We're in a small town outside of Salt Lake City. The geography here is so new to me. For one, this is my first time in Utah. I'm used to traveling through states where I've lived and I know basically where the major cities are and what their suburbs are. That is not the case here. Also, I'm used to mountainous regions being to the west. Here, we're in the middle of Utah Valley and there are mountains all the way around us. Another thing -- we're right next to the Wasatch Range. It's kind of odd to look up and see a mountain peak soaring 11,000 feet above me. In Denver, you're so far away from the mountains that you can't get a real sense of how big they are. And once you get closer, the foothills are so huge that you've lost sight of the mountain peaks and still can't see how tall they are. So this perspective on mountains is quite breathtaking. I'm loving it.
Last night we took the UTA Trax system into Salt Lake City to see the lights at Temple Square. I took lots of pictures. I am, by no means, a photographer and my camera is rather puny but last night we worked quite well together. I got some good shots that I'm pleased with, especially considering the lighting that was available.
Here's the inside of the train. They are nearly identical to the Light Rail cars in Denver so I felt right at home. This particular train was pretty empty.
Some of the scenery out of the train windows. I was kind of excited to go to Sandy. You see, one of my favorite television shows is the HBO series, Big Love. It's set in Sandy, Utah and I thought that Sandy was a fictional place until Paul told me it is, indeed, a real town. Not only is it a real place, that's where we got on the train. So I had to take a photo of this sign.
This is the shopping center where we got coffee before walking to Temple Square. It's pretty and it has lots of cool shops in it. If I appreciated shopping and crowds more, I'd probably really enjoy a place like this. But I don't so it's mostly good for people watching and coffee sipping. And photo snapping.
A pretty cool mural in the Union Pacific Train Station. I love real train stations -- you know the ones where people can get on an Amtrak train and it takes them hundreds of miles away, overnight with dining cars and sleeping berths and stuff. All of them are old and very cool with granite floors and big, carved wood moldings and these cool murals.
A cautionary piece of advice that is posted at almost all street corners. It made me giggle.
Some other cool shots of downtown Salt Lake City. It's very pretty and there is a lot of striking architecture. I was just in awe. I think Christmas is a particularly good time to experience new cities because they're all gussied up for the holidays. This way, I get to have these beautiful first impressions as my only impressions.
And now, the main event for last night: Temple Square. I must preface this by saying that a friend-slash-co-worker recommended that we "go to Temple Square to see the lights" and I kind of went, "Oh. Yeah, I guess that sounds nice." I mentioned it to Paul in passing, not really expecting that we'd go because 1) we're neither one religious, and 2) Paul was, at one time, LDS and doesn't have much inclination to revisit that. So I didn't think there was much reason for us to go. But when I said it, he was like, "Oh yeah! We should do that. The lights are pretty fantastic and the history is interesting." So we went. And I am so glad we did. It is beautiful!
See what I mean? Gorgeous, no? I am simply amazed that my camera took photos this clearly at night. It was really something.
After we finished with our lightseeing (get it? Lightseeing instead of sightseeing? Ha ha!) we got back on the train and headed to a place called Trolley square. I hear that there is lots of history surrounding that place as well but I'm unclear on most of it. Anyway, here it is:
Yes, it's a crappy, crappy, crappy picture. The rest of our group was running across the street while I was taking this picture and I was in a hurry to take it so I didn't get left behind and then a car almost hit me. Oops. But I'm okay.
We decided to eat at Old Spaghetti Factory which is inside the shopping mall at Trolley Square. This is what the wait line for Old Spaghetti Factory looked like. Lisa, Paul's sister-in-law, went in to ask how long the wait was for a group our size (8 of us) and came out to report that it would be at least an hour. So some of the group went off to shop and the some of the group went off in search of beer. I went in search of beer because I am not a shopper.
We actually ended up waiting about an hour and 20 minutes for our tables but it was definitely worth it. Old Spaghetti Factory isn't exactly original or authentic food but it's very tasty and a really good deal. I ordered an entree that was easily enough for both Paul and myself. It came with iced tea or coffee, all the bread I wanted, a side salad and, the best part yet -- spumoni! Yumyum, yummy, yummolicious! I would have taken photos but the lighting was terrible and nothing would have shown up. I did get a picture of the trolley car that is inside the restaurant, though.
Pretty cool, huh?
When we were done eating we walked back to the train and I got some more photos of things that I found to be interesting.
This was pretty neat. It was at the stop where we waited for one of our return trains. It's a poem written by a 14-year-old girl named Ruby, I believe.
This was a funny little train seat all by itself. Cole called it the lonely hobo seat.
And this is what greeted us when we arrived back in Sandy. It was freezing fog -- quite the interesting sight.
Anyway, as you can see, we're having a fantastic time. There is lots of great stuff in store for our remaining days here, too. I'll be meeting Paul's mom tomorrow and maybe meeting an online friend on Thursday. I hope the weather cooperates. We're under a severe winter storm warning right now and it doesn't end until Thursday night or Friday morning. Gah.
1 comment:
great pictures! it is just so pretty there. :)
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