Snow?!

(Utah) What a difference a day makes. The rain is gone and the temperature is slowly rising. Being that we were inside all day yesterday, the dogs are rip roaring ready to go! So we decided to get out right away and do the Rock Canyon hike we'd done the other day as we could see there was snow there. We bundled up and off we went bright and early. In fact, we could still see the moon we first arrived.



The storm got rid of a little of the haze but not as much as I'd expected. The sky over the lake still wasn't clear as I'd hoped.



It was really cold when we started but it was worth it to see the beauty of the snow around.



The dogs really loved the snow - nothing makes Wazzu friskier than having snow under her feet. Even though there wasn't a lot of snow, this was Boogie's first time to see it. At first he wasn't sure what to do.



But after watching Wazzu for a minute he figured out that maybe these were doggy Popsicles.



Shortly after that he decided that snow is fun and that he needed to attack.



Playing in the snow by yourself is fun but attacking Wazzu in the snow is even more fun!



We kept hiking until we came to a small bridge. While there wasn't much snow on it, it was extremely icy. The drop, if you were to fall off, was about 20' so I didn't really want the dogs playing on the bridge - and I didn't want to try to navigate it so we decided this was a fine place to turn around.



The weather was warming up quickly which of course made the snow melt. The snow would fall from the trees and hit us. Wazzu isn't accustomed to this. Most times when things fall from the trees and hit her it's because a squirrel has thrown something down on her. So even though we haven't seen any squirrels here she immediately decided there must be one around and she tried to find it.



Since the snow was melting rapidly I decided I'd better get a few more pictures of the beauty around us. While this was the same trail we hike a couple days ago, the beauty of it was so different.



The lightly snow capped trees in front of the mountains in the distance was a beautiful sight.



Looking up the canyon we could see the delicate white of snow just frosting the tips of all the trees.



The snow really was melting fast. We were wishing we'd have braved the weather yesterday to come up here when the snow was actually falling.



While the snow was pretty much gone now, Boogie and Sparkie both decided to look out over the canyon below.

What a handsome little guy.



Sparkie thinks she is just as cute. All she needs are some binoculars.



Mike likes to look at the surroundings as well but he prefers to do it from the ground.



The view must have been good as we had trouble convincing Sparkie it was time to move along.



We did get her to move along finally and we were able to go back home. Maybe that's why she didn't want to leave that rock! But I needed to get home as it's Sunday - time for football. The Seahawks were actually on TV down here so I was planted in front of the TV.

While Debbie watched football, I (Mike) drove the 30 miles north to Salt Lake City to see Temple Square and associated sites.



I was not expecting to learn anything new about Mormonism, but I was interested in how they present themselves to a tourist audience that may be unfamiliar with the religion and its points of divergence from Christianity. The short answer is – very, very slick. Temple Square contains the huge temple itself, the Tabernacle, two visitor centers and some other small buildings – impeccably clean, beautifully landscaped, and well staffed by helpful young women. It was not very busy so it was easy to get around and see everything.



The visitor centers and the Museum of Church History and Art across the street all had very professional, well-done exhibits on the history of the Mormon community and the basic of Mormon beliefs. The museum also had a very nice movie that used the diary of a woman who migrated from England to Utah in 1851 to show the incredible hardships the first Mormons endured getting to Salt Lake City and building their community.

Here you can see a statue of Brigham Young who led the Mormons to Utah after the murder of Joseph Smith and was the leader of the community for many years.



I have read quite a bit about Mormonism and its history, so I was impressed with how they made a coherent story about the religion and still leave out any mention anywhere of plural marriage, blood atonement, conflicts with other settlers in Missouri, Illinois and Ohio, and the schisms and apostasies within the Church. They did have some very fancy displays about the Book of Mormon’s rather fanciful accounts of the history of the America’s before Columbus.



And finally, here is a painting of the scene of the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in their death masks.



The trip back to the RV and the gang was really easy since it wasn't a work day today...well for most people. For me every day is a work day.

Debbie & Mike
9/30/07