Part 2, 30th Anniversary Trip

Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah

Hello again!

I'm back with Part 2 of our 30th Anniversary road trip. Today I'm sharing our time in Salt Lake City, Odgen and Park City. I realized when I started sizing all of my photos for uploading to my blog that I would have to share our trip among several posts. I have so many photos I would love to share but I'm going to have to hit the highlights. Hopefully if you haven't visited these places you'll be inspired to and if you have I hope it brings back wonderful memories.

Temple Square in Salt Lake City

I was intrigued by this building with the hanging garden on the roof. 

Looks like a magical place to me!

Along the sidewalk there was literally a babbling brook which was so incredibly peaceful. 

I was very impressed with the architecture on Temple Square.

Obviously we came in the north entrance, there were gorgeous flowers everywhere. :)

We spotted a quick glimpse of the Tabernacle.

This is where the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearses and we were hopeful we'd be able to attend one. 

Unfortunately the day we visited is the day they flew to Europe for 3 weeks of performances. 

Maybe next time!

The Salt Lake Assembly Hall 

The Gothic architecture of this building is stunning and I love the stained glass windows.

I actually snapped this photo inside the air conditioned visitor's center. It was only 103 degrees!

Visitors are not allowed in the Tabernacle but there is a model in the visitors center showing what each floor looks like. There's no charge to tour the center or the grounds.

The details are stunning and I'm glad we were able to visit the Temple Square. 

A quick snap of the state capitol.

Next up is our visit the same day to Hill Air Force Base Aerospace Museum in Ogden north of Salt Lake City.

In the late '60's my dad was stationed at Hill AFB and it was my first U.S. home. I was born overseas and while I don't have memories of the Philippines I do have some of my time living in Ogden. My dad bought me my first horse, a Shetland Pony named Princess (original, huh!), and I remember riding her with the Wasatch mountains in the background. In August of '67 I became a big sister when my little sister was born.

Inside the museum...

I'm happy that I was able to visit Hill AFB for personal reasons.

Park City is where we were based but truthfully we spent 3 days in bed due to the nasty cold we picked up (yep we both got it) and only ventured out to eat dinner. I did snap photos of historic downtown while we were out and some along the way there. We did not visit the Olympic Center nor did we get to do any hiking but we'll do those next time. :)

  

Where we ate the first night - Main St. Pasta and Noodle

The sunrises over the Uinta-Wasatch range were breath taking!

 I'll never forget them!!!

Tomorrow I'll share our visit to Bryce Canyon in southern Utah. It is a very special place and I have a ton of photos. :) See you then!

Hugs,

Lisa

Part 1, 30th Anniversary Trip

Spider Rock in Canyon De Chelley National Monument

Hello everyone!!!

I have a non-crafty post to share with you today. If you've been waiting on this post I apologize. I returned home Sunday afternoon and my energy is completely drained. Recently my hubby and I took a road trip to celebrate our 30th Anniversary which was in May. We visited several states and national parks. Originally we were due to travel to Wyoming and visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton Nat'l Parks as well but a summer cold derailed us. We made the right decision to rest up in Park City for a few days so we could enjoy the rest of our trip and not add those additional miles. I'll be sharing photos of our trip the rest of the week and once I make the final photo selection (I took thousands) of each tourist stop I'm going to make a travel journal for us which I'll share here as well. 

The first stop was a visit to a place on my hubby's bucket list - Canyon De Chelley National Monument. His favorite western is Mackenna's Gold starring Gregory Peck and it was filmed there in the early '60's. He loved seeing Spider Rock in person and fortunately it was a beautiful, sunny day. 

Canyon De Chelley National Monument

On his way to see Spider Rock

Along the way on our journey I sent a shout out to my Pocket Letter Pal, Katrin. So happy you enjoyed my messages sweet friend. xx

We spent the second night on the road at Kanab, Utah and the next morning we visited Zion National Park which was 30 miles away. It was our first visit to Zion and it was apparent my hubby had come down with a summer cold. We scratched our hike to The Narrows (you get there by hiking in the middle of the Virgin River) as it wasn't a great idea to hike literally through ice cold water with him sick. Instead we opted to take the shuttle bus tour and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery including the Virgin River. Zion has the distinction of being Utah's first national park and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. Luckily I had some med's with me that kept him going!

Here are more photos of Zion National Park.

Buffalo grazing along Mt. Carmel Road on the way to Zion from Kanab.

Checkerboard Mesa

Zion Visitor Center

This area is what they call the Patriarchs...

and this big white rock behind it is called the Great White Throne. 

The bus tour ran alongside the Virgin River.

Zion shuttle buses

The Temple of Sinawava was the last stop on the tour and it's also where you trek down to hike to The Narrows.

There's nothing like mountain water and I enjoyed cooling off in it as the temps were creeping up that day. Good thing we went early in the morning!

The water was clear and beautiful. 

I snapped this photo at the falls. 

When we left Zion I asked my hubby to snap this so I could send another message to Katrin. :)

Our next stop was Kolob Canyons off I-15 which is also part of Zion Nat'l Park. 

Kolob Canyons Visitor Center

The Hanging Gardens

After visiting Kolob we traveled on to Park City and checked in our timeshare. We were due to spend the week but cut our visit short 2 days so we could make our way back via a different route which took us through southwest Colorado and back to New Mexico. 

I'll share those adventures with you tomorrow.

Thanks for the visit today!

Lisa xx