Utah

After leaving Denver, my car did a remarkably fine job of driving over the Rocky Mountains towards Utah.  I wasn't sure what to expect from Utah in terms of what it looked like or anything.  Turns out it is really beautiful and mostly uncluttered.

Moab area, in the mist.

I only spent two nights in Utah, but it was a great place for photos.  Most of these were from the area around Moab, especially Arches National Park.  Now that place was cool!  I didn't have time to see all of the arches, but it's a park that could be done in one day if one was mildly ambitious (or rushed from arch to arch, which isn't really my style).  Is it just me, or is everyone from the east as ignorant about how many beautiful parks the U.S. has out west?  Because over the past 15 months, I've seen a lot of wonderful and varied parks I never even heard of before, Arches being just one of them.

My second night was in Salt Lake City (good tip, Tawsha!).  It was a nice and compact town, and could have stayed slightly longer, but I had people expecting me two days later, so I couldn't linger.  I did however, get to see something I've always wanted to see:  The Mormon Tabernacle Choir!  It turns out I happened to be there on a Thursday night, when the Choir always has a free rehearsal.  I didn't care what they wore, I just wanted to hear them sing.  And there was, other than the lack of robes, no apparent difference between their rehearsal and a real concert.  The concert hall had a full house, too, so apparently the weekly free show is very popular.

SLC's Mormon Temple

We couldn't take photos or video/audio of the rehearsal, so here's a video of the Choir filmed by someone else, singing a song I know from high school choir:

My final stop as I headed north towards Idaho was an impromptu stop at Promontory Point -- the site of the "Golden Spike" where the Union Pacific Railroad met the Central Pacific Railroad in 1869.  As I'm sure you know, this was a big freakin' deal at the time.  And if you've been reading my blog, you'll also know I've become a very minor afficianado of the railways.

The first two engines to meet (reenactment!).

But despite how big of a deal the first trans-continental railroad was, Promontory Point, which once housed a small city, now looks like this, other than the recently-built National Park Service building on the site:

This is the view for miles around the Park Service building.

Seeing the completely barren landscape, where there was once a bustling, if small, city, made me think of that book about how quickly the earth would return to normal if all the humans disappeared.  I haven't read it, but I'm interested now, because Promontory Point would show no signs of life at all, were it not for the highway markers directing tourists to the area.  Anyone know what book I'm talking about?

Also, did you know that the two sets of railroad builders were not given directions about where to lay their rails, until the two companies had built past each other for 250 miles?  Would it be mean of me to call them all "dumbasses"?

Update:  In response to mom's comment about some of the rocks looking like Easter Island...  The photo below is of one of the highlights of Arches National Park.  Balanced Rock.  The entire time I was looking at it, I kept thinking of the heads in Easter Island.  And I meant to post a photo and mention the similarity.  Obviously, I'm not the only person who is reminded of those stone heads.

The official name is Balanced Rock, but I would rename it The Moai of Moab.