Weather: snow/sleet/rain in NW Wyoming. More rain in northern Utah, bright sunshine further south
299 miles
I got up at 8.30, and ventured outside to go in search of breakfast. It was snowing, and the covers on the motel's swimming pool, which had seemed incongruous in the sunshine of the day I arrived, now seemed quite necessary. While consuming a juice and muffin from the gas station, I watched the forecast: the weather was set to stay for the day and significant amounts of snow could be expected to settle in Montana and higher ground in northwestern Wyoming. It was time to migrate to the south.
The road immediately south from Jackson would have made a wonderfully scenic drive in better conditions, but the combination of a lengthy stretch of roadworks complete with temporary surface and the current weather made it quite literally a filthy drive. The car was getting filthy, being splattered with muddy water as I drove and even more so by oncoming vehicles.
As expected, conditions improved as I headed south. Snow turned to sleet and then to rain, and by the time I reached Alpine Junction, about 35 miles from Jackson, the rain had almost stopped. I stopped here to refuel and to attempt to clean the car.
I continued heading southwards. I crossed into Idaho (a state known for its ``Famous Potatoes'' according to its car licence plates) near the hamlet of Geneva, then immediately left the state again as roadworks forced me to make a detour.
I stopped in the town of Montpelier for a bit of a break, at the town's ``Oregon Trail Museum''. This appeared almost deserted, and had a few exhibits about the trail on the ground floor. Its basement, however, had a wonderful assortment of items. It had quite a bit about the railway which passes through the town, and pictures of some of the gigantic articulated steam locomotives which used to haul freight trains before everything became bland diesels. Also on display were a wide variety of domestic artifacts, from mangles to typewriters.
What I could not find in the town was any place that looked as though it might be able to serve me lunch, and I continued southwards, passing the area's main tourist attraction of Bear Lake. Again this seemed curiously lacking in places to eat, as far as I could see from the main road. All I could find was another filling station just across the Utah border, in the shop of which I purchased a sandwich and a soft drink. I sat at a table in the shop to consume these while watching as a large number of staff gathered together to gossip and to be taught how to use the shop's new till (no doubt while wondering why this stranger didn't go and eat in his car like everyone else).
I turned away from the lake at Garden City and followed a road up into the hills, stopping briefly for a better view of the lake. This road was another supposedly scenic route, but another rainstorm concealed much of its best scenery from me. I continued on via the town of Logan towards the I-15 interstate, by now in bright sunshine.
I left the interstate a couple of times, first after seeing signs pointing to a museum on an Air Force base (after what seemed an interminable wait at traffic lights, I reached the entrance to find the gates firmly locked), and again to the south of the city of Ogden on a road heading out towards the Great Salt Lake and the causeway to Antelope Island. Crossing the causeway, however, would have taken me some distance out of my way and required payment of a nontrivial state park entrance fee. I merely stopped briefly to look across towards the lake, shimmering in heat-haze, and returned to the freeway with a view to spending my time exploring Salt Lake City instead.
Entering Salt Lake City was surprisingly painless: the interstate passed only a few blocks from the city centre, from which the only obstacles to my reaching the city's most central Motel 6 were a couple of one-way streets not marked on the simplistic map in the Motel 6 guidebook. I checked into a comfortable first-floor room and consulted what tourist information I had available -- fortunately I had photocopied a few pages on the city from another guidebook before leaving the UK, just in case I ended up there.
After a while I set out to walk the few blocks north to Temple Square, the centre of the city. On my way I passed the enormous Salt Palace, a modern steel and glass convention centre spanning two entire city blocks, built in time for the 2002 Winter Olympics and allegedly spanning a geological fault line. A banner above one of the entrances offered a message of support to the family of Elizabeth Smart, a local girl who had recently been kidnapped, and the search for whom was currently the major item on the TV news.
Temple Square is the heart of the Mormon church, officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The church's origins go back to the 1820s, when it is believed New York farmer was visited by the angel Moroni, who revealed to Smith the writings which became the Book of Mormon. Smith's followers met strong opposition, and were constantly forced to move on in search of somewhere to practise their face without fear of persecution. Mormon settlers reached the Great Salt Lake in July 1847, led by Brigham Young, who had become the head of the church following Smith's murder three years earlier. Brigham Young declared that ``this is the right place'', and construction of the city began, with wide streets and spacious blocks.
In 1848, a plague of locusts descended upon the settlers' crops, and in what Mormons regard as a miracle, the community was saved by a flock of California gulls, which devoured the pests. As a result, the gull is now the state bird. Despite the great distance from the ocean, the gulls are frequently seen in the area owing to the presence of the nearby salt lake.
The city flourished, and the Mormons campaigned for statehood for what is now Utah, then known as ``Deseret'', meaning honeybee according to the Book of Mormon. (The bee's industriousness appealed to the Mormons, and the beehive became a symbol of the state, still seen on roadsigns.) One of the major obstacles to statehood was the common practice of polygamy, not abolished by the Mormon Church until 1890. Gentile settlement in Utah was by then considerable, although even today it is still 70% Mormon.
Temple Square is dominated by the huge white stone temple building, the interior of which is off-limits to all but Mormons, although gentiles were permitted inside for a few days after its completion (a tradition applied to most Mormon temples). The temple has six towers, each topped by spires; atop the tallest is a golden statue of the angel Moroni. Nearby stands the Tabernacle, a large hall open to all and famed worldwide for its Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Alongside stands a column bearing a statue of the gulls.
I took a walk around the square and looked inside one of two visitor centres on the site. This was splendidly fitted out, and staffed by well-attired church members. The Mormons' interest in genealogy was depicted (this arises from the fact that upon a person joining the church, their relatives and ancestors also become members). An interesting family tree showed how a common ancestor had been found for Joseph Smith, Winston Churchill, and several American presidents including the present incumbent.
I crossed over the road from the square in the hope of finding a good place to obtain some photographs of the temple. This I found in the form of the giant Mormon conference centre, which fills an entire block and is topped by a roof garden. I was able to ascend external staircases for a better view.
The area around Temple Square was rather lacking in places to eat, but I had a map with me which marked a couple of places back towards the motel. On the way to one of these I came across an Italian establishment which wasn't listed but appeared acceptable, and I went inside for a meal of a caesar salad followed by veal. Afterwards I headed back to the motel and went to bed.