Diary for Harry and Judy's RV Trip


Day 53-May 12, 2018-Gilgan Sculpture Gardens, This Is The Place Heritage Park, Salt Lake City

2018-05-12

Day 53-May 12, 2018-Gilgan Sculpture Garden, This is the Place Heritage Park, Salt Lake City

Another cold, rainy, gray day.

Rained most of the night, all morning and most of the afternoon.  We spent the morning doing chores, making phone calls and trying to convince ourselves we should stay in and read all day.  NOT!  So we packed a lunch and headed out to Gilgan Gardens.  Hard to find, a little alley tucked between homes but worth the search.  The entrance is lined with trees that were probably really pretty last week but now there’s just a carpet of tiny pink blossoms on the ground.  Benches to sit and reflect but not many flowers out this time of year.  12 sculptures, some really weird, and over 170 stepping stones engraved with scripture, poems or sayings.  Would have been better if it wasn’t raining.  Next stop, the Pony Express Monument, which I thought was just a monument and that’s that but it was in the “This Is The Place” Heritage Park, where Brigham Young first saw the Salt Lake Valley and decided “this is the place” they’ll build.  The exact spot is marked by a huge memorial but we couldn’t get to it because there was a wedding taking place.  Also on the grounds is a Pioneer Memorial, “Eyes Forward”, a sculpture of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young looking at a map, train rides, pony and horse rides and, of course, the Pony Express Monument.  The view up on this hill of the city below is great and we passed the University of Utah on the way.  Big campus, very spread out.  Back down the hill to the center of the city.  The center is the Temple and everything is built around it, even the state Capitol building.  Not many tourists out for a Saturday but it’s still nasty weather.  Drove by the Salt Palace with its 150 standard road signs in front with diametrical sayings, i.e. Back/Front, Lead/Follow.  There’s a big “You Are Here” that you can’t see unless you’re right in front of it.  Then passed one of the 14 “Flying Objects” sculptures in Salt Lake City.  We’ve taken the tour of Salt Lake in the past so we skipped the major attractions that we’ve already seen.  It would have been a fun day to just walk around the city but, oh, did I mention the rain?  Back to the campground with our wanderlust satisfied we could now sit down and read a book.  Of course it stopped raining (for a while anyway) as soon as we got back, but it’s still cold.