Enjoying the View(s) at Temple Square

Although we have many family members & friends we like to visit when in Utah, one of our favorite activities has always been to visit Temple Square in Salt Lake City, and partake of the peace and unique spirituality that is present there. We realized this year that we had never taken our children on a Temple Square tour...well, it was time to change that!

Our first stop was the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (formerly the Hotel Utah), located just east of Temple Square. It's now a multipurpose building owned by the LDS Church, and they keep it in beautiful shape. We were impressed, as always, by the lovely decor inside, particularly the main foyer, shown above.

Lorelai & Celeste got "acquainted" with Joseph Smith while on the main floor.

The top floors of the JSMB include two restaurants, some offices, and lovely scenic overlooks of Temple Square and downtown Salt Lake City:

As you can see by the crane here, Salt Lake City is undergoing a lot of construction at the moment--it's part of the multi-billion-dollar renovation City Creek project.

Driving through downtown was a crazy mess, but you could see the shape of things to come, and it looks like downtown Salt Lake will be even nicer when this is all said & done. Being in Utah, and seeing all the construction everywhere, has made both Nathan and myself forget there's a recession on; the Beehive State (on its surface at least) seems to be doing just fine!

This was our favorite view from atop the JSMB...

Afterwards, Celeste turned to me and said, "Mommy, in the temple we'll be a family FOREVER!" Well, coming from my sweet little 2-year-old...I admit I teared up. Kudos to her Primary teachers!

Our next stop was the Church Office Building, where it was fun to examine the directory in the lobby, and wonder what it must feel like to get called into the offices of "47E"...

After a short tour, we took another elevator ride to the top of the building, and got a very nice view of much of Salt Lake City, including the Capitol Building.

From here, it was on to the Conference Center, a truly remarkable (and beautiful) feat of engineering & design. I've attended one General Conference session here, and hope to be able to return someday.

The girls were duly impressed. What amazes me the most is that there are no seats with obstructed views in the whole room (which seats 21,000!).

A view of the temple from the Conference Center's Hall of Prophets, which contains a bust of each prophet in the current dispensation (the late great President Hinckley's bust is on the far left, looking out over the Conference Center that was built on his watch).

A view of the chandeliers & skylights in the Conference Center

One of my favorite bits of LDS art, "Ascent," by David Linn. Sorry about the flash! :( All the artwork hanging in the Conference Center is original artwork, including a whole wing with the complete set of Arnold Freiberg's famous Book of Mormon paintings (we saw this gallery just days after the artist's death--what a memorial!)

We finished our Conference Center tour up on the center's roof, which is a lovely garden with stone walkways--it's a bit incongruous. You feel like you're in a city park, then peer over the side of the building down to the street several stories below!

So, you may ask...did we ever make it to Temple Square itself? The good news--yes. The bad news--the kids were all pooped out by now, so we only managed a cursory walk through the square.

Lorelai is looking a little annoyed that I'm still snapping pictures... :)

When we visited the South Visitor's Center, we were able to catch a glimpse of a fascinating new exhibit...it's a large, scale model of the Salt Lake Temple, with full-replica interiors! It's a fascinating tool for temple-goers and casual visitors alike; it gives new insight to just how meticulously crafted the Salt Lake Temple is...

Unfortunately, this marked the limit of our kids' attention span. No Tabernacle visit, and only a short drop-by of each Visitor's Center (we also looked at the Christus statue in the North Visitors' Center). Oh well--when our family's a little older, we'll do our best to return and show them everything. We still really enjoyed ourselves; Salt Lake City is a beautiful city, and Temple Square is a big reason why. We are always grateful for the opportunity to visit.