Sorry I didn't write an update yesterday. By the time I got back to my room I was so worn out I could hardly stay on my feet. It was a busy birthday!
Let me start with an update to the night of the 19th. My friend Marlyse, who I met when I was first investigating the church in 1988, now lives in Draper, about a 30 minute drive south of where I was staying. She sent me a message on Facebook with her phone number and said she'd like to visit. I called her around 6:00 and we chatted for a bit, then she said to come to her place and she'd drive me around to see a few of the temples close to her house. We had a nice salad out in her back yard and caught up a bit. It's probably been 15 years or so since we've seen each other. She lives down the mountain from the Draper temple, and in the winter when her trees are bare she can look out her kitchen window and see the temple up on the mountain. It took five minutes to drive there, and that even included her stopping to chat with a friend who was out for a walk! From there we drove across the valley to see the new Oquirrh temple (pronounced O-ker, I didn't know that) and just down the hill from there was the Jordan River temple. When I had been in the conference center earlier in the day I had mentioned to one of the older sister missionaries there about how many temples there were in such a small area. She said she worked in the Jordan River temple on Wednesdays and that it is always jam packed. She said, "We have lots of temples here because the members are always using them." That was so wonderful to hear.
Marlyse and I had a chuckle as we were heading down to the Jordan River temple. She stopped and said, "Okay, count the church spires!" I think we counted seven of our church buildings between us and the temple. I wanted to say I found it funny, but that wasn't the right word. I found it wonderful. Wonderful to have so many Saints in one area that there's a church every few blocks, and temples dotted all over the valley.
Then we stopped in at a place called Coldstone, one of Marlyse's favorite places. It's like the Marble Slab in Calgary, where they mix up your ice cream order with various treats like nuts or candies or chunks of chocolate on a cold stone and then serve it. We had something with a base of sweet cream ice cream, almonds, and crushed Heath bars. Oh my word, that was the best ice cream I've ever tasted. At home Foothills Creamery gets the title for best ice cream, but overall, Coldstone stuff takes the gold medal, no question.
It was a lovely evening and I really enjoyed the drive and the visit with Marlyse. She and her husband moved to Utah from Calgary about 10 years ago and they just love it. They have a beautiful home and they love the climate and the absence of mosquitos! There's a good selling point right there.
The next morning I got back to Temple Square around 9:30 and parked under the conference center again. I decided I'd start there and take a tour of the building. My tour guide, Susan, was really nice and I enjoyed how much she appreciated all the art pieces throughout the building. I've never been one to really stop and look deeply at art, but she kind of made me do it and I really liked it. We went all over that place. Back and forth on each floor, into the auditorium, and up on the roof to see the landscaping and water features. I told her about my trip, why I was on it, and told her some of the experiences I've had so far. At the end of the tour she gave me a hug and said she had really enjoyed talking with me. That was a great start to the day.
I crossed the street to Temple Square and took some pictures of the temple and flowers and fountains. I found the Deseret Book store across the street on the south side of the square and spent a lot of time in there. The day before, while I was wandering around the square, I had a real desire to sit and read scriptures, but I didn't have my smart phone on me, with the scriptures downloaded onto an e-reader. Even if I had, I don't know if it would have satisfied that craving to feel pages under my fingers. So yesterday I fixed that and I finally bought myself a mini set of scriptures, the little quad with the snap cover. I got them to emboss my name on it, too. Happy birthday to me! I've been wanting one of those for years but could never justify the cost. Now I can always have scriptures with me whenever I travel.
From there I went to the church administration building to take some pictures from the observation deck on the 26th floor. I had been up there on my last visit in 1992, but security has really been ramped up since then. In '92 you could just get on the elevator and go up, but now you have to go with a tour guide who needs a key to get on the elevator and it goes only to the 26th floor. So much for hoping to randomly run into an apostle on the elevator. Bummer.
After that I went back to the conference center for an organ recital. We were encouraged to sit right up front. The organist spoke to us first and told us what he'd be playing, and what to expect, and what he enjoyed about each song. He also told us about the construction of the organ, the sizes of the pipes, and some other technical things. It was truly awesome to listen to him play, and to hear the immensely wide range of tones produced by those pipes. He played one soft song called "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need." He played it very softly, and the organ's voice was sweet and kind of breathy. It was an unusual sound but I really liked it. It really seemed to make the pipes seem like they were singing. Just beautiful! He played only for 30 minutes. I could have listened to that for a couple of hours. But it was a nice break from the heat and from all the walking around.
Next on my list was the Family History Library. They sent me up to the US/Canada floor to see what I could find about my paternal grandfather's parents. I didn't have much luck and I was getting tired, hungry, and crabby, so I left there and went next door to the museum. By now my feet were getting really sore, I was tired and hungry and I didn't do the place justice. I did a quick walk through the "Presidents of the Church" display and enjoyed seeing photos of some of them when they were toddlers. I really need to go again when I'm not so burned out.
I realized it was time to call it a day, and it seemed like I still had to walk forever to get back to the car. When your feet hurt every step feels like hard work. I got back to the hotel, then went out for a bite to eat, took most of it back to the hotel (I had a fridge in the room), then read myself to sleep.
This morning was quite cool and very windy, and during breakfast the news program was saying the Salt Lake area was going to be getting some blustery weather. Great day to be leaving! I had mixed feelings about leaving. I felt so comfortable there and I really felt like I was leaving so many things undone. Ah well, that will be an excuse to go back for another visit.
The drive to Oregon wasn't too bad. The landscape through Idaho was mostly very dry, very brown, and rather hilly. The drive was definitely more interactive than crossing Nebraska and Wyoming. I'm sitting at my desk in my room right now looking through my sliding door. The sunlight is pouring in and I have a view of the mountains. They're not quite as forested as I had expected from Oregon, but I suppose that will change tomorrow as I drive further north and west.
I'll be crossing the border back into Canada tomorrow, so tonight I have to go through my receipts to figure out the value of the stuff I'm bringing back. I sure am looking forward to seeing my friends and the new Vancouver temple!
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