Saturday, February 13, 2010

RV Trip Highlights


Last summer my friend and I took a month-long trip in a rented RV starting in Calgary, Canada, then driving south to the northern tip of Arizona and back up again. We visited all the National Parks and many more sights along the way. I have recorded our travels on a daily basis earlier in this blog. But, two places that we visited stand out in my mind that I would like to give special recognition to. You can view the pictures associated with these two places by going to the blog entries for days 11, 12, and 29 of our Rocky Mountain trip.

Salt Lake City: Worth a Visit

As part of the RV trip through and along the Rocky Mountains my friend and I made a stop at Salt Lake City. Of course, we had heard and read about how Salt Lake City came about and that it is the world headquarters of the Church of Latter Day Saints, also known as Mormons, but had no idea what would await us there.

Right off the bat let me say that I am impressed with what the Mormons offer tourists, regardless of where they come from or what their heritage is, in Salt Lake City. First of all, there is a free shuttle bus from the airport to Temple Square and back (this bus happens to pass by the KOA campground where we stayed and it picks up and delivers anyone from there who wants to go downtown). The shuttle buses are driven by volunteer members of the Church. The aim of the free shuttle service is to enable people who have a few hours layover at the airport to spend them seeing Temple Square, the Mormon version of Rome's Saint Peter's Square.

On Temple Square there are many ushers, guides for most languages, and generally nice people willing to point things out and to assist in any way. How the Church manages to mobilize these numbers of people is beyond me: Men dressed in business suits, women in long (almost formal) dresses befitting the rules of the Mormon Church, and young people also dressed in consonance with the surroundings. I surmise that the overall aim is to put the Mormon religion in as positive a light as possible. Everything is clean, neat, and well organized. Although the references to the Church, it's leaders past and present, and the all-present thesis of the Book of Mormon are evident, no one directly proselytized or even mentioned other religions.

We were given a tour of Temple Square and some buildings by two young women, one from South Korea, the other from Mexico. They spoke in glowing terms of the achievements by the pioneers who braved many hardships in reaching this valley after being persecuted out of two different locations farther east. The Temple itself is sacred and can only be entered by members of the Church in good standing. Don't ask me exactly what 'in good standing' means, the best I could gather was that once a year every Mormon has to have an interview with a bishop who ascertains and certifies the worthiness of the member to enter the Temple.

We also visited the Museum of Family History, also known as the Genealogical Library. Again, the people were all very friendly and accommodating. The Genealogical Library is huge and like any large library has several floors, reams of books, masses of computer terminals, and a large vault with thousands of microfilms. All of it is accessible to the general public with the aid of the library staff. I really didn't make this trip to Salt Lake City to do genealogical research, but since we were there it interested me how and why they maintain such a library. The 'how' is that people (presumably Church members) go out and obtain family histories from archives around the world. This information is put into a database and shared with the world. Then if someone finds his or her ancestors and adds his or her own records, this information in turn can be added to the database to augment it. The 'why' is that the Mormon Church emphasizes the unity of families. By tracing one's roots and completing the family tree the whole world could eventually in a way be united as one big family. Mind you, I'm no expert on the Mormon religion, this is only my take on the situation.

We then wandered around a bit and had a little lunch at a cafe in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. As we finished our lunch we strolled out into the main part of the building which looked like the lobby of a grand hotel, but without reception desk or bellmen. My friend wanted to take a picture of the richly ornamented lobby, but didn't dare because a greater-than-life statue of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Latter Day Saints, kept watch over us, and many people in wedding attire moved about the lobby and the corridors. I spotted a dapper gentleman in a light gray suit and a name tag who was standing at the entrance to the hall as if ready to direct anyone who needed directing. I approached him intending to ask if it was OK to take a picture, but first I asked him what the function of this building is. That started a relationship that lasted for over an hour, got us a private guided tour of the building, and tons of information about the customs of the Mormons.

In the early 1900s the building which is now the Joseph Smith Memorial Building used to be the Utah Hotel, a grand gathering place for the rich and famous in Salt Lake City and surroundings. It is now a place where Mormon Church members can have their wedding receptions (there were nine going on at the time we were there), and where Church banquets and meetings are held. The president of the Church used to live in a private suit upstairs. There are two restaurants in addition to the cafe where we ate and viewing areas on the 10th floor where one has a wonderful view of Salt Lake City and the surrounding valley.

The gentleman opened doors for us that are usually closed to the public. Everything is of the finest quality. The drinking fountains are golden, spotless, and work well! When the ceiling in one of the main dining rooms was refurbished, only a lady from Germany knew how to do it. No expense seems too great to demonstrate the power of the Church and to extol its virtues.

After visiting another edifice or two we hopped aboard the free shuttle for a ride back to the campground in a torrential downpour. The nice man driving the bus told us that they have had twice the amount of rain that usually falls in the entire month of June in just two weeks, but that they needed it because the summers are hot and dry. He not only took us to the campground, he drove us right up to our RV so that we wouldn't get wet.

