After another 120 miles, passing through towns like Provo, Orem, and Sandy, the train arrived in Salt Lake City.  The Mormon Church predominates here, and there are some "rules" that are followed when it comes to drinking alcohol, for example.  If you are here in the winter, the skiing opportunities are excellent up in the nearby mountains.

There is a large train station, and of course, the Mormon temple, both worthy of a visit.  We were here to stay the night, then rent a car for the rest of the trip.  Car rentals cost more here than any other city, due to the fact that not many people come back to return them (i.e. one-way, drop-off rates usually apply).

The Great Salt Lake, Bonneville Salt Flats, and the Golden Spike National Historic Site are nearby.

Note: This is the first entry of the blog.  Later entries can be found by either clicking on the "next entry" tab at the top of the blog text or by clicking on one of the links such as "Masazir" or "Ceyranbatan" on the bottom right hand of the page.

Also:

**Disclaimer**

The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps.

Cheers!

Blog: 

This is going to be a blog about my experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in Azerbaijan.  I'll be writing about travel, the food, the customs and my frustrations as well I am sure.  At this point, I'm still in the United States, but I will be leaving in 3 weeks.

My particular brand of wanderlust was born in Mexico, or at least that is where I first recognized it.  I was a Mormon missionary at the time (I am no longer religious now though), and as a missionary I was bound by a strict set of rules.  Although I could look at the hills and the mountains and dream about going to them just to see what was around the bend, or just beyond the hills, I couldn't go.  My favorite times were when I could take a long bus ride somewhere new, or when I was visiting a remote village somewhere.

In Costa Rica I didn't have those rules any longer.  My roommate and I would sluff classes (we were studying abroad) and take a bus somewhere just to see where it went.  We found some of the craziest things and some of the most pristine and untouched beaches doing this.  It was an amazing experience.

It is too bad that I will never be able to travel like I really want to.  I'll never be able to afford it being a teacher, especially if I have kids one day.  That is what initially drew me to the Peace Corps.  Humanitarian service plus free travel to a far away country and the potential to learn a couple new languages really sold me to the idea.  It really is an experience that I personally couldn't let pass.

Unfortunately, it has been a costly experience.  I could have been teaching since December 07, when I got my degree and license.  Since I never really knew when I was going to be leaving, I opted to not get a job.  I have been working some pretty bad jobs since then, making almost nothing and relying on my parents for support.  Also, as a teacher, raises in salary are dependant on the amount of years had working in the field.  I will be giving up nearly 3 years of pay raises.  I have sacrificed relationships, I will be leaving friends behind and worst of all I have felt like I have wasted 9 months of my life.  I'm not a big fan of wasting time.

Basically, I am relying on the hope that my experiences over there will all be worth it.

I will be leaving for Philadelphia, PA on the 19th, and then on around the 21st I will be heading off to Azerbaijan for 27 months.  While I am really excited to go, I am still making sure that I enjoy the present and take the time to really be with my friends and family before I am gone for good.

I hope you keep up with my journal, it should be a great experience.

Whoa! Do I ever really stop? I feel like my life is basically one adventure after the next, with school and work shoved in between. This time, Central America! I've waited my entire life to do a study abroad and now my opportunity is here! I will be moving to the beautiful Heredia, Costa Rica (just twenty minutes outside of San Jose) to attend La Universidad Interamericana de Costa Rica for a semester. I will be living with a Tico host family and probably another international student. Eeek! I can't wait to start my classes which include Spanish 2020 - 3020, Biological Diversity/Conservation, and Environmental Sustainability. Most of all, I can't wait to be FORCED to speak Spanish so I can finally quit messing around and become fluent!!!!!

My summer plans are so up in the air I have no idea what I'll be doing. I'm hoping to spend at least a few months cruising around Central America - Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Ecuador, etc - to do some surfing, volunteering, and meeting the lovely locals around the world. I think I'm going to start selling my plasma here in Utah so I can afford all this traveling. Haha.

I do feel a little sad about leaving The U and all my friends. I've come to really love my cute house and I enjoy living with Judy my BFF and roomie. I'm sad because I know that they'll be epic parties, powder days, and a million other happenings that I'm going to miss out on. I don't want to be forgotten. :( But then I come to my senses and start fantasizing about all the INSANE adventures I'm in for. God, it's so true; have love, will travel.

So, I hope that all of you follow me on my six month, possibly longer, adventure living in Central America. And I know I've always promised I'm going to find myself either a European or Argentinian boyfriend....... this time is no different. Just because you don't know their names doesn't mean they never happened. Muahahaha. ;)

Besos.

After being in tropical locales this place is cole. I thought I'd stay for a day and move on.

So I detour throught SLC

OUR EDUCATION IN OUR YOUTHS. THIS IS TRUE STORY A MOTHER AND HER TEENAGE SON ABOUT 16,  SITTING BEHIND ME.

MOTHER: WOW THERE ARE MANY SALT MINES WE SEE ABOVE.

