Happy Anniversary and Squat or Sit?

Happy Anniversary!

This year we wanted to do a few close things we've never done, in the 17+ years we've lived in Utah.  (15 pre-California, and 2 post-California)

We first started with a yummy breakfast at a top rated Yelp cafe.  We went mid-morning thinking it wouldn't be too crowded. Wrong. Line out the door.  Apparently, it's a hidden secret not so hidden.  It was yummy.

Then we started our adventure.  First stop was the Red Butte Garden.  This "garden" is run by the University of Utah and is a botanical garden and arboretum in the foothills above the university.  It's about 100 acres and not a single weed was to be seen. It was beautiful.  It was amazing to see the difference of a "before" and after, as all around the gardens, is natural vegetation which is mostly desert weeds this time of year.  There is a creek that runs year round through the gardens that comes from the mountain springs.

View from the top of the gardens

Another view from the top. Can you guess where the creek runs?  Where all the green trees are!

This is a new addition this year to the gardens feature drought tolerant plants that grow well in the Utah desert

Our next stop was the Tracy Aviary in Liberty Park in Salt Lake City.  Liberty Park is huge  - around 80 acres and was originally part of Brigham Young's estate where he planted all kinds of trees and vegetation.  Eventually, the city of Salt Lake bought it and wanted it to resemble Central Park in New York. Liberty Park has tennis courts, a pool, bocce ball courts, kiddie rides, paddle boats in a large pond with two islands, tons of picnic areas, a bowery, lots of playgrounds, sand volleyball courts, 1.5 mile jogging trail, biking trails, a greenhouse, museum with the oldest standing commercial building in Salt Lake, and the aviary.  The aviary itself is on 8 acres of the park, and has about 400 birds representing 135 different species. The Aviary is one of two "true aviaries" in the nation.

This was a weird looking bird with a weird head!

This bird wouldn't look at me, but he has fuzzies all over his head!

This is Andy the Condor - and he is H U G E !!  We never knew how big Condors are!!  Impressive!

Our next stop was the Capitol Building for a tour.  We've been to the California State Capital a few times and loved the tours there, so we were excited to see how the Utah State Capital compared.  Tours are throughout the day on the hour and you just show up.  Our first impression was the Capital is a beautiful building!  It's huge and about 75% of it is just air and empty space inside!  

There are four lions at the entrances to the Capitol. Their names are Integrity, Honor, Patience & Fortitude 

Inside the rotunda

This is a popular place for Quinceanera parties - there were two groups there just during the short time we were there

Statue of Brigham Young

Part of the ceiling in the "Gold Room" which is where the Governor meets/greets important guests

Part of the Governor's office

House of Representatives Chamber

Supreme Court Chamber

These paths around the Capitol are cherry trees. In the spring, they all all full of blooms

Outside the Capitol, there is the Mormon Battalion Monument. The monument recognizes 550 Mormon Pioneer volunteers who joined in the in US Army during the Mexican War during 1846-1847.  The Mormon Battalion is the only religiously based unit ever in the United States military history.  The Mormon Battalion made the grueling march of nearly 2000 miles from Iowa to San Diego.

Names of all the Battalion members

See the names Erastus and Thomas Bingham??  Yep...those are Shelley's great-great  and great-great-great grandpas!!  (There may be one more "great" in there)

We had about an hour before we could head to dinner, so we went to the very unique Salt Lake City library, which is the most unique architectural designed building in the city.  There is a roof top garden and a sloped path from the roof to the ground outside.  The lobby inside has a few retail boutiques and a huge modern lobby.  We spent some leisure time reading magazines and the newspaper!

Inside the lobby - reading desks are on the left on all floors, and books are all on the right - 5 floors 

On the roof, the elevator mechanics are seen through this glass room - pretty cool!

View from the roof

Huge glass skylight on the roof

There is a path from the roof all the way down to the ground  Depending on where you start, it's either The End or The Beginning

This is the path that slopes 6 stories down along the sides of the library

Or you can take the normal stairs - that's a long ways down

We finished off the day with dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.  Shelley isn't much of a steak eater so by her eating her entire filet should tell you how good it was!  I just wish I could have one night of their sales to add to my bank account.  That place was BUSY!!!  We were glad to have found Costco sells $100 of gift cards for $80.  

They had our table all ready for us!

Very yummy Key Lime Pie

Oh, so you're wondering about the Squat or Sit?  Well, as we toured the Capital, we quickly noticed we were the minority there - white and English speaking.  During the hour or so we were there, 4 tour buses were also there - all full of Asian tour groups.  There was a special sign in the restroom stalls showing how to properly use the toilet - meaning to sit all the way down!  In Asian societies, you squat (not sit) on the toilet.  For some strange reason, the Capital building gets so many Asian visitors, they had to put up toilet signs!