We're Off!

Let the adventure begin...

Our first stop is Salt Lake City, UT! We'll be staying with our wonderful friends Chris and Amie, whom Jenny has known for nineteen years (Carl has known them for three, but only Chris is counting because he LOVES Carl). Once we arrive in Salt Lake, we'll rest for the night, and take off again in the morning before sunrise. Why so fast? We've been to and will travel to SLC again because Jenny grew up there.

The most commonly asked question of Jenny about being born and raised in Utah is, "Are you Mormon?" Utah has a changing face and a mysterious hystory to those who don't know much about it. Let's take a closer look at Salt Lake and let the facts answer that question...

The photo above is a view of the Wasatch Front and downtown from the Southwest side of the city. Notice the temple among the office buildings. Salt Lake's dominent religion is Latter Day Saint, or Mormon, and one cannot travel through the city without observing the rich history of how the mormons founded Utah. Here's a little Wikipedia excerpt:

The city was founded in 1847 as Great Salt Lake City by a group of Mormon pioneers led by their prophet, Brigham Young, who fled hostility and violence in the Midwestern United States. They extensively irrigated and cultivated the arid valley and faced persecution from the U.S. government for their practice of polygamy, which was abandoned in 1890. Today, Salt Lake City is still home to the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS, also known as the Mormon Church). According to data from the LDS Church, the State of Utah, combined with IRS and Census Bureau estimates, Salt Lake County was 53% LDS in 2004, as reported in the Salt Lake Tribune. Extrapolating corresponding figures of 62% LDS in 1994 and 57% in 1999, along with the 2004 figure of 53%, renders a conservative estimate that Salt Lake County is most likely less than 40% LDS today.Mining booms and the construction of the first transcontinental railroad initially brought economic growth, and the city was nicknamed the Crossroads of the West. Salt Lake City has since developed a strong outdoor recreation tourist industry based primarily on skiing. Salt Lake City was host to the 2002 Winter Olympics and is the industrial banking center of the United States.

Want to know more? Click here.

The drive from Portland to Salt Lake City is a twelve hour drive and will be the longest leg of our trip. We have several more hours ahead of us before we arrive, so watch for photos and stories shortly... you never know what will happen on the open road!