TEENAGER: HEY BUT I DON'T KNOW WHY IT IS CALLED SALT LAKE CITY, THERE IS NO SALT LAKE IN UTAH.

*US WE ARE FLYING OVER THE "SALT LAKE"* WOW I FELT LIKE TURNING AROUND AND SAYING "THEN WHAT TO YOU CALL THAT????" THEN I FEEL LIKE AM IN A "CANDID CAMERA" SHOW.



Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or S.L.C. It was originally known as Great Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City has a population of 180,651 as of 2007. The Salt Lake City metropolitan area spans Salt Lake, Summit and Tooele counties, and has a total estimated population of 1,099,973. Salt Lake City is further situated in a larger urban area known as the Wasatch Front and is part of the Salt Lake City-Ogden-Clearfield CSA that has an estimated population of 1,686,703. The total estimated population of the Wasatch Front is approximately 2,150,000.

 

The city was founded in 1847 by a group of Mormon pioneers led by their prophet, Brigham Young, who fled hostility and violence in the Midwestern United States. They extensively irrigated and cultivated the arid valley and faced persecution from the U.S. government for their practice of polygamy, which was abandoned in 1890. Today, Salt Lake City is still home to the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormon Church). Mining booms and the construction of the first transcontinental railroad initially brought economic growth, and the city was nicknamed the Crossroads of the West. Salt Lake City has since developed a strong outdoor recreation tourist industry based primarily on skiing. Salt Lake City was host to the 2002 Winter Olympics and is the industrial banking center of the United States.

 

History of Salt Lake City

 

Before Mormon settlement, the Shoshone, Ute, and Paiute had dwelt in the Salt Lake Valley for thousands of years. However, occupation was seasonal, near streams emptying from Canyons into the Salt Lake Valley. The first US explorer in the Salt Lake area is believed to be Jim Bridger in 1825, although others had been in Utah earlier, some as far north as the nearby Utah Valley. U.S. Army officer John C. Frémont surveyed the Great Salt Lake and the Salt Lake Valley in 1843 and 1845.

 

 The Donner party, a group of ill-fated pioneers, had traveled through the Great Salt Lake Valley in August 1

The first permanent settlements in the valley date to the arrival of the Latter-day Saints on July 24, 1847. They had traveled beyond the boundaries of the United States seeking an isolated area to practice their religion, away from the hostility they had faced in the East. Upon arrival, President of the Church Brigham Young is recorded as stating, "this is the right place", after seeing the area in a vision. They found the broad valley empty of any human settlement.

 

Only four days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young designated the site for the Salt Lake Temple, intended to be the third temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to replace the abandoned Kirtland Temple in Ohio and Nauvoo Temple in Illinois.

 

Constructed on Temple Square, in the center of the city, the temple took 40 years to complete, being started in 1853 and dedicated on April 6, 1893. These delays meant that temples in St. George, Logan and Manti were completed before the Salt Lake Temple[6] The temple has become iconic of the city and is its centerpiece. In fact, the southeast corner of Temple Square is the initial point of reference for the Salt Lake Meridian, and for all addresses in the Salt Lake Valley.

 

The Mormon pioneers organized a new state called Deseret and petitioned for its recognition in 1849. The United States Congress rebuffed the settlers in 1850 and established the Utah Territory, vastly reducing its size. Great Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the territorial capital in 1858, and the name was subsequently abbreviated to Salt Lake City. The city's population swelled with an influx of religious converts, making it one of the most populous cities in the American Old West.

 

Disputes with the federal government ensued over the widespread Mormon practice of polygamy. A climax occurred in 1857 when President James Buchanan declared the area in rebellion after Brigham Young refused to step down as governor, beginning the Utah War. A division of the United States Army, commanded by Albert Sidney Johnston, later a general in the army of the Confederate States of America, marched through the city and found that it had been evacuated. This division set up Camp Floyd approximately 40 miles (65 km) southwest of the city. Another military installation, Fort Douglas, was established in 1862 to maintain Union allegiance during the American Civil War. Many area leaders were incarcerated at the territorial prison in Sugar House in the 1880s for violation of anti-polygamy laws. The LDS Church began their eventual abandonment of polygamy in 1890, releasing "The Manifesto," which officially suggested that members obey the law of the land (which was equivalent to forbidding new polygamous marriages inside the U.S. and its territories, but not in Mormon settlements in Canada and Mexico). This paved the way for statehood in 1896, when Salt Lake City became the state capital.

 

The First Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869 at Promontory Summit on the north side of the Great Salt Lake. A railroad was connected to the city from the Transcontinental Railroad in 1870, making travel less burdensome. Mass migration of different groups followed. They found economic opportunities in the booming mining industries. These groups constructed St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in 1874, the Greek Orthodox Holy Trinity Cathedral in 1905 and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Madeleine in 1909. This time period also saw the creation of Salt Lake City's now defunct red-light district that employed 300 courtesans at its height before being closed down in 1911.

 

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, an extensive streetcar system was constructed throughout the city with the first streetcar running in 1872 and electrification of the system in 1889. As in the rest of the country, the automobile usurped the streetcar and the last trolley ran in 1945. Rail transit was re-introduced when TRAX, a light rail system, opened in 1999.

