A change in plans, July 14, 2014

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

Today we intended to go into Salt Lake City and check out some of the museums and interesting spots. We started out by driving down to Thanksgiving Point Gardens, a lovely spot with an interesting history. Two professors from BYU developed a piece of software called WordPerfect. The company's success gave them  the desire to give back to the community. In 1995, they purchased land in Lehi, Utah just south of Salt Lake City, which would become a nature and cultural center.

The gardens were opened to the public in 1997. They cover 55 acres and include the 15 themed  gardens. There are four and a half miles of walking trails there. The gardens were lovely, interspersed among expansive lawns. Of particular interest here is an enormous man-made waterfall area. I say area, because there are many in the largest man-made waterfalls in the Western Hemisphere.

We spent a couple of hours strolling the grounds, and by the time we had finished, I was melting. The temperature was in the 90s, and rather than following through with our plans to go in town, we decided to take a drive into the mountains on the southeast side of this city and escape the heat.

What a great surprise! 

The road we took is called the Alpine Loop Scenic Highway, and runs from I-15 near Lehi to US189 in Provo Canyon. It snakes through the mountains and large stands of aspen. The white trunks of the aspen reminded me of white birch back home.  The views from the road included those of rugged peaks and treed verdant valleys. It was so peaceful and quiet, and the temperature up in the mountains was at least 10 degrees cooler than in the valley.

Aspen forest

From there, we decided to take back roads out to the Great Salt Lake on the north side of the city. The drive took us through large areas of residential development. 

We headed to Saltair, a former cabaret on the lake's shore. A better description of its location is formerly on the lake shore. When we were here in 2000, Ray took a dip in the lake whose edge was maybe 40 feet from the Saltair building . Today the lake had receded to at least one quarter mile from

The Great Salt Lake is out there somewhere. Ray took a dip here 14 years ago--when there was water here.

the building. But apparently, the lake is very shallow and it's normal for the water level to change by 2 to 3 feet annually. In some areas, a 1 foot change in elevation can cause the shoreline to move as much as 1 mile.

Tomorrow we head home. It's sad to leave the mountains, but it will be good just to

sleep in our own bed.