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Feature Article
Sizing up Salt Lake CityUtah's growing capital-abuzz with pre-Olympic excitement-offers unique attractions year-round
by Claire Walter
During a sparkling 17-day period this coming winter, the world's sports fans will focus their attention on Salt Lake City and the 2002 Winter Olympics. After 30 years of planning and bidding
for the Games, Utahans-bedazzled by the impending spotlight-are looking at their capital city, the huge valley in which it is located and the state itself through proud new eyes. Pre-Games visitors will catch their infectious enthusiasm. Olympic construction is virtually completed, so a trip to Salt Lake City can include both traditional attractions and a preview of the event venues that are the center of the buzz, even in the warm months.While the Olympics are on Salt Lake City's immediate horizon, the city was built on a foundation that goes back over centuries. Anasazi peoples, best known for cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde and elsewhere in the Southwest, lived in the Salt Lake area for 13 centuries until about A.D. 1300. Later, the Ute Indians traveled and hunted here, giving the present-day state its name. But it was the first group of non-Native settlers who put the area on the American map. A small band of believers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (popularly called the Mormons), fleeing discrimination in the eastern U.S., settled in the Great Salt Lake Valley in the summer of 1847. They began tilling the soil and building the orderly society they craved. In less than 150 years, their small outpost in the wilderness has grown into the modern metropolis of Salt Lake City-and the newest Olympic host.
No matter what your religious beliefs, the Mormon legacy is a must-see part of Salt Lake City's visitor attractions-much as Vatican City is in Rome. The church's pioneers began construction of their Temple soon after their arrival and devoted nearly 40 years to painstakingly building it. This six-spired landmark is the centerpiece of the 35 garden-like acres that make up Temple Square. It is located in the heart of the city-emotionally, historically and geographically, with the street grid numbered in relationship to it. Non-Mormons are not permitted in the Temple but are welcome to tour the other, neighboring sites.
Chief among them is the Tabernacle, home of the world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Free concerts are presented on weekends. As a showcase for its philosophy and short history, the church (usually shorthanded to LDS) proudly operates other attractions in or near Temple Square. Most are free, but they are closed on Sunday. The Museum of Church History & Art depicts the Mormon experience in particular, but also much about America's westward expansion in general. The LDS Office Building, Salt Lake City's tallest building, has two observation decks on the 26th floor offering splendid views of the nearby Wasatch and Uintah mountains.
You will find the names of LDS founder Joseph Smith and Brigham Young attached to many local attractions. The Joseph Smith Memorial Building, formerly the Hotel Utah, shows an hour-long religious film and also is the site of the FamilySearch Center, where 200 trained staffers help you tap into the church's renowned genealogical resources to trace your own family history. Another genealogical repository, with more than two billion names, is the nearby Family History Library. The Brigham Young Monument commemorates the establishment of Salt Lake City as well as the Native peoples and fur trappers who preceded the Mormons into the valley. Free concerts are performed Tuesday and Friday evenings in June, July and August in Brigham Young Park. The Lion House, built in 1855 as Brigham Young's family residence, is not open to the public, but tours are conducted in the Beehive House, Young's official residence when he was both LDS president and governor of the new Utah Territory.
There's more to Salt Lake City than the commanding LDS presence around Temple Square. Take a guided tour of the Utah State Capitol, built in 1915 and still considered one of the country's best examples of Renaissance Revival architecture. Just to the south is Council Hall, built to house Utah's territorial offices and now housing the state's tourism information center (Salt Lake City's is located at 90 S. West Temple).
You'll find something for everyone east of downtown, location of the Utah Museum of Natural History, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Red Butte Garden and Arboretum and Utah's Hogle Zoo. Plan to make a day of it, hopping from pre-historic times (dinosaurs and archaeological artifacts in the natural history museum) to historic times (classical and tribal works from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas at the art museum), and right onto things living today (flora at the botanic garden and fauna at the zoo). The most popular site in the southeastern part of the city is Trolley Square. Developed from picturesque old trolley barns, this has become Salt Lake City's premier shopping, dining and entertainment venue. Free walking tours are also given of this historic place. West of downtown, you'll find the Children's Museum of Utah, nicknamed "the Doing Place" for its array of interactive exhibits.
In the last few decades, Salt Lake City has grown into its "last name" and is now truly a city. In fact, it is the center of a metropolitan area with a population of 1.5 million that is still expanding. The best urban outdoor experience is at beautiful Liberty Park, due south of downtown with walking and jogging paths, a fine playground, paddle boats, a children's amusement park and picnic facilities. The Tracy Aviary, with 450 feathered residents, is located in the park.