The next day being a Sunday, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed and we had gotten reservations to see the performance through our campground. The Tabernacle is a large theater which holds several thousand people. Because in the summertime many tourists want to see and hear the choir, the performances are moved to the Congress Center which holds more than 20,000 people. We were lucky because this was the last performance in the Tabernacle before the choir went on a 13 day tour and after that would perform in the Congress Center for the rest of the summer.

It was an impressive experience. The choir has its dress rehearsal during which time the audience is let in, then follows the performance which is taped and then broadcast by radio and television stations around the world. Everything has to be very precise, the timing, the camera shots, and the silence by the audience. The sounds produced by the orchestra and the choir are fantastic and to experience them live makes it even more enjoyable. Needless to say, there were herds of ushers and guides who helped prevent chaos when people entered and left the Tabernacle.

Again the free shuttle service transported us both ways. This concluded our most enjoyable and informative visit to Salt Lake City. "Hats off" to the nice people in Salt Lake City.

The Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

Our first stop on our recent RV trip was only a few hours south of Calgary near the town of Fort Macleod in an RV Park and campground called "Buffalo Plains," a name which seemed appropriate for these wide open spaces at the foothills of the Rockies.

While reading the guidebook to see what attractions awaited us in the area we came across a curious reference to a place called "Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump." We first thought of a replica of a Wild West saloon where frequent brawls led to the strange name. When reading further, however, we found out that this place with the strange name had actually been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 and is one of the world's oldest, largest, and best preserved buffalo jumps in existence. It had been used continuously by native peoples of the plains for almost 6,000 years.

But what is a "buffalo jump" and where does that curious name "Head-Smashed-In"come from?

We soon found out when we went to the site's Interpretive Centre. A “buffalo jump” is a cliff over which the native inhabitants of the North American plains used to drive a herd of bison by stampeding them and luring them in the direction of the cliff. The bison would fall over the cliff, the first over would be killed outright while the following animals would only be injured because they fell on the dead ones below. The injured would then be killed by the natives with arrows and lances.

The way the natives got the herd to stampede was to have a young man called a “runner” drape the skin from a buffalo calf over himself as a disguise and ease up to the lead cow. She would then think this was a calf, or even that this was her own calf. Then other braves would drape wolf skins over themselves and approach the herd as if they were wolves. This caused the herd to squeeze together for protection. The crowding together would excite the animals and they would start to run. When the buffalo started to run, the brave disguised as a calf would start to run toward the cliff and the lead cow would follow, trying to protect what she thought was a calf. This was very dangerous for the runner. A man can run about 15 mph, a buffalo can make 30 mph. The stampeding herd thundered ever closer to the runner. Meanwhile, other braves would jump up from hiding places on both sides of the path to the cliffs, waving and shouting, thus directing the herd toward the cliff. If the runner survived long enough to reach the cliff, he would jump down unto a ledge and let the thundering herd fly to their death over him. To the shortsighted buffalo the edge of the cliff appeared as a dip in the prairie. Even if the buffalo at the front recognized the danger and stopped, the rest of the frenzied herd would push them to their deaths.

This all sounds cruel, but before guns and horses, this was the most efficient way for the natives to obtain food to feed their tribe and to obtain buffalo hides for their lodges and clothing. If the kill was great enough, they used the extra meat and hides as bartering materials with other tribes and later on with white traders.

As to the name, when one envisions a stampeding herd of bison plunging head-first over a cliff, it isn't hard to imagine where the name "Head-Smashed-In" came from.

The Interpretive Centre is an education in itself! The numerous exhibits, archeological artifacts, and the audio-visual presentations are of the finest. On certain days of the week native dancers and drummers put on shows. The day we were lucky enough to be there, it happened to be the 1st of July, Canada's equivalent of our 4th of July, the show was not only spectacular but also very informative. During a break in the performance of the Blackfoot dancers and drummers I had the opportunity to talk to one of the performing drummers at length. He readily discussed the heritage of their dances and chants and remarked that I was the first foreigner who had ever asked him these questions. He explained the meaning of the chants and the accompanying drum rhythms, assuring me that even though to my untrained ear it all sounded the same, there was a different message conveyed by each piece. I also learned that none of these songs and dances are written down, but are passed from one generation to another by word of mouth.

In addition to the exhibits and other activities at the Interpretive Centre, there are hiking trails to the actual buffalo jump cliff and the surrounding area where a wonderful view of the plains and the Rockies looming in the distance can be had. Food and refreshments are available at the center and my recommendation is to go there and allow at least a half day if not more to fully enjoy it.

Who would ever suspect such a spectacular place behind a name like "Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump?"

1 comment:

  1. I went once to Salt Lake City on business trip. I had rental car which company paid for so during weekends I traveled a little. I went to downtown as well and had similar experience, but I felt strange about the people... I felt insecure and skeptical. I always tend to "act" like them myself, to be kind without any expectations, but "normal" people often use this to achieve something for their good and behind your back they think worse.
    I am always thinking about their thoughts, what do they think of us, tourists, after a long day of giving away... are they such an angels?
    BTW: I probably met same girls, South Korean and Mexico even it was a few years ago :)

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