 

The city's population began to stagnate during the 20th century as population growth shifted to suburban areas north and south of the city. Few of these areas were annexed to the city, while nearby towns incorporated and expanded themselves. As a result, the population of the surrounding metropolitan area greatly outnumbers that of Salt Lake City. A major concern of recent government officials has been combating inner-city commercial decay. The city lost population from the 1960s through the 1980s, but experienced some recovery in the 1990s. Presently, the city is losing population again (though that of the metro area continues to grow), having lost an estimated 2 percent of its population since the year 2000.

 

The city has experienced significant demographic shifts in recent years.Hispanics now account for approximately 19% of residents and the city has a large gay community. There is also a large Pacific Islander population, mainly made up of Samoans and Tongans; they compose roughly 1% of the population of the Salt Lake Valley area.

 

Salt Lake City was selected to host the 2002 Winter Olympics in 1995. The games were plagued with controversy. A bid scandal surfaced in 1998 alleging that bribes had been offered to secure the city for the 2000 games location. During the games, other scandals erupted over contested judging scores and illegal drug use. Despite the controversies, the games were heralded as a financial success, being one of the few in recent history to profit. In preparation major construction projects were initiated. Local freeways were expanded and repaired, and a light rail system was constructed. Olympic venues are now used for local, national, and international sporting events and Olympic athlete training.Tourism has increased since the Olympic games,not in citation given] but business did not pick up immediately following them.

 

Salt Lake City hosted the 16th Winter Deaflympic games in 2007, taking place in the venues in Salt Lake City and Park City,[16] and Rotary International has designated the city as the site of their 2007 convention, which will be the largest single gathering since the 2002 Winter Olympics.The U.S. Volleyball Association convention in 2005 drew 39,500 attendees.

 

Geography

 

Salt Lake City is a total area is 110.4 square miles (285.9 km²) and has an average elevation of 4,327 feet (1,320 m) above sea level. The lowest point within the boundaries of the city is 4,210 feet (1,280 m) near the Jordan River and the Great Salt Lake, and the highest is Grandview Peak, at 9,410 foot (2,868 m).

 

The city is located in the northeast corner of the Salt Lake Valley surrounded by the Great Salt Lake to the northwest and the steep Wasatch and Oquirrh mountain ranges on the eastern and western borders, respectively. Its encircling mountains contain many narrow glacially and volcanically carved canyons. Among them, City Creek, Emigration, Millcreek, and Parley's border Salt Lake City proper.

 

The Great Salt Lake is separated from Salt Lake City by extensive marshlands and mudflats. The metabolic activities of bacteria in Willard Bay (the freshwater portion of the lake) results in a phenomenon known as "lake stink", a scent reminiscent of foul poultry eggs, two to three times per year for a few hours.The Jordan River flows through the city and is a drainage of Utah Lake that empties into the Great Salt Lake.

 

The highest mountaintop visible from Salt Lake City is Twin Peaks, which reaches 11,489 feet (3502 m).Twin Peaks is located southeast of Salt Lake in the Wasatch Range. The Wasatch Fault is found along the western base of the Wasatch and is considered overdue for an earthquake as large as 7.5. Catastrophic damage is predicted in the event of an earthquake with major damage resulting from the liquefaction of the clay- and sand-based soil and the possible permanent flooding of portions of the city by the Great Salt Lake.

 

The second-highest mountain range is the Oquirrhs, reaching a maximum height of 10,620 feet (3,237 m) at Flat Top. The Traverse Mountains to the south extend to 6,000 feet (1,830 m), nearly connecting the Wasatch and Oquirrh Mountains. The mountains near Salt Lake City are easily visible from the city and have sharp vertical relief caused by massive ancient earthquakes, with a maximum difference of 7,099 feet (2164 m) being achieved with the rise of Twin Peaks from the Salt Lake Valley floor.

 

The Salt Lake Valley floor is the ancient lakebed of Lake Bonneville which existed at the end of the last Ice Age. Several Lake Bonneville shorelines can be distinctly seen on the foothills or benches of nearby mountains .

 

Layout

 

The city, as well as the county, is laid out on a grid plan;Most major streets run very nearly north-south and east-west. There is about a fourteen to fifteen minute of arc variation of the grid from true north.[citation needed] The grid's origin is the southeast corner of Temple Square, the block containing the Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Addresses are coordinates within the system (similarly to latitude and longitude). One hundred units are equal to 1/8th of a mile (200 m), the length of blocks in downtown Salt Lake City.[citation needed] The streets are relatively wide, at the direction of Brigham Young, who wanted them wide enough that a wagon team could turn around without "resorting to profanity."These wide streets and grid pattern are typical of other Mormon towns of the pioneer era throughout the West.

