Salt Lake City

 After a long, boring drive through southern Idaho, we headed for Salt Lake City.

 As we headed south on I-15, the snowcaps in the distance promised more interesting terrain.

 One can't imagine the forces that thrust heavy rock strata such as these up at this type of angle without feeling a sense of profound awe.

 Salt Lake City is a pretty, clean city framed by the beautiful Wasatch Mountains.  It was also far more urbane than either of us remember from previous trips.

 The buildings and landscaping of Temple Square are always beautiful.

 The Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearsal chamber is rather impressive isn't it?

 Despite it's less than impressive appearance, this is a fabulous Mexican restaurant.  Their menu features seven different mole' dishes, several offering two different meat choices.  The first night we ate there (this trip), an eighth (mango)mole' served over pork spare ribs was featured.  It was spicy and delicious.  Note the crowd waiting outside for a seat.  This is a light day. 

 This is what we really came for - the LDS Family History Library.  We both spent four days there searching for information to verify or reject geneological leads and identify new ones.  We were both successful on all counts.  Even if you aren't interested in your family history, you have to appreciate the organization of this place, the expertise of the volunteers, and the wealth of original documents.  Ted found the original Christening records for one line of his family in Mexico dated in the early 1800s.

 We left Salt Lake on a rainy morning.  Many of the locals seemed to have a great deal of diffiulty coping  with conditions as we saw two spin outs and almost got hit by two slow mergers - shades of Portland?

After traveling through many miles of construction, we finally cleared the urban area. Almost immediately, the rain stopped and the clouds began to thin.  We left I-15 headed east toward I-70.  We did not know what a treat we had in store.