We started our day in Delta Utah. We drove from Delta to Salt Lake City. On the way, we drove through Saratoga Springs, Utah. It is a marvelous city next to Utah Lake. It was a surprise to see Saratoga Springs in Utah after living next to Saratoga Springs, New York for so many years.
We were also in the middle of some very large cycling event. For about 25 miles, we saw bike riders with numbers pinned to their backs traveling both north and south on the road we were traveling. In the middle of the course, we saw the “starting point” of the event. It was an amazing race, but it was not on the tv.
We traveled to Salt Lake City to see the Capitol. It is a beautiful and ornate building modeled like most state capitols after our national capitol.
It has the typical rotunda skylight with lots of stonework detail.
There are paintings of historic events in Utah’s history on the walls around the rotunda.
The main staircase from the first to second floor gives you an idea of the level of detail throughout the building.
There are numerous statues in many places in the Capitol. It was not surprising that the largest statue was an imposing image of Brigham Young.
The artisans that did the marble work for the building were very detailed and precise in their work. They cut the marble slabs to make mirror images of the marble patterns. The result of the artistry is impressive when you see entire hallways filled with this difficult and tedious work.
Utah is a large state with a relatively small population. The Senate of Utah is a relatively small group. The Senate Chamber is well appointed.
The House Chamber has more space and is well appointed. We could not get a better picture because of a special tour occurring in the room during the day we were there.
There is artwork throughout the entire capitol. It is all designed to document the history of Utah. This shows murals and paintings around the first and second floor of the rotunda. You ca see similar historical artwork everywhere.
The Utah Capitol tour was short because of numerous events happening. In spite of the brevity of the tour, we were impressed by the building, its design and the artwork it contained.
You really should not go to Salt Lake City without seeing the Mormon Tabernacle. We got to see it with lots of scaffolding as a bonus. Because of the renovations, we could not get any closer to the building.
Our final destination in Salt Lake City was the Great Salt Lake. We only saw a small portion of the shore of the lake. It is an amazing view.
It is interesting to see how much beach there is because the lake is slowly shrinking due to low rainfall and high water usage.
Our visit to Salt Lake City was short but informative and rewarding.