 More COVID-19 |
Salt Lake City, UT 17.2 mi (27.7 km) |
 History in the Making |
Give us liberty, everyone!
By that, I mean Flatty and I are busting out of quarantine for a morning stroll through Salt Lake City’s historic Liberty Park! It’s late for Firstbud, but we’ve got to frolic in the flowers before they all fall off!
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Don’t worry, though, we’re maintaining our social distance from humans. Can you believe I’ve been gone from Los Angeles for almost a month? Since then, cases of coronavirus in LA County have gone from 662 to 12,341! In my neighborhood alone, there are 239 confirmed cases! Meanwhile, cases here in Utah have gone from 257 to 3,069, which is lower than LA but still a big jump. Folks are starting to go stir crazy, and protests are breaking out, which is one piece of history in the making that I think I should avoid.
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No indeed, folks, we’re maintaining our distance, and luckily, Liberty Park is big enough to provide heaps of it! Did you know that this whole park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places? That’s because it was once part of Brigham Young’s estate, and the city bought it in 1881 to make into a “Central Park” of sorts. It’s the oldest and second largest in the state and even housed the city zoo until 1931!
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There’s a really neat fountain here called the Seven Canyons Fountain, which is a miniature version of all the rivers that flow from the mountains into the Jordan River and on to the Great Salt Lake! Can you name all seven canyons of the Salt Lake Valley?
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Here are two of my favorites! Big Cottonwood Canyon is a great place for mountain goats and carrot cake, but you won’t find those here. Little Cottonwood’s got a neat tram and hosts a great Oktoberfest… well, it has hosted it before. Hopefully it’ll happen again. Sadly, the fountain was not running today, due to other health concerns unrelated to COVID-19. The whole world’s gone wonky!
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We stopped to look at a Utah Historical Landmark, the Chase Home. Isaac Chase was one of Brigham Young’s fathers-in-law, and he ran flour mills on these 100 acres, starting in 1847! He built this home in 1856, and today, it’s the Museum of Utah Folk Arts! This museum was also closed because of the coronavirus, so we had to move on.
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In fact, lots of park facilities were shut down, like volleyball courts and playgrounds. I was curious how the police tape, over three feet above the ground was able to stop youngsters from playing, but in all fairness, I didn’t see a single youngster on a playground all day!
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All the drinking fountains and restrooms were closed too, including this fountain, which is fueled by a natural spring! Luckily, today wasn’t too hot, because I’ll bet it would make for a pretty miserable Firstbud.
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And a miserable Firstbud was not what we were about to have! In fact, we lucked out to find two flowering trees right next to the duck pond, both conditions being just right for celebrating!
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So without further ado, and checking to make sure we were still distant from other park goers, we frolicked in the branches and among the ducks all afternoon!
Hang in there, folks!
More COVID-19 |
Total Ground Covered: 713.2 mi (1,147.8 km) |
History in the Making |