Sunday - last day, Mormon Tabernacle Choir

For the last day of our Rotary convention, we were all invited to attend the weekly performance of "Music and the  Spoken word" at the Mormon Tabernacle. They have done this 30 minute radio broadcast EVERY Sunday morning for 88 years! We were all seated in a reserved area down front. We were there early enough to hear the rehearsal, so we actually heard the show twice! It was AWESOME!

We left won for home at bout 11:00, stopped at Cracker Barrell for lunch. Home by 6:00.

Great trip, but glad to be home!

Waiting to be escorted in

Missionary girls welcoming the tourists in their native language

LDS Bishop's Storehouse and Welfare Square

This Saturday was the final day of the Rotary Zone Institute. Of several afternoon adventures that were offered, we took a guided tour of the LDS Bishop's Central Storehouse, out near the airport, and then what they call "Welfare Square", back in the city.  For those of us who had worked at UMCOR, it was a real eye opener!

We had two excellent tour guides who did a great job of showing us around and explaining the LDS philosophy of self reliance, support for members, preparedness and titheing and "fast days", which support all this. The Church also sponsors humanitarian relief efforts all over the world - 130 countries in 2015.

The Bishop's Storehouse, completed in 2013, is 530,000 square feet of modern, high tech warehouse. Enough rack storage for 65,000 pallets (!). This is also the main facility for Deseret Transportation, a fleet of trucks, diesel storage, tires and parts for a year, repair and service facilities. We got the tour on a golf cart!

Heading back to the city, we toured "Welfare Square", a compound which is home to a grocery store (people get a list of items working with their bishop), an employment service, a bread operation which makes 4,000 loaves a day, a grain silo, a thrift store, a canning factory, a cheese factory and a milk plant that processes milk powder and chocolate milk. (We were treated to samples of cheese and chocolate milk).

About an hour south of the city is a cattle ranch with 3,000 head of beef cows, a turkey farm, and a mattress factory (the gov't requires that all refugees be given a new mattress). Of course, the church owns 600,000 acres of ranch land in  Florida!

All these operations are manned by many hundreds of volunteers! Seven million hours were recorded in 2015!

The grain silos is an interesting story. Seems the LDS women, going back to the 1800s, had gleaned grains from the fields and learned how to store it "for a rainy day". During WWI, there was a grain shortage so the US Gov't offered to buy the grain from the LDS women. They said: "No, we'll give it to you". The government insisted and women relented and took their money. What did they do with the money? They built a hospital - what is now known as the Intermountain Health System/LDS Hospital.

Not sure these photos will do it justice!

These are empty cans!

They manufacture these mattresses

Wednesday - Torrey to Salt Lake

Started our day at 8:30 by driving into Capitol Reef NP. Couldn't spend a lot of time there since we had to get to SLC by about 4:00, a leave time for a stop at IKEA.

Capitol Reef is a great park, generally overlooked. Spectacular scenery and virtually no people (as compared to the other Utah parks).  Looks like some great hiking opportunities if one had the time.

Then a memorable breakfast at a dumpy little place called "Capitol Reef Inn and Cafe". Highly recommend! (The only reason we knew about it was that we stopped there last evening, thinking it might be the Capitol Reef Resort where we had a reservation - not true).

Then off to SLC, arriving there by 4:30 as planned. Did not enjoy the traffic! Time to start the Rotary events.

I'm guessing this will conclude this blog! (Maybe not?) We'll head home on Sunday.

Tuesday - Bryce to Torrey

Strange weather day today. Started the day completely socked in by fog. It came and went, but did clear for us to get good views of Bryce Canyon. Excellent breakfast at the Bryce Canyon Lodge. Actually, the fog made for some interesting photos! Hiked along the rim trail for a bit; started down Queen's Garden trail but didn't have time to go far. Maybe next time. There are some awesome trails down into the canyon, and for miles along the rim.

The Park Service has just completed this very cool bike trail that runs all the way from Bryce Canyon City up to Inspiration Point. Remember to bring my bike next time!

After a lunch of dry roast beef sandwich and Fritos, we headed on toward Torrey on Route 12. Its about 110 miles of a wide variety of scenery. It was built by the CCCs in 1935 and called the "Five Million Dollar Road". If you can remember to come at the end of September, you'd be rewarded with spectacular hillsides of golden "quakies". About 25 miles south of Torrey, one reaches the summit of about 9600 feet, with spectacular views of the valley below; made the more interesting by the fact that we were under a big cloud!

On the way, stopped at the Anasazi Museum in Boulder.

Considering its remote location, Torrey has some great motels and eating places. We're staying at the Capitol Reef Resort.

Tomorrow straight north to Salt Lake City. Need to be at the Rotary hotel in City Creek by 4:00 ish. Linda hoping for quick stop at IKEA.

(note: photos are in reverse order. Don't ask me why)

View from 9600 feet

View from 9600 feet

Rt 12

On Rt 12

Contemplating Queen's garden Trail

Rt 12. No, its not snow!

That's not us

Bring your bike

The Lodge

Bryce Canyon Lodge - built in 1930s by Union Pacific.