Oregon Trail: Ames Edition

Sal Tlay Ka Siti

03.28.26

(Iykyk … and if you don’t, you should brush up on your 2010s Broadway smash hits.)

I was totally right. When we woke up and left our hotel we were surrounded by mountains. Just fuggin’ mountains everywhere.

Parking lot? Mountains.

Walgreens? Mountains.

A month ago I’d had a layover in SLC and had been in absolute awe of the snow-capped peaks as the plane descended. It was breathtaking, especially as it had just snowed. And although there was less snow this time, it was still just as beautiful.

Something else I did when I had my layover in SLC airport was listen to the “Book of Mormon” soundtrack as I raced from gate to gate. It became kind of a scavenger hunt of sorts as Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad crooned through my AirPods.

Orlando! I love ya, Orlando!
Your mission location is …

But this isn’t about that fun 30 minutes as I ran from one concourse to the other.

I’ve been super fascinated by Mormon culture for a while, and have watched dozens of shows and documentaries and movies (and musicals) that have highlighted the good, the bad, and the strange about this All-American religion. So of course visiting the center of it all was an absolute must.

I was far too jazzed about this excursion, and props to my travel bestie for dealing with it. But in the end it was an incredible experience with major bucket list vibes. Bonus points as the Temple Square is gorgeous, the flowers and trees were blooming, and tbh, Salt Lake City is just really pretty in general. We even popped into the Tabernacle and listened to an organ recital for a few minutes.

It was super cool and I don’t regret a single second of it.

THE Temple
Sculpture – Joseph Smith receiving the golden plates feat. Moroni
He got the golden plates.
Seagull Monument
Assembly Hall
Sculpture – Restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood
Sculpture – Restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood
Another gorgeous shot of the Assembly Hall
Tabernacle interior feat. the Salt Lake Tabernacle Organ
Tabernacle exterior
Not actually anything related to Temple Square. Just a drive by shot of the city library. Because library kids gonna library.

Whether or not you’re fascinated by this Later Day destination, it’s hard to argue with the gorgeous architecture that somehow blends the medieval with something that feels very American. And so many pointy bits.

All in all, I’m glad we made this pit stop. It fulfilled something inside and just made for an all around a great morning.

This wasn’t the only amazing thing we did on Tuesday — there were some great landscape experiences as well. But I’ll tackle those tomorrow in a separate post.

Goodnight!

Allegedly,

Ames

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