Day 6 Grand Luxe Rail Journey - Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City not so much. While our stay here was highlighted by a bountiful buffet at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and a tour of this historic and pristine city. My enjoyment of this unique city was clouded by, not just the practice of polygamy, which often goes quietly unarrested, but the history of handing over under aged girls to men who often were old enough to be their grandfathers. Brigham Young himself had over 50 wives. It's just too creepy for words.

One of our compatriots from Boston informed us that Salt Lake citizens use more than three times the national average for water consumption. We found this curious in the middle of a desert, but then a guide shed some light on this situation. Back when the area was being settled by the Mormons, getting water to the people was a priority, so much so, that in some streets you will still see some open gutters with running water in them. This water can be diverted to your yard on certain days of the week, to water your lawn. As it turns out, the fresh water, much of which comes from snow melt off, will only drain into the great Salk Lake, so taking advantage of the fresh water before it becomes useless only makes sense.

Some nice things about Salt Lake City include a free trolley system which runs throughout the city, a well preserved and vibrant historic downtown, and the world's largest genealogy library, which we visited, but weren't very successful at finding our ancestors. We also enjoyed visiting the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics.--Ruth Mitchell