Saturday, August 27, 2016

Day 13, Saturday, August 27, Salt Lake City

We have two full days to enjoy and remember our three years (2000-2003) in Salt Lake City. We really enjoyed Salt Lake. On the drive in yesterday from the north, we passed the five oil refineries, including Woods Cross where I worked. They still seem to be operating. Today, we arose and went to breakfast at the Blue Plate Diner before heading up into the Avenues to visit our old neighborhood and up to the capital building. We found our old neighborhood grocery and retraced the intricate paths we took between our house and the downtown area (lots of one-way streets in the Avenues)

State Capital  
At our old home, the front landscaping has been redone and they may have repainted the stone work around the windows. But otherwise, it is like we remembered it. I wish we could have gone inside. I am really curious whether or not any changes to the third floor have been made.

Our old home, 1015 1st Avenue
We noticed that they have installed an electric trolley system since we left. The overhead wires can be seen in the picture below.
The Temple
The Joseph Smith Memorial Building with a trolley sitting in front
 While getting late into the summer, the flowers at Temple Square still are beautiful.




We took the short guided tour of the Beehive house. Once again, they failed to convert either one of us.
Beehive House
We then roamed around the old ZCMI mall, now a modern outdoor mall across the street from Temple Square. We then went down the road to the Historic Trolley Square. On the way, T spotted a little shop catering to the cocktail trade. We stopped and she found some acrylic cocktail glasses, of various colors, that she thought would work well with our spa at home. The Trolley Square Mall is still there, with many of the same shops, but a lot of empty shops as well. We ate a light lunch at the Desert Edge Cafe and did a bit of grocery shopping at the Whole Foods Market. We then went back to the room to relax a bit. T has invited several of her friends to stop over for cocktails and conversation this afternoon.

Tomorrow the game plan is to visit the Cottonwood Canyons and perhaps the Great Salt Lake.