Temple Square is the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormon Church. There are a lot of beautiful and important buildings open to visitors.
Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah, the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a great base for outdoor recreation. Although we only spent a day downtown, we spent five days in the Salt Lake City area and used it as a base for several short day trips.
Our stop in Provo ended up being shorter than planned due to lack of time. We skipped the museums but we were able to see the downtown and the major sites.
Near the city of Provo is Bridal Veil Falls. It’s a 607 foot waterfall just off US 189 at the south end of Provo Canyon. There’s a parking lot right off the highway and a small park with picnic tables.
We made a quick lunch stop in the ski town of Park City, Utah, on our way from Evanston, Wyoming to Salt Lake City.
The old railroad town of Evanston, Wyoming, was supposed to be a quick stopover and our first night in a real bed after a week of camping at Yellowstone and Grand Teton. We ended up sticking around the next morning a bit longer than we had anticipated, enjoying how the town preserves its heritage.
Unless you’re a huge retail buff, there’s no reason to stop in Kemmerer, Wyoming. After finishing up at Fossil Butte National Monument, I drove through this tiny town to check out a small but interesting piece of American history.
If you’re expecting to walk among fossils of fish, plants, and animals still stuck in rocks, you’ll be disappointed by Fossil Butte National Monument. If you’re keen on learning about “America’s Aquarium” and how fossils are formed and preserved, it’s a worthwhile stop for a few hours.
In the 1890s, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent settlers from Salt Lake City to establish new communities. A group of families settled in the Antelope Flats area of Jackson Hole in what is now Grand Teton National Park. This community was named Grovont (Gros Ventre) but is now known as Mormon Row.
The tiny town of Moose, Wyoming, now sits within the boundaries of Grand Teton National Park and is the location of the park headquarters. Just to the north of the town is the ½ mile long Menor’s Ferry Trail which takes you through the Menor’s Ferry Historic District.