I had two nights in Salt Lake City, and my main goal here was to photograph some of the Church of Latter Day Saints buildings, as well as explore the city. I stayed in a super nice bed and breakfast, called the Inn on the Hill. The Inn was exactly half way between the Capitol and Temple Square, so in a great location for what I was after. When they say it's on the hill, they mean it! I stayed in the King’s Peak room (the windows at the top of the pic below), mostly or the amazing bathroom with the incredible bathtub! Breakfast here was the best that I’d had during my trip. After an intense few weeks I was looking forward to slowing down and relaxing here, and I definitely made great use of the Inn and that bathtub!
Images from the Inn on the Hill
View from Inn on the Hill King's Peak window. Temple square encompasses the buildings on from the centre to the lower right.
Salt Lake City is around the size of Geelong in Victoria in terms of population, but surrounded by mountains, and housing the worldwide headquarters of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). Unfortunately Temple Square was in the middle of a 6 year renovation, but I was still able to spend time photographing the conference centre and the older administration building.
While I was in SLC I did a bus tour with City Sights, which was ok. They covered quite a lot of the city in three hours, with quite limited time at each stop. It was a good way to get a sense of the city in a short time, particularly in 35 degree weather!
I went to an organ recital at the Tabernacle older building with incredible 11,623 pipe organ. In such hot weather and having had such a busy few weeks, it was so lovely to relax and listen to such beautiful music.
The conference centre is staffed with pairs of young Sisters who were universally friendly and welcoming, and interested in what I was doing. None started a religious conversation, but rather created a very warm and welcoming environment. This was true of any Mormon who I spoke to in my time there. It’s quite interesting, as the church teaches that to act on LGBTQ attaction is sinful and I had spoken to people earlier in my trip who left the church as it could not provide answers for some of the challenges that they were experiencing.
Following the Tabernacle recital, I went to another one that afternoon at the LDS Conference Centre, where the organ has only 7,708 pipes! The Conference Centre is where the LDS semi annual worldwide broadcast and general conference is held. It has 21,000 seats and is quite amazing inside.
And, with that it was time to draw my trip to the US to a close and head back to Australia.
My return trip was Salt Lake City to Phoenix (where it as 47 degrees celsius!!!) then Phoenix to LA for a 5 hour photo editing stop over in the Qantas Lounge before my final flight from LA to to a crisp 5 degree celsius arrival in Melbourne.
Utah Capital Building
View from the Utah Capital Building