus Songs of the Day :-

Temple of Love by Sisters of Mercy
Stairway to Heaven by Led ZeppelinRead more