SLC Day 2

After a prodigious sleep-in, we spent our first SLC morning visiting a couple of very Western used book stores:Then it was on to one of our main attractions: Tamrika and John's diner, the Blue Plate:
We took the opportunity to give Tanya an early birthday present
While the rest of us enjoyed hearty lunches. I loved my buttermilk biscuits with vegetarian gravy, but Toma declared Chris the winner with his choice of mexican benedicts: They're not short on awards themselves:
Even the graffiti is complementary. This is the only award they had posted outside, but they had about 6 others inside - three best breakfast and three best on the cheap, if I recall correctly. I think if I had a business, I'd be most psyched about this award though:An original work Bob Moss made just for them, hand of God and all.

After lunch we went to see the University. We went to CAIL first, because Chris seemed so excited about it. We could see why when we got there - Sweet building:
Sweeter language family maps:
and an outrageously delicious library:
*whew*. We gotta get us one of those.

Later on we made it up to Park City, home of most of the Sundance Film Festival. It turns out the theatres are used for.... um... theatre during the off-season:
Overall, Park City feels a lot like Banff or Jasper, with one main drag jam packed with tourists and boutique stores catering to tourists. The only major difference was how steep that main drag was. Oh, and I guess the Mormons have left their subtle mark here:
At the end of the day we went up to see the half of the house, where Tamrika lives. Like you might expect, it was pretty sweet: And, like you might not expect, full of tiny dogs making people happy:

Two Temples

We had a thorough and thoroughly satisfying conference, so we gave ourselves a few days off to vacation in Salt Lake City. After evading the robotic cops at the airport:We took in two of the cities holiest sites. First, Temple Square:
We couldn't get in to the temple itself, but we went into the world-famous tabernacle.
While there, I couldn't help but notice how much the organ:
reminded me of a somewhat different temple I visited in Japan.
This guy, on the other hand, reminded me of nothing at all:
He was in the northern visitor's centre, sooth-saying for Nebuchadnezzar along with other biblical figures like Noah:
None of them, however, were fit to kiss the sandals of the 11-foot marble talking Jesus:
If you look carefully, you'll see that he's floating in space. Don't let it fool you: he's not too far out of reach of those of us stuck in the terrestrial kingdom:

When we'd had our fill, we moved on to Tamrika's temple to awesomeness:
This is the main floor of a former Antiques store that Tamrika and John have lovingly restored JUST FOR GUESTS LIKE US. Tanya (and, if you zoom in, Chris) express how amazed we were that we got to stay here. The place was outstanding. Rooms and rooms of interesting books:
Original Deseret art pieces by local heroes:
And so forth.

We spent the night in, all of us being tired, and the entertainment at home being more than exciting enough for us. Tamrika and John played Centipede:
The girls played pinball:
And Chris and I stuck to Gorf:
Gorf.