Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The Utah State Capitol building

This building has always been a favorite place of mine. I love to visit here. My wife and I used to come here just to hold hands, and stroll the grounds and chat when we were dating.
The Capitol building serves all three branches of government in Utah.
The capitol building was designed in 1912 by Utah architect Richard K.A. Kletting and completed in 1916. It’s really a beautiful building, in a beautiful location.
The interior dome is fun to see. It’s 165 feet at its highest point. The paintings and decorations of Utah history in the dome are beautiful. The background is painted like a clear blue sky with seagulls flying across. The dome is held up on four piers, each supporting ten million pounds.
There are lots of displays about Utah and Utah history, including lots of art and sculpture. The Governor’s suite contains a desk, table and cabinets that were made from trees that were toppled when a disastrous windstorm hit the Capitol in 1999. They represent Utah’s spirit and resilient nature.
When I was a kid there was a large museum in the basement that was fun to see, but that has changed since the remodeling.
In 2004 the Capitol building was refurbished. Pilings were installed under the building to help stabilize the Capitol in case of earthquake.
Local high schools frequently hold their formal dances here under the dome. The Capitol building in Salt Lake City is beautiful and definitely worth a visit.  






In Utah

This is a blog about what’s going on in Utah. If you’re interesting in visiting, you’ll find what you’re looking for here.
There’s no denying that Utah is a beautiful place.  There’s a great variety of landscape here from desert to alpine mountains. And the scenery changes with the seasons. There’s tons of fascinating history here. You’ll also find amazing things to do and see here in Utah.
One of the main reasons I’m putting this blog together is to provide information about Utah to those who are planning on visiting Utah as tourists. As I’ve researched information for this blog, I’ve been surprised to find that there is little information in blogs and internet videos about all the great things going on in Utah.
I happen to love Utah.
I’m the product of generations of people who lived in and loved the state of Utah. I have Mormon pioneers in all parts of my family tree. My personal feeling about Utah is that I am happy to live here, and I want to contribute to my community and make it a better place.  I don’t suppose I’m different from anyone else who is happy with the place where they live.
Our family tries to take advantage of all the beauty and action available in this state.
I love to ski when I can afford it. Skiing was different when I was a kid. We got on the lifts for about $10.00. Skipping school was a required part of skiing for my generation. We skied in our jeans and drank soup out of a thermos to keep warm.
It’s a little different now. The equipment is very high tech, and the outfits are expensive, and passes are more than $60.00,  but I’ll be posting all about the resorts and the best deals for skiing.
We like to get out and go camping. Our family has dirt bikes and we love to explore the trails in the mountains and out in the desert. Utah is famous for endless off road trails. I love to golf in Utah, and we try to get involved in all the community events that we can.
So I want to spend some time here on this blog talking about Utah and things that are going on in Utah. We’ll do resort reviews, product reviews, restaurant reviews, and we’ll talk about the sights.