City of Mormons

We did not plan at home where to move and what to see after visiting the Yellowstone National Park.
The our journey have come to an end and on Monday evening, we had to be in Las Vegas.
It was Saturday, June 27, 2015.
There were several options...

We had the chance to move to the Glacier National Park, on the border with Canada.
But it's more than 7 hours of driving and the road to Las Vegas will take longer.
*Glacier National Park*

We had a chance to see the "Craters of the Moon" and the "Shoshone Falls" in Idaho.
But in recent days, we have seen so many canyons, craters and waterfalls that we did not want to lengthen the route.
*Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve*

We had a chance to move slowly in the direction of Las Vegas.
And we chose this option...

When we traveled at the states of Utah, Nevada and Arizona, we often saw the signs saying that the Mormons were the first settlers in these areas.
And the city that was on our way, Salt Lake City is the "capital" of Mormons.
Why not to go and not to see?
OK, perfect!
*Mormons*

We put the tent and things into the car in the Madison Campground and drove off.
Goodbye, the beautiful park "Yellowstone"!

We refueled the car and we had breakfast at our favorite truck stop "Flying J".

So, that we did not get bored on the road, I decided to show my wife the one natural miracle.

I will not list the roads on which we moved, I will only indicate the coordinates of this place:
GPS-coordinates: 40°44'22.7"N, 113°51'01.0"W
This place is on the border of the states of Utah and Nevada, on the HWY 80 Westwound and is called the "Bonneville Salt Flats Rest Area".
*Bonneville Sаlt Flats*

It is a Rest Area, next to a large salt flat.

There was a salt lake here, which dried up 17,000 years ago, leaving an absolutely flat surface of salt.

There are no hummocks, pits and obstacles.
Just one a salt, the depth of which reaches 1.8 meters.

Tourists get out of cars, sunbathe and walk on a salt.
You can even taste the salt.

But, you be careful!
The salt is so white that the eyes were watering in the sun.
Also you can get a sunburn of the body.

Not far from the Rest Area is the world-famous high-speed track, where there are sports races on vehicles.

The flat salt surface of Lake Bonneville allows vehicles to reach speed of more than 1000 kilometers per hour...
By the way, the plateau received its name in a honor of Benjamin Bonneville (1796-1878), a researcher of this part of America.

We were driving along the HWY 80 to Salt Lake City.
We spent the night in one of the motels in Salt Lake City, we wanted to get to know the city the next morning.

Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah.
The XIX Winter Olympic Games were here in 2002.

But not only this moment attracts tourists here...
This is the city of Mormons, the international headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) is located here.

LDS is one of the main branches of the Mormon doctrine.
Therefore, without going into details, I will use the generalized concept - the "Mormon doctrine".

So, this faith in Jesus Christ was founded in 1830, in the state of New York.
The founder of the faith, Joseph Smith, believed that all the churches were far from true Christianity and only the Mormon Church contains true teachings.

Naturally, not all people were agreed with this doctrine and the Mormons were forced to seek a quiet place to live peacefully in their faith.

The first settlers - Mormons appeared in Utah...
Mormons, led by Brigham Young, founded the city on July 24, 1847, which became Salt Lake City...
*Salt Lake City*

The construction of the temple was started in the square, which is now called "Temple Square", in 1853.

The Salt Lake Temple was built 40 years later, in 1893 and became the symbol and main attraction of the city.

And around the temple and square, a city was built with wide streets and their rectangular layout, typical of all Mormon settlements in the West of the United States.

Therefore, when we woke up on Sunday, June 28, 2015 at one of the motels of Salt Lake City, we knew that we had to look and where to go.
Of course, on Temple Square!

Now, the Mormon headquarter is a whole complex of buildings.

In addition to Salt Lake Temple, there are a Church History Museum, a conference hall, a library, information centers and administrative buildings on the square.
Many buildings are open to visitors.

We wanted to take a look at the city from an observation platform located on the roof of an administrative building - a skyscraper.

But the girl - the guide said that the building does not work on Sunday.
She told us a lot of interesting things about this religion, and she helps tourists voluntarily.
She was a Masonic volunteer.
The Church carries out a wide missionary program, it sends its preachers throughout the world.
The church provides humanitarian assistance.

So what's the difference between Mormon doctrine and Christianity?
The main and single book of Christians is the Bible.
But the Mormons have several such books.
In addition to the book "The Bible", there are books: "The Book of Mormon", "The Pearl of Great Price" and "The Doctrine and Covenants."
The Bible is the word of God as far as it is translated correctly.

We walked along Temple Square and we noticed the absence of crosses on the spiers of churches.

There are no icons inside the churches, but there are a lot of statues of the founders - the Mormons.

The courtyards of the comlex are very green and bright.

You can sit on benches near the fountains.

There were a lot of flowers here.

We spent half a day in the center of Salt Lake City, and when tired - my wife asked:
- "Well, what's next"?
The our journey was coming to an end and I wanted to finish it on a positive note.
- "Maybe, we'll go to the Grand Canyon National Park" - I replied.
- "But we were there on a previous trip".
- "Of course, there were, on the South Rim of the canyon".
- "But I mean the North Rim"...

From Salt Lake City to the Grand Canyon was far enough away, so we decided to spend the night somewhere along the way, so that we could be at the canyon tomorow morning.