Salt Lake City also boasts city-size spectator sports and culture. Basketball's Utah Jazz and Utah Starzz play at the 20,700-seat Delta Center. The magnificent Capitol Theatre, built in 1912, is now home to the Utah Opera Company, Ballet West and other dance companies, and the renowned Utah Symphony performs at Maurice Abravanel Concert Hall. The Salt Lake Art Center displays contemporary works by local and regional artists, while Artspace showcases fine, applied and performance artists and is the center of the city's creative community. The 24-member Salt Lake Gallery Association hosts art strolls on the third Friday of every month.
Visitors often ask, "Where's the lake?" The Great Salt Lake, one of the country's natural wonders, is 17 miles northeast of the city. It is a remnant of Bonneville Lake, a huge inland sea which covered parts of the present Utah, Nevada and Idaho. At 92 by 48 miles, it is the largest lake west of the Mississippi. Four mineral-rich rivers drain into it, but since the lake is shallow, evaporates readily in the dry climate and has no outlet, the minerals become concentrated. The lake's salinity has been measured as high as 28 percent (compared with three percent in the ocean) and second only to the Dead Sea in salt content. The brine shrimp that thrive in this environment comprise an abundant food source for more than 250 species of birds. Sunrise and sunset are the most splendid times of day, when the lake gleams in brilliant red, orange, lavender and magenta. Great Salt Lake Park and Saltair Beach, off Intestate 80 (exit 104), provide the best access.
Antelope Island is the largest of the 10 islands. Wading into the water and floating on the lake is on many visitors' must-do list, but you'll see and learn more of this fascinating place on a sightseeing cruise. Another interesting feature on the Greater Salt Lake landscape, albeit a man-made one, is the gargantuan Bingham Canyon Copper Mine. Displays of geology and mining operations in the ore-rich, open-pit mine are open from April until October.
Ogden, less than an hour north of Salt Lake, developed as one of the West's major railroad hubs. Promontory Point, where the eastern and western portions of the first transcontinental railroads met in 1869, is just west of Ogden. The city grew with the trains, and in less than a decade, it became the junction point of the east-west and north-south lines. As a result, Ogden boasted a cultural and religious diversity that Salt Lake City lacked. The city's landmark Union Station today houses museums, galleries and numerous special events. In the nearby 25th Street Historic District visitors find interesting antique shops, boutiques, restaurants and nightspots, and on Saturday mornings from August through October, a farmers' market is set up there. And, oh yes, Ogden shares with Salt Lake City the role of host for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.
Claire Walter is an author and freelance writer based in Boulder, Colo.
Gold Medal Sightseeing
If you're a die-hard winter sports fan, you probably ordered your 2002 Winter Olympics tickets long ago. More tickets will be available for some events beginning June 1; call toll- free: 800-TICKETS (800-842-5387), or visit www.saltlake2002.com. If you don't get tickets, you can still glimpse history in the making by visiting sites where competitions will take place.
Even in summer and fall, visitors can get a real sense of the frozen playing fields on which the competitors will duel for Olympic glory. Tour the lovely University of Utah campus and see Rice-Eccles Stadium, site of the opening and closing ceremonies. The 2002 Olympic Village, housing for athletes and coaches, is situated nearby at Fort Douglas, where Union soldiers were garrisoned to keep an eye on early Mormon settlers. The world's best figure skaters compete downtown at the Delta Center, while speed skaters race at Oquirrh Park in Kearns, west of the city. Hockey games are farther afield, in Provo and Ogden. Ogden also hosts curling, a new Olympic sport.
Spend a day at Park City. Utah Olympic Park a $56 million training and competition venue for some of the more exotic winter sports, boasts the icy bobsled and luge courses and the 70- and 90-meter ski jumps. You can watch aerialists, the high-flying gymnasts of freestyle skiing, practicing at a summer training site there. Nearby Park City Resort and Deer Valley between them host the giant slalom, slalom, freestyle skiing and snowboarding events. Allow yourself to be distracted by Park City's shops and galleries. Soldier Hollow in the next valley is where fleet cross-country skiers compete. Snowbasin, a soaring ski mountain near Ogden, is the site of the downhill and Super G, skiing's most exciting and glamorous events. Think Tommy Moe, Picabo Street and Hermann 'The Herminator' Maier, and you'll know why these are such thrillers.
if you go
Stop by or call your nearest AAA office for a free Utah TourBook® and map. For more information, contact the Salt Lake City Convention & Visitors Bureau at 90 S. West Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84101-2822; 801-521-4967 or www.visitsaltlake.com. The Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce is at 2501 Wall Avenue, Ogden, UT 84401; (800) ALL-UTAH or www.ogdencvb.org.
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