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The Temples and Dinosaurs of SLC

A few weeks ago I was in Salt Lake City for my last conference of the year. I was only there for a couple days, but I had some flexibility in my schedule. I was able to see most of the conference and still make time to sneak out to see some sights before my flight home at the conclusion of the conference.

The conference was located right near Temple Square. In spite of a couple flurries here and there, and the accompanying cold, I made time to visit out during lunch the first day of the conference. This square is where the most famous temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints resides, the Salt Lake Temple. Since I’d never been to Salt Lake City before, this landmark was the most obvious one to visit, and they had decorated it for Christmas.

While I don’t share their faith, it was worthy of my time. The temple is beautiful, everyone I met was welcoming and friendly, and there is important historical significance to the story of that church.

The really enjoyable time was that evening though. After some time at The Beer Hive I went for a walk with a couple colleagues through the square again, but this time all lit up with the Christmas lights! The lights were everywhere and spectacular.

And I’m sure regardless of the season, the temple itself at night is a sight to behold.

More photos from Temple Square here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pleia2/albums/72157677633463925

The conference continued the next day and I departed in the afternoon to visit the Natural History Museum of Utah. Utah is a big deal when it comes to fossil hunting in the US, so I was eager to visit their dinosaur fossil exhibit. In addition to a variety of crafted scenes, it also features the “world’s largest display of horned dinosaur skulls” (source).

Unfortunately upon arrival I learned that the museum was without power. They were waving people in, but explained that there was only emergency lighting and some of the sections of the museum were completely closed. I sadly missed out on their very cool looking exhibit on poisons, and it was tricky seeing some of the areas that were open with so little light.

But the dinosaurs.

Have you ever seen dinosaur fossils under just emergency lighting? They were considerably more impactful and scary this way. Big fan.

I really enjoyed some of the shadows cast by their horned dinosaur skulls.

More photos from the museum here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pleia2/sets/72157673744906273/

There should totally be an event where the fossils are showcased in this way in a planned manner. Alas, since this was unplanned, the staff decided in the late afternoon to close the museum early. This sent me on my way much earlier than I’d hoped. Still, I was glad I got to spend some time with the dinosaurs and hadn’t wasted much time elsewhere in the museum. If I’m ever in Salt Lake City again I would like to go back though, it was tricky to read the signs in such low light and I would like to have the experience as it was intended. Besides, I’ll rarely pass up the opportunity to see a good dinosaur exhibit. I haven’t been to the Salt Lake City Zoo yet, if it had been warmer I may have considered it – next time!

With that, my trip to Salt Lake City pretty much concluded. I made my way to the airport to head home that evening. This trip rounded almost a full month of being away from home, so I was particularly eager to get home and spend some time with MJ and the kitties.