Day 11 -- Mormon Square, White Horse Saloon, Choir Rehearsal.
Everything for day 11 is around Mormon Square. Here is Kimberly in front of the Joseph Smith statue.
Here are the two of us.
A nice shot of the temple proper.
There were two large visitor centers. One contained the history of building the temple, including
this replica of the Angel Moroni from the top...
...and this overall replica to show you what's inside (since you can't actually go in the temple).
You could go into the tabernacle.
Here is Wade singing in front of the Mormon Tabernacle.
A canned recording played inside the tabernacle.
The other visitor center had more of the history of Mormonism. I'm not sure what was the significance
of dating this back to the temple in Jerusalem.
One of the displays: a picture of God and Jesus appearing to Joseph Smith, a picture of Joesph Smith
transcribing the plates to English, and a replica of the plates.
According to LDS scripture, Jesus visited the Americas after rising from the tomb.
Across North Temple Avenue is the Conference Center, which seats 22,000. This is where we went later
to attend choir practice.
They also have a Church History Museum, and lots of bright-eyed missionaries on every corner, ready
to answer any questions you have about the church.
Kimberly and Moroni.
They had a huge display of Mormon-related art. This is a lovely sculpture where the roots branch out
in the tree of life, forming the continents on Earth.
Lion House, named for the lion on the balcony. It is where Joseph Smith's "other" wives lived.
He and his primary wife lived in the Beehive, which we toured with another helpful missionary.
After all this Mormonism, we needed a drink. We had made arrangements for dinner at a place
called the White Horse...
...which turned out to be more of a gastropub than a restaurant.
Wade had a Delerium Tremens beer, and Kimberly had some wine.
We split the truffle grilled cheese sandwich. We also had a duck breast, that we forgot to take a
picture of in our haste to eat it.
In the evening, we planned to go to Mormon Tabernacle Choir practice in the Conference Center. We
parked under the center, and started following people with choir folders, figuring that must be the way.
We ended up backstage with the choir, and someone had to escort us across the stage and out to the audience,
but we can honestly say we have been onstage with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir warming up. We got there early enough to hear the orchestra rehearsal, and
pray in ("...and give us rehearsal discipline..."), and warm up,
all of which is supposed to happen before the gawkers show up.
"My Favorite Things" includes the sopranos being told they are flat.
"There Is a Balm in Gilead" with direction. Sounds just like Diane with our choir.