 

Though the nomenclature may initially confuse new arrivals and visitors, many consider the grid system an aid to navigation. Some streets have names, such as State Street, which would otherwise be known as 100 East. Other streets have honorary names, such as the western portion of 300 South, named "Adam Galvez Street" (in honor of a local Marine corporal killed in action) or others honoring Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and César Chávez. These honorary names appear only on street signs and cannot be used in postal addresses.

 

In The Avenues neighborhood, north-south streets are given letters of the alphabet, and east-west streets are numbered in 2.5 acre (10,100 m²) blocks, smaller than those in the rest of the city.

 

Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, planned the layout in the "Plat of the City of Zion" (intended as a template for Mormon towns wherever they might be built). In his plan the city was to be developed into 135 10 acre lots. However, the blocks in Salt Lake City became irregular during the late 19th century when the LDS Church lost authority over growth and before the adoption of zoning ordinances in the 1920s. The original 10 acre blocks allowed for large garden plots, and many were supplied with irrigation water from ditches that ran approximately where modern curbs and gutters would be laid. The original water supply was from City Creek. Subsequent development of water resources was from successively more southern streams flowing from the mountains to the east of the city. Some of the old irrigation ditches are still visible in the eastern suburbs, or are still marked on maps, years after they were gone.

 

Salt Lake City has many informal neighborhoods. The eastern portion of the city has higher property values than its western counterpart. This is a result of the railroad being built in the western half as well as scenic views from inclined grounds in the eastern portion. Housing is more affordable on the west side, which results in demographic differences. Interstate 15 was also built in a north-south line, further dividing east and west sides of the city.

 

The west side of the city has historically been a working-class neighborhood, but recently the more affordable nature of the area has enticed many professionals to the neighborhood. For example, the small, increasingly trendy Marmalade District on the west side of Capitol Hill, once considered seedy as few as 5–10 years ago, was heavily gentrified and is now thought of as an eclectic and desirable location. During the 1970s and 1980s, gang activity was also centered in the western neighborhoods of Rose Park, Poplar Grove, and Glendale.

 

Sugar House, in southeastern Salt Lake City, has a reputation as a liberal neighborhood and until recently possessed a district of locally-owned specialty and niche shops on the corner of 2100 South and 1100 East.[24] The stores that once occupied the street have recently moved to new locations to make way for a condominium and office complex, although the developers have stated that they wish to maintain the character of the area, and retail shops will be allowed at street-level once the complex is completed.[25][26] Despite these assurances, residents have been very vocal in their concerns that the neighborhood will lose its unique eclectic appeal and have panned what they call the destruction of one of the few locally-owned business districts in the valley.

 

Just northeast of Downtown is The Avenues, a neighborhood outside of the regular grid system on much smaller blocks. This area is a Historical District that is nearly entirely residential, and contains many historical Victorian era homes. The Avenues are situated on the upward-sloping bench in the foothills of the Wasatch Range, with the earlier built homes in the lower elevation. The Avenues, along with Federal Heights, just to the east and north of the University of Utah, and the Foothill area, south of the University, contain gated communities, large, multi-million dollar houses, and fantastic views of the valley. Many consider this some of the most desirable real estate in the valley.

 

In addition to larger centers like Sugar House and Downtown, Salt Lake City contains several smaller neighborhoods, each named after the closest major intersection. Two examples are the 9th and 9th (located at the intersection of 900 East and 900 South Streets) and 15th & 15th (located at the intersection of 1500 East and 1500 South Streets) neighborhoods. These areas are home to foot-traffic friendly, amenities-based businesses such as art galleries, clothing retail, salons, restaurants and coffee shops. During the summer of 2007, 9th and 9th saw sidewalk and street improvements as well as an art installation inspired by the 9 Muses of Greek myth, thanks in part to the 9th and 9th Merchants Association.

 

Many of the homes in the valley date from pre-World War II times, and only a select few areas, such as Federal Heights and the East Bench, as well as the far west side, including parts of Rose Park and Glendale, have seen new home construction since the 1970s.

 

Culture

 

Museums and the Arts

 

Salt Lake is home to several museums. Near Temple Square is the Museum of Church History and Art. Operated by the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the museum contains collections of artifacts, documents, art, photographs, tools, clothing and furniture from the history of the LDS Church, which spans nearly two centuries.

 

The University of Utah campus is home to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts as well as the Utah Museum of Natural History. West of the university, located at the Gateway District near downtown, is the Clark Planetarium, which also houses an IMAX theater. Also in the Gateway District is the Discovery Gateway, a children's museum.

 

Other museums include the Utah State Historical Society, Daughters of Utah Pioneer Memorial Museum, Fort Douglas Military Museum, and the Social Hall Heritage Museum.

 

On December 5, 2007, the Salt Lake Chamber and Downtown Alliance announced that a two-block section of downtown south of the planned City Creek Center is planned to become a new arts hub. This will include renovations to two theaters already located in the area, as well as a new theater with a seating capacity of 2,400 and increased space for galleries and artists. The opening of the new facilities are anticipated to coincide with the opening of the City Creek Center in 2011.The site of the $81.5 million theater was officially revealed and attempts to secure funding began. However, the plans for the theater have come under criticism, especially from nearby smaller theaters that host off-Broadway tours who claim that such a theater cannot be supported and that it will negatively affect their business.

