A Passion For 'Puters

This morning I was up super-early, so I messed around in my room for a while, went down and got some coffee & banana bread for breakfast, then messed around online for a bit, before heading out to the Temple Square at just after 8am. I wandered the area until 9am, when the visitor center opened, then went in (out of the cold – it’s chilly out there!) and did a tour of the visitor center with a very nice, very earnest older man who made the term proselytizing seem tame… After that, I wandered farther through the square, taking a bunch of pictures, most of which seemed to be eaten by my phone on the way to Flickr, apparently, then stopped by the Beehive House. If any of you have read the 19th Wife, you will understand why I wanted to definitely hit this while I was here! I took the tour and noticed that they kept referring to Brigham’s first wife, but never once mentioned the other wives who lived in the house as well. It was an interesting tour, though – the house is gorgeous!
After that I wandered the downtown area – mostly because I was sort of lost and was having trouble finding the street my hotel is on. Turns out I was heading the right direction, just needed to go a bit farther, since I had completely underestimated how long the Temple Square actually is.
Then, after lunch and an hour’s nap, I hopped on a tour bus and headed to the Great Salt Lake. While there, we saw the old Saltair pavilion, where the Insane Clown Posse was getting ready for a concert this evening. Beyond that was the GSL Marina, where we stuck our fingers in the water, viewed some brine shrimp in a cup and saw the results of letting GSL water evaporate from a glass jar (the evaporation already happened – we didn’t have to wait around for it). The bus ride back was uneventful and there was another period of resting in my room before I headed out to a nearby Benihana’s for dinner. The meal was excellent (Seafood Diablo – spicy!) but the service was iffy. The red wine, sake and plum wine sangria I had with my meal, however, ensured that I wasn’t that bothered by it.

I have landed in Salt Lake City, in preparation for the LITA Forum, and have managed to find my hotel room, a Starbucks and a brew pub all within the first 10 minutes of my arrival. I rock. Anyway, the flight in, once we descended from the clouds, was incredible. The view from the plane was of immense mountains, their peaks sticking holes in the cloud cover, ringing the valley in which Salt Lake City sits. It was gorgeous. My first few minutes on the ground, not so much. Lots of clouds completely obscuring those mountains and threatening rain all around the city (but none in the city proper, yet).
The drive in was interesting – Salt Lake is a pretty cool looking town. I saw a drive through Sushi place and billboards for at least a couple of local breweries. Then, just as we were turning into the Hilton’s drive, I saw a brew pub that was directly across the street from the hotel. I may try eating there tonight – depends on the rain situation.
It’s cold here – 45 degrees, cloudy and windy when we landed – but the weather should improve about the time the main conference starts and I’m relegated to inside rooms all the time…
The hotel, what I’ve seen of it (the registration desk, the Starbucks and my room, so far) is lovely. They gave me a complimentary code for Internet access (from the conference or the hotel? I’m not sure!) and made the trip a bit cheaper for me!! I can’t live without my Internet!!!
Tomorrow is sightseeing day. Prepare to be inundated with lots of pictures! Friday the main conference starts, Saturday is my program, Sunday is the end of the conference and my flight home. I’ll post more later!!