America - It Always Surprises

Hello everyone! It’s Greg here, fresh back from my trip to Salt Lake City! And what do we all know about SLC? It’s full of Mormons. And what do we know about the Mormons? … Uh, surprisingly little, it turns out.

The two things I thought I knew turned out to be false; no hoards of wives, not an alcohol-free state. Yes, it’s true that Mormons don’t drink alcohol (or tea or coffee!) but they certainly don’t enforce this over every citizen there. Actually, there were some very good micro-breweries and a wide range of beer.

So strike that knowledge. I learnt rather a lot about the Mormons (that that’s not their actual name for one thing; they are followers of the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints), one of the most striking being that they are shockingly resourceful people.

Salt Lake City is built around Temple Square, where there is the Temple (normal people can’t go in) and a range of interesting buildings, which some guides will show you around for free. The buildings are absolutely stunning and, for the most part, made out of soft white pine. Cool marble columns and antique mahogany benches actually just turn out to be examples of some very neat painting by some talented founders.

That said, the giant marble statue of Jesus is certainly stone, and surrounded by some well-preserved by shockingly repulsive depictions of the stars and planets from the 1960s.

I failed to be converted, mainly because the guides didn’t really try. I’d psyched myself up for a barrage of “truths”, but actually they were very careful to use phrases such as “we believe” and “we are taught that…”. It was great. Definitely worth a visit, and not just for the Evolution Amber Ale (”Darwin approved - brewed in 27 days, not 7″).

Salt Lake City, UT - Greg