 

erforming Arts

 

Salt Lake City provides many venues for both professional and amateur theatre. The city attracts many traveling Broadway and off-Broadway performances. Local professional acting companies include the Pioneer Theatre Company, Salt Lake Acting Company, and Plan-B Theatre Company. The Off Broadway Theatre, located in Salt Lake's historic Clift Building, features comedy plays and Utah's longest running improv comedy troupe, Laughing Stock.

 

Salt Lake City is the home of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, founded in 1847. The Choir's weekly program, called Music and the Spoken Word, is the longest-running continuous network broadcast in the world.[74] Salt Lake City is also the home to the Utah Symphony Orchestra, which was founded in 1940 by Maurice Abravanel and has become widely renowned. Its current director is Keith Lockhart. The orchestra's original home was the Salt Lake Tabernacle, but since the 1990s has performed at Abravanel Hall in the western downtown area. Salt Lake City area is also home to the award winning children's choir, The Salt Lake Children's Choir. The Choir was established in 1979 and is directed by Ralph B. Woodward.

 

The University of Utah is home to two highly-ranked dance departments, the Ballet Department and the Department of Modern Dance. Professional dance companies in Salt Lake City include Ballet West, Rire Woodbury, and Repertory Dance Theatre.

 

Music Scene

 

The city has a local music scene dominated by blues, rock and roll, punk, and emo groups. There are also many clubs which offer musical venues. Popular groups or persons who started in the Wasatch Front area or were raised and influenced by it include The Almost, The Brobecks, Meg and Dia, Royal Bliss, Shedaisy, The Summer Obsession, and The Used. In 2004 over 200 bands submitted tracks for a compilation by a local music zine, SLUG ("Salt Lake Underground"). The 18-year-old free monthly zine trimmed the submissions to 59 selections featuring diverse music types such as hip-hop, jazz, jazz-rock, punk, and a variety of rock and roll.

 

Movies and Television

 

Many films, music videos, commercials, and TV shows have been recorded in the Salt Lake metropolitan area. They include: Big Love,SLC Punk!, Touched By An Angel, Everwood, Big Love, "Bonneville", Dawn of the Dead, Drive Me Crazy, Forever Strong, High School Musical, High School Musical 2, High School Musical 3, Unaccompanied Minors, Dumb and Dumber, Halloween 4, Halloween 5, Halloween 6, Independence Day (film), Poolhall Junkies, The Brown Bunny, The World's Fastest Indian, The Way of the Gun, Carnival of Souls, The Amazing Race 8, and The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights". In 2006 it was revealed that Dan Brown, the author of The DaVinci Code, was in the city studying the symbols on the Salt Lake LDS Temple and the Salt Lake Masonic Temple, among other historical buildings, for inclusion in an upcoming book.

 

Events

 

Although the city is often stereotyped as a predominantly LDS city, it is culturally and religiously diverse. The city is the location of many cultural activities. A major state holiday is Pioneer Day, July 24, the anniversary of the Mormon pioneers' entry into the Salt Lake Valley. It is celebrated each year with a week's worth of activities, including a children's parade, a horse parade, the featured Days of '47 Parade (one of the largest parades in the United States), a rodeo, and a large fireworks show at Liberty Park.

 

Salt Lake City has a significant gay population, and the second-largest parade in the city is a gay pride parade, part of the annual Utah Pride Festival held every June.

 

First Night on New Year's Eve, a celebration emphasizing family-friendly entertainment and activities held at Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah, culminates with a fireworks display at midnight.

 

The Greek Festival, held the weekend after Labor Day, celebrates Utah's Greek heritage and is located at the downtown Greek Orthodox Church. The 3-day event includes Greek music, dance groups, Cathedral tours, booths and a large buffet. Attendance ranges from 35,000 - 50,000.

 

The Utah Arts Festival has been held annually since 1977 with an average attendance of 80,000. About 130 booths are available for visual artists and there are five performance venues for musicians.

 

Salt Lake City also hosts portions of the Sundance Film Festival. The festival, which is held each year, brings many cultural icons, movie stars, celebrities, and thousands of film buffs to see the largest independent film festival in the United States. The headquarters of the event is in nearby Park City.

 

Beginning in 2004, Salt Lake City has been the host of the international Salt Lake City Marathon. In 2006 Real Madrid and many of the nation's best cyclist had engagements.

 

Salt Lake City has begun to host its own events in the last few years, most notably the Friday Night Flicks, free movies in the City's parks, as well as the Mayor's health and fitness awareness program, Salt Lake City Gets Fit.

 

Salt Lake City was host to the 2002 Winter Olympics. At the time of the 2002 Olympics, Salt Lake City was the most populated area to hold a Winter Olympic games. The event put Salt Lake City in the international spotlight and is regarded by many as being one of the most successful winter olympics ever.[78]

 

To add variety and an international taste to the music fans, events such as the annual Thyagaraja Music Festival of Utah are held in Salt Lake City.

