We made pretty good time getting to Salt Lake and checked into our hotel, but the kids were all starving, so we had to get them fed. Before we could get to Temple Square, rain moved in so we were not able to go. We got to bed pretty early, though, and we made it to Temple Square by 8:30 AM. We felt pretty good about that, until we realized that nothing really opened until 9:00! Oh well... time for us to go around and take some pictures! The kids were just thrilled with me! Anyway... here are a couple of my favorites:
The Assembly Hall
The Tabernacle
The kiddos trying to be patient with me!
The Temple
I have a picture similar to the last one of the kids from 10 years ago... they decided that they needed to recreate it this visit. This is the ONLY picture that they were willing to take! The rest of them were like pulling teeth!
Kat and the kids at the Beehive House
The kids outside of the Tabernacle
Once everything opened, we were able to into the Tabernacle. They were getting ready for a concert of some type there, and were all set up for rehersal
Once everything started opening, we decided that we would head on over to the distribution center (in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building) to grab a few things. Once we got there, though, we found out that they didn't open until 10:00. We ran and shoved some more quarters in the meter, then took a tour of the Conference Center. They had just had a performance there the night/weekend before in celebration of the opening of 2 new temples in the Salt Lake Valley. We were able to into the main assembly hall, but the organ pipes were covered up. Megan was really upset about that, but the rest of the tour was great, too.
You can't enter into the Conference Center and NOT think about President Hinckley.
Our tour guide actually told us a funny story about this bust. She said that Pres. Hinckley actually had this bust of himself commissioned, and asked them to make it look like him when he was younger and didn't have glasses!
Our tour guide also told us that when the Conference Center was under construction, some of the local residents in a nearby condo got pretty upset about it. They didn't want to have yet another building top to look at, so a plan was developed to make the top of the Center an attraction rather than an eye-sore. A garden was planted, and it is contructed to resemble the mountains and the desert. There is also a beautiful fountain the flows down the center of the garden, and spills over into a waterfall down the front of the building.
The trees represent the mountains
The wildflowers represnt the desert, and the stone that was used as walk-ways is a dark sand color
The fountain
This mural is located towards the back of the garden, and it is so cool... once you are standing in front of it, you can see your own reflection in it as well.
We also were able to go into the Visitors Center to see the Christus
The flowers and gardens of Temple Square are just so beautiful; I couldn't help but take pictures of them!
I think, though, that this is one of the most meaningful pictures for me:
I can remember when I was younger and we would drive through Salt Lake, and it was so easy to spot the temple from the interstate. Now, though, it almost gets lost among the taller buildings. While these buildings might be taller, flashier, newer, etc, they do not have the beauty of the temple. Looking at this picture, it's easy to compare the taller buildings with the "world" and Satan. He is trying to hard to be taller, flashier, bigger, newer, etc, to draw away our attention from the temple. But it really is the temple and the gospel that hold what is most beautiful and important in our lives.
By the time we finished everything we needed/wanted to do on Temple Square, we set off for Lincoln, Nebraska! We wanted to be there by the time we stopped that night, but knew we were getting a late start. Rainy weather and traffic delays put us even further behind, and finally at midnight we stopped for the night, 2 hours short of reaching Lincoln. We were excited, though, because we had more stops planned the next day that we were really looking forward to.
Like I said before, we have made this trip so many times, but we have always been in such a hurry that we don't take the time to stop and see anything around us. Kat and I decided that since we were so close, we would stop at Liberty Jail, Adam-ondi-ahmen, and Far West in Missouri. Plus, making this side trip would help us completely avoid Kansas City... another BIG plus! ;) Getting to Liberty Jail was an adventure all on it's own! We called our younger sister, Kristi, and asked her to look up directions for us. She told us how to get there, but had corrected herself a few times, so we weren't (or at least I wasn't) 100% sure of her directions. We did have the address of the jail, so instead of listening to her, I put the address in my GPS and decided to follow that instead of her. (Side note: my GPS runs off of a DVD/satellite thingee, and you are supposed to buy updated DVD's every so often. The DVD's run around $180, which is why we have not bothered to buy one.) I could tell that Kathy was starting to get nervous as my GPS took us the opposite direction of what Kris had said to do, but I tried to ignore her. I guess that I shouldn't have, because the GPS led us to the MIDDLE of nowhere, and loudly proclaimed us to be at our desired location! I guess that the kids thought this was very funny, because they snuck my camera out and got pictures of the misguided GPS, and us in the middle of nowhere!
Anyway... we were able to finally make it where we needed to be (thanks to the Atlas and another phone call to Kristi!). I had my camera all out ready to take pictures of the Liberty Jail, but when our tour guide told us that Liberty Jail had been named by the First Presidency as a sacred historical site, I put it away. I just didn't feel right about taking pictures. My sister told me I should have at least asked if it was ok, but I just couldn't. Before the tour, though, I did get a shot of this:
Our tour guide told us that she thought it was pretty neat that not only do we have the original key to the jail, but we also have the keys of the Priesthood on the earth today.
Our next stop of the day was Adam-ondi-ahmen. We weren't sure if we were going to go there or not, because it was getting late and had been raining on an off all day. Our guide, though, gave us a map to find it, so off we went. This time, thankfully, we made it there without any problems. It is such a peaceful place. I took lots of pictures, and seeing them brings back the peaceful feelings we felt there. It is pretty awesome to think that this is the place where Adam held council with this sons before he died, and this is the place where the Savior will return one day. The location of this property is really off the beaten path. It sits, almost protected, away from any major city, although there are a few smaller communities close by.
We had to get a picture of our three Priesthood holders together while we were there:
Our last stop of the day was to Far West. We were even more shocked at how remote this area was. We travelled some pretty narrow and worn-out roads to get there, then wound up driving right by it! By this point the kids were pretty fed up with us (they claimed to be STARVING to death!), but we promised them food as soon as we were done, so that helped to calm the beasts! Even though it wasn't much to see, I really felt a calming spirit there. Being trapped with 5 teenagers in a car for 10 hours that day (on top of being lost) had started to take it's toll, but the peacefulness of being on a dedicated temple site really helped to calm me. As I walked across the lot, I couldn't help but wonder what room might have stood there if the temple had actually been built.
As we were driving down more narrow roads to find our way back to the interstate, I discovered something pretty cool. Remember the screwy GPS? Well, it turns out it actually led us someplace pretty awesome, we just didn't realize it at the time. I was looking over the map that we were given at Liberty Jail, and the "Middle of nowhere" actually was somewhere... roughly the area where Zion's Camp had stayed! We also passed by other areas that were of importance to Zion's Camp. I don't know that the kids were as impressed by it as Kat and I were, but after that we weren't as annoyed with the supposed randomness of the GPS!
The rest of the trip home was pretty uneventful. We did wind up driving all night, though, so we could hurry up and get home to surprise Mom and Dad. They were not expecting us until Thursday at the earliest. We made it to the farm by 9:30 Wednesday morning! I was worn out from driving, and exhausted, but just couldn't sleep. Barry didn't even know that we were coming home (we had planned on staying in Idaho 2 weeks, but ended up only being there one), so I drove home later that afternoon to surprise him. I was gone on his birthday, so I grabbed some dinner, cake and ice-cream to have when he got home from work!
I'm so thankful that we were able to make this fun trip! I hope it's not another 10 years before we make it again!
