Arches National Park & Salt Lake City

Breathtaking scenery greeted us as we crossed into Utah, starting right at the welcome sign. The mountains, the snow and the rock formations gave us a beautiful drive to Arches National Park, our first Utah stop.

Rock formations alongside the road everywhere

As we entered Arches National Park, the blue skies made for excellent viewing of the spires, sandstone fins, eroded monoliths and balanced rocks that provide a scenic introduction to the 36mi / 58km roundtrip drive through the park. Created by over 100 million years of erosion, Arches National Park is truly spectacular.

The Park Avenue Trail is a one-mile trail along the bottom of a canyon that runs beside some of the park’s towering monoliths

Giving credence to the park’s name, Arches National Park is home to over 2000 cataloged arches. Created by water and ice, extreme temperature and underground salt movement, these arches range from the smallest at 3ft / 0.9m to the the longest, Landscape Arch, measuring 306ft / 93.2m from base to base. We ran out of time and couldn’t make it to Landscape Arch, but we saw plenty of other arches along our drive.

The North (left) and the South (right) Windows sit side by side

Double Arch is made up of two giant arch spans which are joined at one end

Delicate Arch is a freestanding natural arch standing at 52ft / 15.8m tall

And arches, monoliths and spires aside, the park is filled with beautiful views wherever you look.

We arrived in a very snowy Salt Lake City and as a result we didn’t stray too far. Salt Lake City is home to the headquarters of the Church of Latter Day Saints and has the largest LDS temple in the world by floor area. We spent time wandering around Temple Square and marveling at the four-year project that is currently in progress. The magnificent Salt Lake Temple, dedicated in 1893, is undergoing major renovations including giving the historic building a seismic upgrade to help the building withstand a large-magnitude earthquake. But despite the construction walls that are up around the Temple, we got brilliant views of it by night from the Roof Restaurant.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on Temple Square

*At 253,015 square feet / 23,505.9 m*²*, Salt Lake City has the largest LDS temple by floor area*

We were lucky enough to time our visit to Salt Lake City with a Thursday evening, when the Mormon Tabernacle Choir open their rehearsals for the public to watch. Singing in the Tabernacle where the choir has performed for over 100 years, the 360-member chorus of men and women raised the roof with their voices.

The Salt Lake Tabernacle, also known as the Mormon Tabernacle, was completed in 1867

The acoustics in the dome-shaped auditorium are so sensitive that a pin dropped at the pulpit can be clearly heard at the back of the hall

The front of the Tabernacle is dominated by the 11,623 pipe organ

The Tabernacle Choir is accompanied by an orchestra made up of up to 85 musicians

Utah, you have been wonderful so far!

PS: We did make the most of the snow as we played in the fresh fluffy powder and brought a little bit of the KC Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory to Salt Lake City 😂

P&S