Salt Lake City to Provo to Green River, Utah
While we were sitting in the Tabernacle in Temple Square yesterday afternoon, I snapped a picture of the stage and posted it with a comment that I sure would like to hear a concert in there someday. Little did we know that "someday" would roll around so soon.
When we got back to the hotel and finally got around to checking email and Facebook, I found a response to my post from one of our former students, Brittney Taylor, in Colorado. She said that if we were still going to be in Salt Lake City Sunday morning, we could attend a free performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra IF we got there on time. Brittney said that the Tabernacle doors would open at 8:30 am and close at 9:15. Until the seats were full or 9:15 rolled around, anyone in line could enter to hear the weekly performance of Music and the Spoken Word, the longest continually running concert/broadcast program in the United States.
Given that information, we quickly revised our plans for today from sleeping in to getting up early enough to pack all our "stuff," load the cycle and trailer, and get to downtown Salt Lake City in time to get in line for the performance. Planning and preparation included checking every possible route and marker, because believe it or not, I've been known to go past a turning point and get lost in some of the best cities in America.
The planning paid off and we rode to Temple Square (a very easy ride, by the way) in about 14 minutes, found a parking place right across the street from Temple Square (metered parking is free on Sundays), and walked across the street to get an a short line to wait for the doors to open.
As we have found throughout the trip, strangers were helping strangers, and we soon struck up several different conversations with other who were waiting in line. One lady even offered to take photos of the two of us when she saw that we were looking for a place to "shoot" each other.
In this photo, we have the Tabernacle in the background.
Then we moved a few yards and had a floral backdrop with the Temple behind the wall..
When they opened the doors to the Tabernacle, we queued up with the others and walked in to find a place to sit. We chose a seat in the back row on the main floor, but then one of the volunteers said that we could have a much better seat if we moved up a couple of rows. Since she was the expert and we were the visitors, we took her up on the offer.
What we didn't know beforehand was that we could have brought our cameras...but we didn't, so we had to make do with the cell phone cameras. And, the volunteer who showed us to our seats also offered to take our photo.
Another thing we didn't know was that the orchestra and choir would be rehearsing from 8:30 until 9:15, so we got in on a working rehearsal and a dress rehearsal before the live broadcast began. Most folks know that I'm a sentimentalist at heart, and having grown up listening to recordings of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra, and Organ, I teared up as soon as I heard those marvelous sounds. To say that Barbara and I were overwhelmed with what we were experiencing would be the understatement of the year.
The musicians took a break at 9:15 and then returned to begin the broadcast performance. The announcer cautioned the audience about the acoustics of the building...that even a cough could be heard from anywhere in the building. I don't know that it was even necessary to make that announcement, because we never heard a sound other than the music during the 30-minute presentation...even the silence between the selections was overwhelming.
The program this morning included Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, a beautiful setting of The Lord is My Shepherd, And He Shall Purify, from "The Messiah," Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (organ solo), Let Us Break Their Bonds Asunder (The Messiah), Smile, and The Impossible Dream.
The spoken word was a homily on the value of teamwork, using sports teams, musical organizations, and the family as examples of teams of people that rely on each other for their success.
Barbara and I both considered that the success of our trip so far has been due to new friends, team members, if you will, that we have met along the way and who have given us suggestions for things that we could see and do in our travels. We also considered our Facebook family, many of whom have encouraged us along the way and given wonderful suggestions for activities. Brittney Taylor, our former student and current Facebook friend, immediately came to mind for the part that she played in letting us know about this wonderful program. Our students are still teaching us, even as they did when we were supposedly teaching them, and for that we are truly thankful.
When the program ended with an a capella rendition of "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again" by the choir, we left the grounds, hopped on Taz, and began the journey south toward Provo to meet yet another former student, Stephanie Rees Tyrrell and her husband, Bennett. Stephanie was one of Barbara's media students at West Middle School in Liberal, and is finishing her college work at Brigham Young University.
We knew that Stephanie and Bennett wouldn't be home from church until around 12:30, so we stopped in American Fork to do some shop-looking at a large outlet mall. We could see a distant large lake from the mall parking lot, but there was too much clutter between the water and us, so we couldn't get a decent picture of it.
We left the mall and rode down I-15, enjoying the beauty and splendor of the scenery.
And we finally got close enough to Utah Lake that Barbara was able to get this shot.
Throughout the trip, Barbara has tried to get good photos of the American Flag against the scenic backgrounds, but the great shot has eluded her. Today was bright and sunny, so she made several more attempts as we were riding.
It wasn't until we stopped for gas in Provo that she finally got the picture she wanted.
As I was finishing giving Taz a fresh drink, Stephanie texted Barbara to say that she and Bennett were walking back to their apartment from church, so we wheeled around and rode the few blocks to their place, where they were waiting for us with some of their neighbors/church friends.
After introductions all around, we went inside and had a relatively short, but very wonderful time meeting Bennett and visiting with this delightful young couple. We already thought the world of Stephanie, and now feel the same way about Bennett...what a great couple!
Of course, we had to go back outside to take photos.
Stephanie and Bennett:
Hamilton Bunny, very much a part of the family:
Barbara and Stephanie:
And us, as shot by the kids:
Just before we left, Bennett suggested that for a great photo experience we should ride up the Canyon Highway a few miles toward Sundance. We've learned that suggestions like that can lead to better experiences that we could ever get by following the map or GPS, so we backtracked a bit past the BYU Stadium toward the Canyon Highway.
We approached the turnoff to the canyon.
Merged onto the highway.
And then made the first curve and went open-mouthed and wide-eyed at what we saw.
Now, at this point I have to give all photo credits to Barbara, who outdid herself throughout the day. While we have lots and lots of pictures from throughout the adventure, the photos she took today were just fantastic!
This was my view...note that there is no road in sight...the curves ahead were not wide and sweeping!
We had a long road ahead of us today, so we turned around after a few miles and rode back toward Provo, seeing what we had seen before, but at different angles.
And then it was time to take a last view of the canyon as we exited to get back to I-15.
We rode a few more miles south on I-15 to Spanish Fork. As we prepared to leave the interstate, Barbara got this shot of an American Flag wafting in the breeze.
It was time for lunch, so we pulled off at Cafe Rio, a pretty funky Mexican food place.
And then it was time to head off on Utah 6 toward our goal for the night, Green River. We took one last look at the big mountains (or so we thought), and joined the folks on a much narrower and slower road than we had been on.
The couple we met at the Chinese restaurant in Jerome the other night suggested that Highway 6 would be a scenic route to Green River, and shorter in miles than driving down I-15 to I-70. And, they were right about the scenic part. We saw many, many changes of scenery as we dropped in elevation over the next 120 or so miles.
Here is one of the views through my windshield as Barbara is busy taking a selfie.
We saw a sign advertising the Largest coal miner in the United States near Helper, so we pulled off the highway, drove through the town, and found this.
As we rolled back toward the highway, I took a few seconds for what we call a "rolling butt break." (Not recommended at speeds in excess of 80 mph)
From Helper, we continued down Highway 6 to Price and joined U.S. 191 on the route to Green River.
We were definitely leaving the mountains behind and entering the land of buttes, mesas, and desert floors.
About 15 miles north of Green River the wind suddenly got up and was blowing us all over the highway. We've ridden in high winds across Kansas before, but this was undoubtedly the worst crosswind ever encountered. I slowed down to almost 35 mph just to have enough stability to stay on the highway.
Luckily, we made it onto I-70 East without an incident and cruised across the Green River (which wasn't very green) into town to find our motel and settle in for the night.
Resting comfortably out of the wind in Green River, Utah,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsy
