I've been back in Utah since Thursday evening, to work with some colleagues and to attend a regional analysis meeting next week. Unlike my trip in April, I am actually staying in Salt Lake City for the weekend -- no Million Worker March for me, I'm afraid -- and so I've been doing a bit of sightseeing.

First, I drove out to the Great Salt Lake, because it seemed odd to visit SLC twice and not get out there. I stopped at the "Saltair" visitors' center, which is fashioned after a palace. After a brief look in Saltair, I walked down to the beach and made my way out to the lake. As I walked across a half-mile or so of beach, I noticed that the sand was covered with a layer of hardened salt. Some people had written their names in it, probably when the water had been receding from those parts of the beach. Upon closer approach to the waterfront, I noted that one's feet can sink into the sand quickly if one is not careful where one steps. Whoops! Eventually, I made it to the waterfront; being an experimentalist, I had to wet a finger and see just how salty the Salt Lake is. The answer is: "very." This is essentially the North American equivalent to the Dead Sea. I stood by the water for a long time, watching the waves and the mountains and the seagulls. It was all quite beautiful and felt very poetic. Since I have little talent for poetry, and have not regularly written any since my teenage angst years, I opted for a highly structured form -- the haiku -- in the hopes that the form would constrain how bad the substance could be. Here goes:

Salt in windy air
and the waves licking my feet.
Mountains and gulls watch.


Walking back from the water, I got caught in a minor sandstorm, which was both fun and gritty. After leaving the Saltair beach, I drove further along the lake to the marina and then away from the lake into the desert before turning around and heading back to SLC. When I returned to the city, I parked downtown to tour the city on foot. I like to wander aimlessly on foot when I am in a new city, as it gives me a good feel for the pulse and energy of the place. SLC is quite a sleepy little city... especially on Sundays. I made my way across downtown SLC to Temple Square, which is the supposed center of the city. Geographically, it is not, but all the city streets are numbered with respect to their distance from the Square. From statues and inscriptions in the Square, I learned a bit about the beginnings of Mormonism and their great prophet, Joseph Smith. A Mormon near the Tabernacle asked if I wanted to join a complimentary tour, so I did. The tour went through the Tabernacle, outside of the Temple, and around several other buildings in the Square. It ended in the North Visitors' Center, which has extremely beautiful paintings on the walls inside (and a Giant-Man sized statue of Jesus). The very last part of the tour, inside the visitors' center, was a viewing of several commercials put out by the Mormon church -- just like the ones I used to see on Saturday morning television when I was a kid. When the tour was over, I walked around on my own some more, visiting the Lion House and the Beehive House before my stomach spoke up to let me know that we needed food.

Other than work and sightseeing, I have been reading and expanding my knowledge of the vegetarian-friendly small restaurants in SLC. The reading has mostly been Howard Zinn, in which I have just finished learning about the prison riots of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Despite only reading it periodically, I am getting close to finished with Zinn's tome, and I expect to be done before Christmas Eve (which is when I started it last year). As for the veggie restaurants, I have been returning to the Oasis Cafe and Sage's Cafe, which I frequented in April. I also found the Shanghai Cafe, a Chinese veggie-friendly restaurant with a special two-page veggie menu. That was a nice treat: for dinner last night I had veggie wonton soup, veggie chicken fried rice, and General Tso's vegetarian chicken. Yum! Being here for the weekend, I've also gotten to have brunch at Sage's for the first time: The Mountain has hash browns, veggie sausage, and scrambled tofu with potato & leek gravy -- it was really delicious! I do find myself wondering why all the veggie restaurants I've found in SLC are named the Something Cafe...
I've been back in Utah since Thursday evening, to work with some colleagues and to attend a regional analysis meeting next week. Unlike my trip in April, I am actually staying in Salt Lake City for the weekend -- no Million Worker March for me, I'm afraid -- and so I've been doing a bit of sightseeing.

First, I drove out to the Great Salt Lake, because it seemed odd to visit SLC twice and not get out there. I stopped at the "Saltair" visitors' center, which is fashioned after a palace. After a brief look in Saltair, I walked down to the beach and made my way out to the lake. As I walked across a half-mile or so of beach, I noticed that the sand was covered with a layer of hardened salt. Some people had written their names in it, probably when the water had been receding from those parts of the beach. Upon closer approach to the waterfront, I noted that one's feet can sink into the sand quickly if one is not careful where one steps. Whoops! Eventually, I made it to the waterfront; being an experimentalist, I had to wet a finger and see just how salty the Salt Lake is. The answer is: "very." This is essentially the North American equivalent to the Dead Sea. I stood by the water for a long time, watching the waves and the mountains and the seagulls. It was all quite beautiful and felt very poetic. Since I have little talent for poetry, and have not regularly written any since my teenage angst years, I opted for a highly structured form -- the haiku -- in the hopes that the form would constrain how bad the substance could be. Here goes:

Salt in windy air
and the waves licking my feet.
Mountains and gulls watch.


Walking back from the water, I got caught in a minor sandstorm, which was both fun and gritty. After leaving the Saltair beach, I drove further along the lake to the marina and then away from the lake into the desert before turning around and heading back to SLC. When I returned to the city, I parked downtown to tour the city on foot. I like to wander aimlessly on foot when I am in a new city, as it gives me a good feel for the pulse and energy of the place. SLC is quite a sleepy little city... especially on Sundays. I made my way across downtown SLC to Temple Square, which is the supposed center of the city. Geographically, it is not, but all the city streets are numbered with respect to their distance from the Square. From statues and inscriptions in the Square, I learned a bit about the beginnings of Mormonism and their great prophet, Joseph Smith. A Mormon near the Tabernacle asked if I wanted to join a complimentary tour, so I did. The tour went through the Tabernacle, outside of the Temple, and around several other buildings in the Square. It ended in the North Visitors' Center, which has extremely beautiful paintings on the walls inside (and a Giant-Man sized statue of Jesus). The very last part of the tour, inside the visitors' center, was a viewing of several commercials put out by the Mormon church -- just like the ones I used to see on Saturday morning television when I was a kid. When the tour was over, I walked around on my own some more, visiting the Lion House and the Beehive House before my stomach spoke up to let me know that we needed food.

Other than work and sightseeing, I have been reading and expanding my knowledge of the vegetarian-friendly small restaurants in SLC. The reading has mostly been Howard Zinn, in which I have just finished learning about the prison riots of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Despite only reading it periodically, I am getting close to finished with Zinn's tome, and I expect to be done before Christmas Eve (which is when I started it last year). As for the veggie restaurants, I have been returning to the Oasis Cafe and Sage's Cafe, which I frequented in April. I also found the Shanghai Cafe, a Chinese veggie-friendly restaurant with a special two-page veggie menu. That was a nice treat: for dinner last night I had veggie wonton soup, veggie chicken fried rice, and General Tso's vegetarian chicken. Yum! Being here for the weekend, I've also gotten to have brunch at Sage's for the first time: The Mountain has hash browns, veggie sausage, and scrambled tofu with potato & leek gravy -- it was really delicious! I do find myself wondering why all the veggie restaurants I've found in SLC are named the Something Cafe...
.

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