Trish & Anne RV Adventures

Our first full day in Salt Lake City started with a trip to the farmers market. It was on the 4 streets surrounding Pioneer Park in downtown SLC. It was a great market and we stocked up on veggies and sweets.

But the really fun part was getting to hold this Eurasian Eagle-Owl, which we got to do because Trish did hand the crow a donation. Here is the video of that: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6kggnjbwwbt5qrifk13kz/2023-09-23-10.21.52.mp4?rlkey=lxdsfrod6y79qonln0o2wo82n&dl=0

Then, since we found ourselves in another state capital, it was off to see the capitol building. Here are several views approaching the building, including a statue of Martha Hughes Cannon. She was a pioneer, a medical doctor, a prominent suffragist, the author of Utah’s sanitation laws, and in 1896 in the first state election in Utah she was the first woman elected to a state senate.

As it was the weekend, we did a self-guided tour. We got to see the State Reception Room, which was designed to host formal state functions – the walls are golden marble from Utah, there are silk wall panels from Italy, the chandeliers are from France, the table is from Russia and that’s purple Queen’s coronation velvet from England adorning the windows. On the right is the House Chamber. If you look very closely you can see the phrase VOX POPULI behind the speaker’s seat. Meaning “voice of the people” is is a reminder of the purpose of the Chamber – that should be in all statehouses.

That’s the Supreme Court Chamber – only used for ceremonial functions now, and one of several murals depicting the history of Utah.

This statue is of Brigham Young, Utah’s first territorial governor. And there were murals of some of the Utah landscape.

Trish outside another capitol elevator and this flag is said to be the first 45-star flag flown over the United States Capitol in 1896.

Some last outside shots of us and the capitol building. The capitol is up on a hill, but there are more hills behind it.

This sculpture commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment and is dedicated to those who fought for and continue to advocate for voting rights and equality for all. I loved the shadows of all the words that were part of the arguments used in the fight.

We drove through downtown SLC, looking for the Mormon Temple, but the entire square was under construction, so we didn’t stop to explore.

During our travels we realized there was some sort of ComiCon event going on – this is the only photo I captured, but there were tons of folks in lots of different costumes – and scroll back and see how much he looks like the Brigham Young statue.

These are some shots of when we were driving in the hills above the capitol.

We spotted these California Quail running through the yards on the hill.

After getting some pizza for lunch, we went looking for some ice cream. The first place had really weird flavors so we passed. At the 2nd place, no one was there to wait on us, even though the door was open and we waited for about 3 minutes. So we ended up at Spilled Milk – which was also kinda weird as the mix-ins and toppings were cereals. But we didn’t have any other options so we went for it, but we won’t be going back. My selection was a Banana Dream Pie Cup – made with Vanilla Ice Cream, Bananas, Teddy Grahams and topped with Teddy Grahams – I skipped the whipped cream.

We drove through the historic district and spotted the Governor’s Mansion and this other one too.

The Library was an impressive 6-story building with lots of glass. The entrance is off the glassed in atrium and there is a glass elevator! I have never seen a passport office in a library, and they certainly have a great view of the mountains from the reading area. The library was founded in 1898 and this building was opened in 2003. It’s a very impressive public space. After that is was back to the RV for a steak, corn on the cob and capresse salad and then apple strudel — the last three items from the farmers market in the morning.

Our first stop on Sunday, September 24 was the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve – we had stopped here when we were driving into town, but we didn’t have time to walk around as we needed to get our rental car. The lake is very shallow and this preserve is on the lake bed, and at times there could be water under the boardwalk – but recent droughts have meant we didn’t see any part of the lake here. The main pavilion had some great architecture and shadows.

Some other features along the boardwalk are this observation tower and this part of the walkway that demonstrates how nature changes here throughout the year. The months are denoted along the right hand side of the walkway (at least the way we walked) and the dots show how the population of the things on the sign change over the year. The close-up shot is of the June/July time frame.

Some views from atop the observation tower – I guess we did see a little water.

We didn’t see many birds here – mostly sparrows and swallows. You are never far from the mountains here – that’s part of the Wasatch Mountains in the lower right hand photo.

On the way to Antelope Island we stopped at Banbury Cross Donuts – where they hand-make their donuts every day – yum! At over 28k acres, Antelope Island is the largest island in the Great Salt Lake. It got its name in 1845 when John C. Fremont and Kit Carson made the first known English/America exploration of Antelope Island and they saw the Pronghorn that lived on the island. Today you cross a 7 mile causeway to get to there.

After our stop at the visitor’s center we drove to the Buffalo Point overlook, where we got a much better look across the lake, read some placards about the geologic history of the area and caught site of part of the bison herd that is on the island. From the 12 that were brought to the island in 1893 the herd now numbers several hundred.

Driving down the island my first thought was that all of the splotches on the hillside were rocks, but on closer inspection, we realized that many of them were moving and we were seeing more of the herd.

Further down the island was the Fielding Garr Ranch, which was started in 1848 by Fielding Garr and was continuously inhabited until 133 years later in 1981, when the state of Utah purchased the island. Garr was actually sent to the island by the Mormon church to set up the ranch and manage their herds of cattle and sheep. The original adobe ranch house is still there and the shots of the dining table and living room were taken there. And by now you know I can’t resist anything related to a blacksmith so you get the shot of the anvil. Other shots are of the bunkhouse, the shearing barn and the sheep corrals. We also had our picnic lunch at a table under some trees.

On the way back up the island we got stuck in two bison backups. Here is a video of several of them crossing the road – some sauntering and others running: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/aaxdmo14xtddltojjd54t/IMG_5799.MOV?rlkey=0dvtl7mi4xwp1qee439hfghna&dl=0 and this one shows a crazy touron: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/7l3jylio26rfarev98jck/2023-09-24-15.44.08.mov?rlkey=ypua8cujxfydmn7djp3yb4j8k&dl=0

One of the wildflowers still in bloom, and several additional views of the lake. The lake was at historic lows in November of 2022 – 17 feet below where it should be. By the time we were there less than a year later, it had recovered by about 5 feet because of the rain and snow over the winter. Hopefully they will continue to get rain this winter and it will recover some more.

On the way back we stopped several times on the causeway to capture some pictures of the birds, and there were lots of them. Those are American avocets, pelicans, ducks eating, and a lot of white birds (mostly avocets.)

Here is a close-up an American avocet, a small hawk with its dinner and a couple of shots of a white-faced ibis.

On Monday, Sept 25 we packed up, took the rental car back, hit the grocery store for the next leg of the trip and headed south to Bryce Canyon where we met up with Bettina and Jeff, a college buddy and her husband who we had visited in Scottsdale in the spring of 2022.

That and more will be the subject of my next update.

Until then, Safe Travels!