Salt Lake City
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| Utah Capital building |
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| Salt Lake City City Hall |
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| Temple Square |
-- Aaron
Welcome to the capitol of Utah, a fun place to visit. It has lots of things to do. You can visit the marvelous Temple Square. From there, the beautiful Utah Capitol can be seen. Antelope Island State Park has some interesting stuff. Floating on the Great Salt Lake or eating a bison burger would be excellent. Garr Historic Ranch has lots of history and bison safely kept in fences. Salt Lake City is a really wonderful place to visit.
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| Bonneville Salt Flats and Utah's famed measured miles-site of world land-speed record runs |
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| crystalized salt |
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| Bonneville Salt Flats |
Before visiting Salt Lake City, we passed by Bonneville Salt Flats, part of the Great Salt Lake. The water was completely covered with crystallized salt. It sure looked like ice from a distance. I ran down to play on it. At first, I couldn't believe my eyes! "Was it ice? But it was 110 degrees Fahrenheit, so what could it be?" Then, I couldn't believe my nose. I sniffed it. Where's that stinky egg smell coming from? Cars are also tested on the Bonneville Salt Flats where Utah's famed measured miles-site of world land-speed record runs. 622.407 miles per hour (mph) is the highest speed record.
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| Temple Square |
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| Temple Square model |
The most important landmark of Salt Lake City is Temple Square, a Mormon temple. Located in downtown Salt Lake City, Temple Square has a 35 acre temple. Brigham Young picked the site of the temple by divine inspiration. He must have been very special. Then, Mormon pioneers spent 40 years of building during 1853 - 1893. Temple Square is mostly made up of granite stone. Imagine people from more than 100 years ago building the tremendous building! It is the largest Mormon church in the country. Temple Square is a cool place to visit, especially since the gray dome of the Utah capitol can be seen from there.
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| Temple Square visitor center |
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faith to move mountain
tools for cutting and hauling granite |
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| Temple Square gate |
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Family History Library
in Temple Squre |
The Family History Library in the Temple Square houses the largest genealogical collection in the world. My dad went to find out about our family ancestors in level B1 (international section). My brother and I got to play games on the computer. What an interesting experience we had.
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| Antelope Island |
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| Antelope Island trial map |
In 1845, Antelope Island, the largest island in the Great Salt Lake, received its name from John C. Fremont after finding several pronghorn antelopes. Antelope Island is home to free-roaming herds of bison, bighorn sheep, mule deer, and pronghorn antelope. The island provides spectacular views of Great Salt Lake, the Wasatch Mountains, Salt Lake skyline, and benches of ancient Lake Bonneville. Bison have no natural predators here, so I call it bison heaven. There used to only be 17 bison. Now, the bison population has grown to about 750! To keep the environment healthy, some bison have to be taken away. Some go to other State Parks, while others go to ranchers who want to start their own bison herd.
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| bison herd |
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| bison crossing the road |
We stopped to see 2 herds of bison. Suddenly, when we turned around the corner, a bison crossed the road! We held our breath and dare not to move. It was hairy with a beard, had a moving tail and 2 sharp horns, weighed 2,000 lb., was definitely strong. Bison may look gentle, but they can run up to 30 miles per hour while attacking. In a 2,000 pound body, that's really fast.
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| bison burger |
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| bison burger |
We also snacked on a bison burger. It was real bison meat. The burger was really juicy. But the best part was: it was 100% organic!
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| Antelope Island |
Antelope Island is one of the islands in the Great Salt Lake. Luckily, we could swim in Bridger Bay. We went floating on the Great Salt Lake. The salt water stung my eyes. In the end, we used the cold shower to wash the salt and sand off. The shore was black from far away. Do you think it's a black sand beach? Unfortunately, the answer is billions of tiny brine flies, or gnats. Everything that got close to them, including the car and us was attacked.
Can you imagine how easy floating is in the 25% salt part in the Great Salt Lake? The Great Salt Lake has a nickname: the Dead Sea of North America. Wouldn't you agree that it's a unique experience, especially since just lying down will let you float? It's so salty, only brine shrimp, several types of algae, and brine flies: a primary food source for millions of migrating birds manage to survive.
Do you know why we have a salty lake? The Great Salt Lake used to be a huge fresh-water glacier lake called Lake Bonneville during the Ice Age. The prehistoric Lake Bonneville stretched from Nevada to Utah. Normal lakes have a river flowing out of them. If water evaporates and leaves behind minerals, the lake still won't be salty. Water flows in the Great Salt Lake from 4 rivers, carrying 2.2 million tons of minerals into the lake every year. Hundreds of years ago, the river going out of the lake stopped flowing. The lake has no way for water to exit; the only way water leaves is through evaporation. Because of this, lots of minerals are left behind. The amount of minerals kept on building until the Great Salt Lake was formed.
A place full of exciting things is Salt Lake City. From Temple Square, you have a view of the Utah State Capitol. Antelope Island State Park is another example. Floating in the Great Salt Lake, eating real buffalo burgers, and visiting the Garr Ranch are some sweet activities. Salt Lake City is full of wonderful things to do and see.
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| Visitor center of Antelope Island |
-- Gordon
Do you want to travel? Visit Salt Lake City. When you enter, you might have noticed, "Is that ice? Let's go skating. What kind of ice is this?" It is actually crystalized salt. What a refreshing smell!
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| yummy buffalo burgers |
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| buffalo burgers restaurant |
Let's go see the animals! Welcome to Antelope Island. Look at the variety of animals, bison and pronghorn antelope. I am hungry . What's that? Yum, real buffalo burger. Hooray! I am floating on the Great Salt Lake, North America's Dead Sea.
Salt Lake City is the best! It is a great place to visit!
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| crystalized salt |
In 1845, Antelope Island, the largest island in the Great Salt Lake, received its name from John C. Fremont after finding several pronghorn antelopes. Antelope Island is home to free-roaming herds of bison, bighorn sheep, mule deer, and pronghorn antelope. The island provides spectacular views of Great Salt Lake, the Wasatch Mountains, Salt Lake skyline, and benches of ancient Lake Bonneville. Bison have no natural predators here, so I call it bison heaven. There used to only be 17 bison. Now, the bison population has grown to about 750! To keep the environment healthy, some bison have to be taken away. Some go to other State Parks, while others go to ranchers who want to start their own bison herd. 
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