 

At Dream Theater's Salt Lake City show, Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. signed a proclamation making July 30, 2007 "Dream Theater Day" in the state of Utah.

 

Beginning in 2005, annual Nihon Matsuri (Japan Festival) is opened at Salt Lake City.

 

Media

 

Salt Lake City has many diverse media outlets. Most of the major television and radio stations are based in or near the city. The Salt Lake City metropolitan area is ranked as the 31st largest radio[79] and 36th largest television[80] market in the United States.

 

Print media include two major daily newspapers, The Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret Morning News. Other more specialized publications include In Utah This Week, Salt Lake City Weekly, Nuestro Mundo of the Spanish-speaking community, QSaltLake and The Pillar for the LBGT community. There are many local magazines, such as Wasatch Journal (a quarterly magazine covering Utah's arts, culture, and outdoors), Utah Homes & Garden (quarterly), Salt Lake Magazine (a bimonthly lifestyle magazine), Wasatch Woman Magazine (a bimonthly magazine spotlighting the successes of local women), and alt Lake Underground (SLUG)], an alternative underground music magazine.

 

KTVX signed on the air as Utah's first TV station in 1947 under the experimental callsign W6SIX. KTVX is the oldest TV station in the Mountain Time Zone and the third oldest west of the Mississippi. It is the current ABC affiliate. KSL-TV, the NBC affiliate, has downtown studios at "Broadcast House" in the Triad Center office complex. KSL is operated by a company owned by the LDS Church. KUTV, the CBS affiliate, was recently given a Redevelopment Agency (RDA) grant, and moved its studios to Main Street. Its news desk overlooks the street, with a large window behind the anchor desk. KSTU is the area's Fox affiliate. KUCW is the CW affiliate and part of a duopoly with KTVX. KJZZ-TV is an independent station owned by Utah Jazz owner, Larry Miller and broadcasts Jazz games. KJZZ-TV also carries newscasts produced by KUTV.

 

Because television and radio stations serve a larger area (usually the entire state of Utah, as well as parts of western Wyoming, southern Idaho, parts of Montana, and eastern Nevada), ratings returns tend to be higher than those in similar-sized cities. Some Salt Lake radio stations are carried on broadcast translator networks throughout the state.

 

Salt Lake City has become a case of market saturation on the FM dial; one cannot go through more than about two frequencies on an FM radio tuner before encountering another broadcasting station. A variety of companies, most notably Millcreek Broadcasting and Simmons Media, have constructed broadcast towers on Humpy Peak in the Uinta Mountains to the east. These towers allow frequencies allocated to nearby mountain communities to be boosted by smaller, low-powered FM transmitters along the Wasatch Front.

 

Sites of interest and city architecture

Buildings and sites of Salt Lake City, Utah

 

Salt Lake City is the headquarters for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and has many LDS-related sites open to visitors. The most popular is Temple Square, which includes the Salt Lake Temple and visitors’ centers that are open to the public, free of charge. Temple Square also includes the historic Tabernacle, home of the world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The modern LDS Conference Center is across the street to the north. The Family History Library, the largest genealogical library in the world, is located just west of Temple Square. It is run by the LDS Church and is open to the public and free of charge.

 

In 2004, the Salt Lake City main library received an Institute Honor Award for Architecture by the American Institute of Architects and features a distinctive architectural style. The roof of the building serves as a viewpoint for the Salt Lake Valley. The Utah State Capitol Building offers marble floors and a dome similar to that of the building that houses the U.S. Congress. Other notable historical buildings include the Thomas Kearns Mansion (now the Governor's Mansion), City and County Building, built in 1894, the Kearns Building on Main Street, St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, built in 1874, and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Madeleine, built in 1909.

 

Near the mouth of Emigration Canyon lies This Is The Place Heritage Park, which re-creates typical 19th century LDS pioneer life. Hogle Zoo is located across the street from the park. The city's largest public park, at over 100 acres (0.40 km2), Liberty Park features a lake with an island in the middle and the Tracy Aviary. The park is home to a large number of birds, both wild and in the aviary. Red Butte Garden and Arboretum, located in the foothills of Salt Lake features many different exhibits and also hosts many musical concerts. The Bonneville Shoreline Trail is a popular hiking and biking nature trail which spans ninety miles through the foothills of the Wasatch Front.

 

The Olympic Cauldron Park, located at Rice-Eccles Stadium, features the Olympic Cauldron from the games, a visitor's center, and the Hoberman Arch. The Olympic Legacy Plaza, located at the Gateway District, features a dancing fountain set to music and the names of 30,000 Olympic volunteers carved in stone. The Utah Olympic Park, located near Park City, features the Olympic ski jumps, as well as bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton runs. Today, the Olympic Park is used for year-round training and competitions. Visitors to the park can watch the various events that occur and even ride a bobsled. The Utah Olympic Oval, located in nearby Kearns, was home to the speed skating events and is now open to the public. Other popular Olympic venues include Soldier Hollow, the site of cross-country skiing events, located southeast of Salt Lake near Heber City.

