Come Find Me!

Today I'm posting on Protect Snake Valley about the Christmas Bird Count.

Check it out!

Utah State Capitol

 Last Sunday morning after we went to an interesting church, we were headed to the Hogle Zoo. I said, "Let's go by the Capitol." I was driving, so that's where we went. We found plentiful parking, so we hopped out and started roaming the capitol grounds.My husband was out looking at some auction stuff, so I figured we had a little free time. And I couldn't resist testing out my new camera some more. (Have I mentioned how much I like my new camera?)

 The architecture is beautiful. The Capitol was designed in 1912 by Richard K. A. Kletting and completed in 1916. Everything looks so stately, and we had it pretty much to ourselves.

 I was enjoying the great lighting and snapping way too many photos. This post is a wee bit on the long side. A wee bit.

 The kids were game for going up all those steps. Desert Girl wanted to do them all, so this was a good way to work off some extra energy.

 I noted the beehives--the symbol of the state of Utah. It truly is an industrious state, with lots of bees helping to keep the hive healthy.

 The stairs go on and on. Desert Boy has made it to the top.

 We found beautiful doors and light fixtures.

 Then we turned around and saw the inversion over the city. They chose well to put the Capitol on a hill.

 A red coat for Desert Boy was a good choice--I can always find him.

 Then it was time to go down the stairs.

 Underneath the stairs we found a gate open and couldn't resist checking it out. There were some doors to the building and I tried one and it was open!

 We went inside, finding all the lights on. No one else was in sight. We felt like we were intruding, but Desert Girl made plenty of noise and no one came running.  We figured out that the Capitol was indeed open for folks to tour (and it was--it's open seven days a week except for some holidays).

 I made a stop in the bathroom and was intrigued by the granite changing table. Not sure I've ever seen one of those before.

 The place is wonderful for photography. In fact, if you're doing professional photography you have to get a permit. I'm definitely an amateur, so I had the kids sit on the stairs. Above them is the Supreme Court (mostly for show, they now conduct most of their business in the Scott M. Matheson courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City). The lunette above the doors was painted by Gerard Hale and Gilbert White and is titled Reclaiming the Desert by Irrigation.  (I only know this because they have self tour brochures and I brought one home.)

 Cute kids!

 We admired the tall rotunda. The interior dome is 165 feet at its highest point.

 Twelve murals adorn the walls in the rotunda, including four in the pendentives, or arched triangles leading up to the dome. (That was a new word for me, how about for you?) These were funded by the Public Works of Art Program, a federal relief program formed to provide work for unemployed artists during the Great Depression. The one above is titled Brigham Young and Pioneers Entering the Valley.

 Father Escalante Discovers Utah Lake 1776.

Fremont First Sees Great Salt Lake - 1843. 

 Then we looked toward the west side, with the matching grand staircase. It leads up to the House Chamber, and the lunette above it is The Arrival of the Pioneers in the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1847.

 We climbed up those stairs, enjoying our self tour and feeling very lucky to still have the entire building to ourselves. We wandered around the third floor a bit and then found stairs up to the fourth floor.

 I enjoyed this light fixture.

 Then it was time to start heading down.

 The telephoto lens made it easy to get some candids.

 On the way out I saw this lion and liked it. Even larger lions reside outside the west and east entrances, but we missed those. I feel like we just skimmed the surface of this wonderful building. Guided tours of the Utah State Capitol are given weekdays from 9 am to 4 pm, and we'll have to return sometime to take one.

 Desert Girl really liked hanging out with Uncle Ed.

 

I'm not sure what they were talking about--maybe the next adventure?

Natural History Museum of Utah

Last weekend we went to the Natural History Museum of Utah. It's in a brand new building, which made it a little hard to find, as our GPS and all the signs pointed to the old building (plus my city driving skills are a little lacking). If you're looking for it, it's at 301 Wakara Way, and follow the signs to Red Butte Garden.


We met Uncle Ed and his friend Nick, who had the opportunity to see the museum through the eyes and at the speed of a four-year old. Fortunately he works for the University of Utah, so he got in for free. He'll be able to see the museum again at a more leisurely pace and possibly read an exhibit or two.

Desert Boy quickly became attached to extra adult supervision, as the supervision was really fun, willing to swing him, one of his favorite activities.

The ticket lady recommended we start up on the fifth floor since we had a stroller and work our way down. That turned out to be good advice, because the parts Desert Boy was most interested in were down on the second and third floors, so that gave him something to look forward to.

The top floor had an exhibit about weather, along with a nice outside deck. We took advantage of it to check out Salt Lake City's inversion, which obscured most of the view. We were grateful to be up in the sun.

We wound our way down to the biology floor; with exhibits about different types of organisms. We missed most of those as the kids were really interested in the play/educational area. Desert Girl quickly remembered how fun Uncle Ed is.

They had neat dioramas of different habitat zones. I did a double-take when we reached the alpine zone. I recognize this photo--it's a place I've visited frequently! I won't spill the beans of where it is, but I'll say it made me chuckle.

This probably isn't what the building designers intended for a handrail, but Desert Girl sure enjoyed it.

We went through an interesting geology section (although I didn't get to read much of it). The part we concentrated on was the exhibit that showed how erosion works. We moved sand around and then turned the faucets on to see what would happen. I have to admit that I really enjoyed moving the sand, too!

After an archaeological demonstration, we headed down to the dinosaur floors. Desert Boy was in heaven.

I had fun trying to take photos in the low light and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

I think this is a wooly mammoth--again, we really didn't get to read very much. We definitely can go through the museum many more times to pick up on things we missed the first time around.

Besides looking at the skeletons, Desert Boy was fascinated with a see-through floor with bones underneath.

Desert Girl found another one and was equally enthralled.

Desert Boy found a draw-your-own-dinosaur station and did a nice job of making a "cowasaurus."

We then managed to lose Uncle Ed and Nick when we went into the kids' playroom and the kids got soaking wet playing in a fake little stream. They also had a little cave. It was little enough that I didn't really want to go in, but Desert Boy crawled through.

So we left  happy and wet. It was a good day at the museum.

Clark Planetarium

 On Saturday night we went to the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City. It's a free museum that also has lots of movies that you can pay to see. They also have a really cool gift shop where we found some fun things. In the photo above, Desert Boy tries to influence the cloud-making machine.

 Desert Girl and Uncle Ed checked out the giant pendulum.

 Then the kids went for a ride above earth to see what the Hubble telescope was up to.

 Desert Girl made it to Mars and can apparently withstand its atmosphere without any protective equipment.

 Desert Boy went for a Martian walk. He, too, has special powers.

 

On the way back, they detoured to the moon and tested the gravitational pull.

It was fun looking at the exhibits, even if it was a whirlwind tour due to some very short attention spans. 

Afterwards we checked out the Christmas lights in the Gateway Center. We were fascinated by a fountain. During the summer it would be a wonderful place to cool off. In the winter it looked cold. But my husband found a way to walk through without getting (too) wet, so he and Desert Boy took a walk on the wild side.

Sneak Peak

 We spent a long weekend in Salt Lake City to visit my brother, Ed, who was able to arrange a several-day stopover. I've hardly spent any time there, so we had a wonderful time exploring. And I had lots of fun learning to use my new camera. Which also means I have a lot of photos to sort through. And a busy week ahead, so it might be awhile before I do. In the meantime, here's a teaser of some of the things we did:

Have a great week!