| Having finally decided to leave the Salt Lake City region behind
us, we did manage a quick glimpse of the lake itself. It is now split by a
causeway which has caused the two halves to change levels, salinity and thus
colour although this was not obvious to us. This shot was taken right at the
northern end as we made our way to Promontory Point. |  |
 | This is the point
where the transcontinental railway was completed between the Union Pacific
and the Central Pacific in 1869. The site is called 'Golden Spike' after the
last spike used to complete the track. The site is miles from anywhere and off the beaten track
right at the northern end of the Great Salt Lake. There is a visitor centre
and a couple of replica steam engines (Jupiter and No 119) where they reenact the joining ceremony
several times a day in the season. |
| Unfortunately we arrived quite late and only managed to see one
of the engines disappearing off in the distance to where it is housed. I
might find a better shot from somewhere later. There were actually two
golden spikes, one now owned by Stanford University in California, the other
was lost in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake; also a gold and silver spike
and a silver one. |  |
 | We
travelled further north the following day through a town called Paris
(Idaho). This
was still deep in Mormon country and we saw this elegant tabernacle. Non
believers are allowed in these but this one was closed for renovation. Pity
because this looked very attractive in its pink granite and like a 'proper'
church. Most of the new LDS "churches" we had seen seemed to be to a standard
design. Given that they open at least one a day somewhere, I suppose
that is not very surprising. |
| We also came across the first indication we were
entering 'BEAR' country which was reasonable since we had just passed Bear
Lake. The town was full of these quite attractive seats.. |  |
 | Then we moved
steadily north, finally leaving Utah and entering Idaho (briefly) before
slipping over the border into Wyoming. Still we headed north, passing through
Jackson and eventually reaching up towards the north east corner and the Grand
Teton National Park. This gave us yet another impressive collection of
mountains. |
| They seem to rise up vertically from the Snake River in the valley bottom which is
in fact what they do. The land of the valley bottom is at about 7,000ft and
the mountain tops reach as high as 11500ft. Again the camera cannot capture
the breadth of the panorama as this long chain stretches out in front and
behind you. |  |
 | Alongside the
mountains lies Jackson Lake. We drove alongside this for a while and it really sets
off the mountains. The whole is a National Park with a fee for entry which
was not required with our parks pass, which has now amply paid for itself.
As we left the north of this park we almost immediately entered Yellowstone
Park. |
|