 

Salt Lake City is in close proximity to several world-class ski and summer resorts, including Park City Mountain Resort, Deer Valley, and Snowbird. The resorts cater to millions of visitors each year and offer year-round activities.

 

Salt Lake City is also home to a few major shopping centers. Trolley Square is an indoor and outdoor mall with many independent art boutiques, restaurants, and national retailers. The buildings housing the shops are renovated trolley barns with cobblestone streets. The Gateway District, an outdoor shopping mall, is the city's newest major shopping center and has many national restaurants, clothing retailers, a movie theater, the Clark Planetarium, the Discovery Gateway, a music venue called The Depot, and the Olympic Legacy Plaza.

 

On October 3, 2006, the LDS Church, who owns the ZCMI Center Mall and Crossroads Mall, both on Main Street, announced plans to demolish the malls, a skyscraper, and several other buildings to make way for the $1 billion City Creek Center redevelopment. It will combine several new office and residential buildings (one of which will be the third-tallest building in the city) around an outdoor shopping center featuring a stream, fountain, and other outdoor amenities, and is expected to be completed in 2011.[82] Sugar House is a neighborhood with a small town main street shopping area and numerous old parks. Sugar House Park is the second largest park in the city, and is host to frequent outdoor events and the primary Fourth of July fireworks in the city.

 

Other attractions in or within close proximity to Salt Lake City include the Golden Spike National Historic Site (where the world's first transcontinental railroad was joined), the Lagoon Amusement Park, the Great Salt Lake, the Bonneville Salt Flats, Gardner Historic Village, one of the largest dinosaur museums in the U.S. at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, and the world's largest man-made excavation at Bingham Canyon Mine.

 

Sports and recreation

 

Winter sports, such as skiing and snowboarding, are popular activities in the Wasatch Mountains east of Salt Lake City. Eight ski resorts lie within 50 miles (80 km) of the city. Alta, Brighton, Solitude Mountain Resort, and Snowbird are located in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons to the southeast, Deer Valley, The Canyons, and Park City Resort are located to the east, near Park City in Summit County, and Sundance is located to the southeast in Utah County. The ski resorts see frequent storms that deposit light, dry snow due to a phenomenon known as the lake effect, where storms amplified by the warm waters of the Great Salt Lake precipitate in the Wasatch Mountains. Alta and Deer Valley only allow skiing, while the others allow both skiing and snowboarding. The popularity of the ski resorts has increased nearly 29% since the 2002 Winter Olympics.

 

Most of the ski resorts also offer summer activities. The mountains surrounding Salt Lake City are very popular for hiking, camping, rock climbing, mountain and road biking, and other related outdoor activities. In addition, the many small reservoirs and rivers in the Wasatch Mountains are popular for boating, fishing, and other water-related activities. Salt Lake City is the primary jumping-off point for exploring the national parks and monuments and rugged terrain of the southern half of the state, as it contains the only international airport in the state.

 

Professional sports

 

Salt Lake City is home to the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA), who play their home games in EnergySolutions Arena and are the only top-level professional sports team in the state. They have been among the most successful NBA franchises of the last 25 years. The city's other professional sports include Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer, the Utah Blaze of the Arena Football League, and the Salt Lake Bees of the Pacific Coast League (minor league baseball). EnergySolutions Arena, formerly known as the Delta Center, has been the home of the Utah Jazz since 1991.

 

 

Real Salt Lake was founded in 2005, and initially played at Rice-Eccles Stadium on the University of Utah campus. A soccer-specific stadium for Real Salt Lake, Rio Tinto Stadium, opened in October 2008 in the suburb of Sandy after undergoing nearly 2 years of funding difficulties. The Utah Blaze began play in 2006, and were popular in their first season in Utah, recording the highest average attendance in the league.The Salt Lake Bees, the Triple A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels, play home games at Franklin Covey Field. Nearby West Valley City has the Utah Grizzlies ice hockey team of the ECHL. The new ABA league has twice attempted to expand into the city, first with the Utah Snowbears in the 2004-05 season (which folded after reaching the quarterfinals of the playoffs) and later with the Salt Lake Dream (who folded before ever playing a game). The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) also attempted an expansion with the Utah Eagles, who folded halfway through the 2006-07 season. The Utah Starzz of the WNBA were once located within the city, but moved to San Antonio and became the Silver Stars after reaching the playoffs just once and struggling with attendance.

Back in Salt Lake City from my fun UK trip.
Got to see so many places and what an adventure for my first big solo trip.

Posted all pics on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/judgedredd76/sets/72157602664586224/

What a trip that was!
I was so not ready to come home yet; could have easily stayed for another month.
I am now posting all my pictures on Flickr from this trip. It is going to take me quite awhile before I get all 2,000+ online!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/judgedredd76/sets/72157605315588476/

Thanks for reading my adventures..Hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.

