Salt Lake City

The annual meeting of the Unitarian Universalist Association was held in Salt Lake City this June, making it easier for us to attend. We stayed in the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel, just across the street from Temple Square.When we go to Guadalajara, one of the things we enjoy is "tacos on the street." We found that we don't have to go all the way to Guadalajara for that. Each day, a small taco stand would appear at the corner of the park, across from Temple Square and across from our hotel. Mighty good tacos, as hot, or as mild as you may wish...

It has been some time since we were in Salt Lake. Though much is the same, much has changed, and right now it is changing rapidly. There were many, many cranes, and tall buildings were growing quite rapidly.

Let's take a look at this very tall building, growing just south of Temple Square. The downtown is beginning to make Temple Square look small, though there are some good sized buildings there as well.

Can you imagine what this place looked like long ago when Brigham Young said "This is the place"? I wonder what Brigham Young would think if he could see this place today. There are so many buildings, so many people, so much activity today.... but it is still a beautiful place here beneath the towering mountains.

What a beautiful world!

Saturday morning, the 6th of June, we went with Lance and Peg and Ann and Ed to Palisade. Just east of town, a trail heads south, right up the lower slopes of the Grand Mesa. At these lower altitudes, there is little rain and so the slopes are semi-desert. Along the edges of the valley are beautiful rocks.




Out hiking like that, one might see people hiking with their dogs following. But, up the trail behind us came a group of people with their goats. The goats were walking along, much as one might expect dogs to do. They told us the goats make nice pets and they carry them in their car just as they would dogs.



There have been people in this area long before us, and long before the Europeans came. In places, they have carved images into the rocks













Here are a couple of the old folks beneath one of the beautiful rocks. It was quite a hike for us, but we need to get out to see these beautiful places while we still can.









The rocks are beautiful. The junipers have not been there as long as the rocks, but they, too, are beautiful. And many of them remain, even after they die.


It may be quite dry on these lower slopes, but the mountains catch a lot of rain which comes down in many streams to make green valleys. The contrast of the rocks and the green valley is marvelous.









As beautiful as the rocks are, don't forget to watch the sky....


and the earth beneath your feet....