Utah is such an interesting place. It has beauty of a totally different sort than Montana. Like most states, it has its unimpressive places, but it has its pretty places too. Most of Utah seems to have little to no grass or trees. Mostly just brush covered rolling hills. There are some pockets though, usually tucked in the valleys between more mountainous regions that have trees and green grasses. I have already found the area where I would want to live if I ever moved here. Don’t worry, I don’t want to. There is a windy backroad that crosses through one side of the park and then leaves, winding up into the “mountains.” Here there seems to be a decent amount of moisture, comparatively. There is green grass, yellow wildflowers, a mix of aspen and conifer trees, high mountain peaks and quiet little valleys with splendid views. Here is a few pictures that show photography beauty of little merit, but they are still descriptive.
Mormonism
Utah has the highest percentage of Mormons in all of the United States, by a large margin. There is an estimated 63% percent. The state with the next most is Idaho, and it only has around 19%. This does not come as surprise to me after being here. It is evident that Mormonism has affected both the culture and demographics. I have seen multiple temples, and when I was looking for a church that we could go to, I found that most all of them, at least the ones near us, were Mormon. Because Mormons usually always have lots of children, it is not uncommon to see big families. It is nice to not have everyone gasping at us.
In the Parks…
In the parks, as they are mainly loaded with tourists, you do not see as much Mormon influence. One guy asked Mom and Dad if they had an orphanage( obviously referring to us). It seems like it is more common to hear a different language being spoken by passersby than English, but it may just seem like that because it is something different. Dad, being the friendly sort of guy that he is, has met lots of people from all over the world. He has met people from Germany, the Czech Republic, Taiwan, Belgium, and more. It is fun to hear all their different accents and ways of speech. Hiking the narrows was, without a doubt, my favorite thing that we have done here. I won’t go into detail about it, as Mom has already written about it. The trip was pretty rough on the body. I have to admit though, that it didn’t have to be that way entirely. But, floating/swimming/bumping down the rapids and places where it was deep enough, with Samuel, was one of my favorite parts. We got pretty banged up as we had quite a few crashes, but it was worth it.
Church
The church that we ended up attending was super tiny as it had only about 40 people. I liked it because it seemed so real, it didn’t seem like everything was doctored up and showy. I was surprised when the pastor came up to introduce himself to Dad before the service as he was way younger than I expected. He gave a very though provoking, information-packed sermon that was in no way fluffy. It was different than what I was expecting, but that was good, as I usually expect the opposite. I would not say that I am used to the opposite, as the ones I am used to are not that way. It reminded me in some ways of the church that I went to when I was younger.
Showdown’s
We decided to do something different last night and go out to eat. This restaurant was the one that Dad picked, but we didn’t expect it to be like this. It was the coolest restaurant that I have ever been to. It was super rustic, with seating both inside a barn-like building and outside. Everything was lit nicely and there was a fire pit with real fire in it outside. There was live country music and bull and bronco riding. For a restaurant I thought it had pretty good food.