Dave's Mormon Inquiry

Looking for Middle-Earth

In the New York Times travel section, "New Zealand's Hobbit Trail" recounts the unexpected surge of Middle-earth tourism that has flooded New Zealand since the Lord of the Rings movies hit the screen ten years ago. The quote that got my attention: "Movies — ephemeral, imaginary — have a way of sending fans in search of something real." Made me think of all those Book of Mormon tours that take Mormons with some money to spend off to Central and South America in search of Nephite ruins.

Walls Around Sacred Places

I just spent ten days in Japan. I'd forgotten how enlightening it is to see the places, people, and practices of a totally foreign culture, then reflect those observations back onto your own culture. In Japan, small Shinto shrines dot the urban landscape. In particular, I came across a small shrine connected to a long shopping mall in the heart of Kyoto's shopping district. Ancient and modern, side by side.

Some Visitors Welcome

No, that's not what the new signs at the Main Street Plaza actually say. I'm sure you could come up with your own suggestions for what the signs might say. Here is the actual text of the new sign wording dislayed at the entrances to the Main Street Plaza, per the Salt Lake Tribune and an accompanying photo.

                                     • Private Property •
The Church reserves the right to refuse access to any person for any reason.

A Visit to Temple Square

While in Salt Lake City this afternoon, I managed to fit in a visit to Temple Square for a couple of hours. It's always fun to visit the center place of Mormonism (which is a rather different category than "sacred ground" or "holy site"). I browsed through the South Visitors Center and its exhibits showing how massive granite blocks were hammered, drilled, and blasted out of Little Cottonwood Canyon, then transported twenty miles by wagon (later, railroad) to the site of the LDS temple. Just across the street, the Museum of Church History and Art has a temporary exhibit showing the details of the construction of the Tabernacle, which went through several architectural upgrades before attaining the fine sound quality offered by the rounded dome design.

LDS Historical Sites

A couple of months ago I heard a presentation on the general topic of historical sites that the Church owns and manages. I came with a pocketful of snarky questions but left with some appreciation for how tough the task is and (on the whole) how well the sites are set up and managed. I'll give a couple of paragraphs summarizing the talk, then a couple of paragraphs commenting on historical sites I have visited.

A Visit to Mountain Meadows

Last month, I took the family on a mountain biking trip to Southern Utah and took in a few Church History sites along the way (chatty first installments in this series here and here). To round out the Church History tour, on Friday afternoon DW and I pointed the SUV northwest and drove the thirty miles to the Mountain Meadows site. About five miles out of St. George a really nasty hailstorm slammed into us (a sign or just a hailstorm?) and we got off the road for two minutes, but it blew through and we continued on.