Utah: Salt Lake City and environs

"Now if you find yourself falling apart

I'm sure

I could stand

on

the Great Salt Lake"
- Band of Horses

Many years ago, I had a layover on the way to Seattle that happened to be my favorite layover that ever was. I landed in Salt Lake City. It was a beautiful clear day, and as we flew over the Great Salt Lake and landed amidst the mountains, I thought to myself: a) whoa, this is totally incredibly gorgeous, and b) I must (and will) get here again someday soon.

Often, people seem to me to be put off by SLC because of the whole Mormon element. Why? In Chile, they had a phrase they'd say to the children at the school at which I volutnteered when the children said something snotty: fea actitud (translated: ugly attitude). To me, the Mormon element is an added cultural anthropological bonus. A uniqueness. Don't worry; the people of LDS faith in SLC aren't going to drag you into the temple and convert you, for goodness sake. They've got regular lives and jobs, of course, and I had nothing but super friendly encounters with people from this beautiful, super clean and tidy town.

It's true that the whole Mormon culture component is very present and should not be ignored, because as I stated earlier, it's quite interesting (and beautiful and grandiose):

The temple:

The immaculate John Smith building, close to Temple Square:

The gardens near the temple were oh, so incredible. Seriously. Probably the most, well-tended, colorful gardens I've even seen. Something creepy and utopian about this statue, though:
















Besides the whole LDS element of SLC, there's also a non-Mormon, kind of counter movement there. There's a huge biking culture, and in turn, a sizable, gritty bike messenger crowd. The coffee-loving, beer-brewing, left-leaning, literature-liking, good music-listening crowd. Below, pictures of markers denoting where one can park and lock up his or her bike. They would spin in the wind and were almost a little too hypnotizing for me (I looked a little too in awe watching them, probably).








































The city:

Even the Tyvek was pretty in SLC:













Several miles outside of town is the amazing Antelope Island State Park, a place with its very own ecosystem and killer vistas. If you're visiting SLC, you should not miss it. There are beaches on the island, and I was able to swim and float in the super salty, super buoyant Great Salt Lake.
Salty shoreline:















We took a steep 5-mile round-trip hike to a mountain summit. It was worth it for the [almost] 360-degree views of the island. It was also worth it for the wildlife. A lizard:



















We saw antelope gracefully galavanting down the mountain while we climbed:















Buffalo do roam the island:





























Tomorrow: Wyoming and S. Dakota