I was in town on business, and was looking for something that was within walking distance of my hotel. The front desk recommended the Blue Iguana. I hosted a good friend from high school, meeting at the restaurant. We were immediately seated, served chips and salsa (a healthy bowl of salsa for each patron) as well as inquiries to our drink preference. The Margaritas were great. Food - outstanding with large portions that were VERY reasonably priced. We ordered a selection of menu items - fish tacos with grilled tuna, and seafood burritos. Two fish tacos filled the plate. WOW...they were in there somewhere...under the cheese, lettuce and all. The beans and rice were complimentary to it all. The same could be said for the seafood burritos...shrimp, scallop and shrimp...loaded on the plate. An excellent choice if you want a few goodies to take home.

A day in Salt Lake City. A very clean and nice city with many shopping opportunities downtown as well as in the suburban (north and south). It's also a very "religious" city, with a lot mormons and Jesus Buildings (chirches, conference centers....).  

This hotel is old and surrounded by buildings under construction. I had an 'Executive King' room, which is a joke, as it is not much bigger than a regular room (the only addition is a cutout and a window for a desk) and is in dire need of being updated - ie, no flat screen TV or nice carpet. The windows and glass are paper-thin so good luck sleeping past 4:30am (when the construction begins). The A/C was noisy and didn't cool very well and the plumbing in the sink sprays everywhere. The doors to the rooms are heavy and do not feature 'self-closing' mechanisms so every time a neighbor shuts the door, it SLAMS and you hear it. I was unlucky enough to stay there on a 'party weekend' and although I called the front desk and complained three times (from 2am to 4:30am), the Security staff seemed to be too polite to do anything about people yelling in the hallways and slamming doors saying they never heard anything from the ‘guilty room.’ By the time these people went to bed, the construction started and we were treated to the sounds of truck engines idling and being parked in reverse with the constant ‘beeping sound.’ I stayed there for 7 nights and was only able to get 2 decent night's sleep (with earplugs). My suggestion - if you want a 'Full Service' Experience, stay at the other Marriott (City Center) which is newer or the Hilton down the street!

I was trying to sleep in and housekeeping knocked on my door around 9 for about 3 minutes before I decided they weren't going to go away, so i stuck my head out the door and got the lady to go away.  I figured then that I was awake, so I took a shower and got all packed up, but in the process I forgot my cell phone.  I had checked out and was on the way to the airport when I decided to stop at Denny's for breakfast, and while I was waiting for my food to come I decided to read a little bit, at which time I figured out that I didn't have my phone.  So I ate my breakfast, and headed back to the hotel.  The lady at the front desk gave me a key to the room but when I got up there they had already cleaned the room. I walked around trying to find out who had cleaned the room, and nobody spoke english so I went back down to the front desk and explained the situation, the lady found the phone with the housekeeping supervisor and I waited about 10 minutes for her to bring the phone to me.  I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't realized the loss before I got to the airport, because they had labeled the phone from a different room number that I had stayed in, so they probably wouldn't have found the phone if it hadn't been the same day.

The flight home was better than the flight up. There was more room in the plane, and i was able to fit my bag into the overhead bin, which was good, because I flew back with USAir and they are charging $15 for the first bag and more for the others.  I had a window seat, I took a little nap on the plane, and I got home ok.  I used the off airport parking, so I caught the shuttle to the parking lot and got the car with no problems, and I was home by 3 or so. 

All in all, a very nice weekend.

I ended up on a Delta airline flight, and it was the most crowded and small plane I had been on in a long time.  I had never flown Delta before, but Expedia brought it up as the cheapest one so I took a chance.  I will not be doing Delta again, unless I am confident that the plane is bigger than the one I was on this time.  The good part is that it was a fairly short flight, about an hour and a half, and they did land on time.  I got the rental car from Advantage, who again I had not dealt with before, and I had requested an economy car and ended up with a Suzuki XL7, which was nothing even close to an economy car.  It did handle pretty well, but it was dusty inside and out, and I put about 10 dollars worth of gas in it to drive around 80 miles or so. 

Going through all this was worth the concert tho, which I will describe in the next entry.

naturally the evening before we were supposed to fly out there was mass chaos in my neighborhood and i couldn't get home!  streets were blocked off in every direction and i ended up having to park in a nearby shopping center, walk home, and return to get my car later.  thankfully it cleared up before the next morning, julie made it over to my place, and my best pippa dropped us off at burbank airport early in the am on friday.

we were super excited albeit it slightly nervous because hey let's face facts - we're california girls and there was three feet of snow on the ground in park city!!!  we didn't know how to pack!  so i'm pretty sure we over packed, but better safe than sorry.  we grabbed some breakfast at burbank airport, hopped on the plane, and after flying over some absolutely gorgeous scenery of snow capped mountains and plains, we landed on a snow covered runway in salt lake city, utah! gorgeous!!

Travel from Lake Tahoe to Salt Lake City. The most impressive part on this voyage are the real big, white salt lake and the unbeleavable nothing. You can drive for hours and there is only the street, a few cars and trucks and nothing else than desert or salt around you. We don't have anything comparable to that at Switzerland.