Summertime IX: End of the Endless Summer

For months Ella had been reading about various sites around Temple Square in the Friend magazine, so while we were in Utah we spent a day in Salt Lake City visiting some special places.

Our first stop was the Conference Center, an amazing facility. The waterfall starts as a river on the roof garden (which is covered in native grasses and flowers) and falls all the way down to street level. Inside the main hall each of the thousands of seats has an unobstructed view of the stage. We visited a gallery that houses all of Arnold Friberg paintings of scenes from the Book of Mormon, and it was very moving to walk with Ella through the gallery and discuss each picture.

A family picture from the roof of the Conference Center (don't mind the cranes).

We attended the acoustics demo in the historic Tabernacle and it was impressive to be able to clearly hear a pin drop on stage. We stayed for a little bit of the daily organ recital as well.

This is the #1 reason I wanted to visit Temple Square: there is a new diorama of the Salt Lake Temple on permanent display in the, um, I think it's the South Visitor's Center. It's the one you've never been in. There are beautiful displays detailing the importance of temples and temple work, as well as displays about the building of the temple. Then there is this amazing new diorama, a miniature Salt Lake Temple with a wall cut away to reveal the interior. It is fantastic. I loved the teeny tiny floral arrangement in the Celestial Room.

Next, we walked through a crazy downpour to the Lion House for lunch, where as a grand finale at the end of our meal, Natalie ejected a cup of lukewarm hot chocolate all over Ella. Poor Ella was not happy, but I cleaned her up the best I could, wrapped her up in my sweatshirt. and walked over to the Beehive House for one last tour. She loved seeing all the things she had read about, and it was sweet to enjoy these fabulous church history sites together.