In October 2013 I took a trip out west by a mix of Megabus, Greyhound, and Amtrak. I stopped in Omaha, Boulder, Salt Lake City, Sacramento, and San Francisco before flying home to Cincinnati. Each city will be linked below once I finish uploading the photos. There are higher resolution/more photos in my flickr profile linked in my signature if you're interested.

 

Part I: Omaha, NE

Part II: Boulder, CO

Part III: Amtrak DEN-SLC

Part IV: Salt Lake City, UT

Part V: Amtrak SLC-SAC

Part VI: Sacramento, CA

Part VII: San Francisco, CA

 

Salt Lake City, Utah

 

City Population: 191,180

Land Area: 110.4 square miles (a lot of desert and mountains that aren't built on)

Population Density: 1,666 / square mile

Metro Population: 1,140,483

Nickname: The Crossroads of the West

 

 

The train arrived in Salt Lake City around midnight and started exploring the city the next day. It is a very interesting mix of people. As my host said, "for every ultra-conservative that Salt Lake City is known for, there seems to be someone on the complete opposite side of the spectrum." In hindsight, I looked at the 2008 Presidential Election, and sure enough, Salt Lake County actually voted for Obama over McCain by 296 votes. The city is far more liberal than the rest of the county. Of course, McCain won Utah by 30%.

 

I started the day really close to the Utah State Capitol. The neighborhood is Capitol Hill, and the subneighborhood is called the Marmalade District because the streets are named after fruit trees. It just so happens to be one of Salt Lake City's gay neighborhoods. I was shocked there even was a gay neighborhood. I realized SLC is much more open than it is perceived to be. There's a diverse mix of architecture in the neighborhood around the Capitol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old City Hall (now a tourist information building, mostly)

 

 

 

 

Now we begin our descent from Capitol Hill to Downtown SLC

 

 

 

This is all a part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints complex which is about 1/6 of Downtown (there may be more they own but not directly Church related)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we move onto the grounds of the actual Church

 

Probably the coolest thing inside of the grounds. A scale model of Jerusalem around the time of Jesus inside their welcome center (among its many uses). The weird part is that they would have 16-18 year old girls from a variety of ethnic backgrounds and from all over the world trying to teach you about the church and get you to join. They gave the appearance that they were very common throughout the world. I should have taken some pictures, but I think it would have been a little creepy.

 

 

 

 

 

Inside another welcome center. This one was creepier, in my opinion (sorry if anyone here is Mormon, I have a hard time filtering myself regarding religion)

 

 

 

Only Mormons are allowed inside the temple. They've created a scale model of it with a cross section of the building so you know generally what it looks like inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the rain, I checked out this new development called City Center that is basically a large mall with light rail down the middle. Very dense, urban, convenient. I liked the architecture, too. This is what I imagine The Banks in Cincinnati could look like if they put more money into it. Apparently this is only a couple years old and I heard it was all owned by the LDS church.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continuing South of City Center

 

 

Beerhive is a pun off of the "beehive" motif of Salt Lake City and Utah. The Deseret News (Oct. 11, 1881) described the symbol of the beehive in this way: "The hive and honey bees form our communal coat of arms…. It is a significant representation of the industry, harmony, order and frugality of the people, and of the sweet results of their toil, union and intelligent cooperation." The drinking culture is so strange in Utah. Beer over 3.2% is illegal unless served at a bar in a can or bottle (I believe). Beer in the grocery store is all 3.2%. Budweiser? 3.2%. Corona? 3.2%. Local craft beer? 3.2%. Liquor also has a low limit, I believe the same limit standard grocery stores are put to in Ohio of 42 proof. It used to be that you were not allowed to watch a bartender mix a drink. There had to be a physical separation (usually a frosted pane of glass). Why? No idea. I'm also fairly certain you aren't allowed to go to a restaurant and drink unless you are eating. Why? No idea. A lot of the rules are slowly eroding, but many are still there. Despite the rules, there is a pretty strong craft beer movement there. One of the better beers I had was a porter by a local brewery called the Polygamy Porter.

 

 

One of my favorite buildings in SLC

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a strong, yet respectful graffiti culture in SLC. Very few buildings were tagged where it was highly visible from the street. Mostly in alleys.

 

Salt Lake City Hall

 

 

 

 

Utah Supreme Court, I believe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day I went adventuring into the mountain and out to the Great Salt Lake. The scenery around SLC is gorgeous and I understand why people move out here. It was a perfect, crisp 60-70 degree day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A quick 15 minute drive and we are at the Great Salt Lake. And it smells.

 

 

 

 

A music venue on the beach

 

Mineral production facility using the natural sediment in the ground. I think its the Great Salt Lake Minerals Corporation

 

 

 

 

 

Apparently these are the things that stink up the beach. They wash ashore when the lake recedes and then decompose. Some kind of marine life. I don't remember.

 

After the Great Salt Lake we went up to a mountain. Earliest snow I've ever seen. We actually couldn't continue further up the mountain because our car didn't have four-wheel drive and there were no side railing further up so we had to turn back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back down the mountain a little bit and it's all sunshine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the last night we went to Park City, Utah. It is a big vacation destination and part of the Winter Olympics when they were in SLC.

 

 

 

 

 

All-in-all, I think Salt Lake City was my favorite on the trip. I definitely learned a lot and it broke a lot of my misconceptions about the city I'm sure most people have.

 

Next up is a train ride through The Sierras between Salt Lake City and Sacramento!

Thanks for sharing! I've been to Salt Lake a bunch, mostly to ski, but I've also explored a bit of downtown and it seems very clean, new, and a bit sterile. Wide streets, big blocks, not a lot of historic buildings or density, but they really have embraced light rail.  It's a very interesting place, I think.

What a beautiful city hall!

SLC is the most underrated large city out west, along with Sacramento, Long Beach, and Tacoma.  Thanks for doing it justice.

Wide streets, big blocks, not a lot of historic buildings or density, but they really have embraced light rail.

 

It's easy to embrace light rail when you already have those wide streets - and straight lines, too!

great job showing us around slc. i like the older stuff a lot, but the newer bldgs are quite sterile.

 

i was especially glad to see you showed us a peek of the great salt lake "music venue." this is the famous 'saltair' aka the coney island of the west. well, the 3rd or 4th incarnation of it. you might be interested in the 1962 cult movie 'carnival of souls,' which puts the previous version of saltair to great use. its one of my favorite movies, its like a twilight zone episode. anyway, heres more about saltair:

http://www.thesaltair.com/?page_id=182