It's ... What We're Famous For ... ?
Jun. 25th, 2014 11:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bloodyrosemccoySometimes, while we're waiting for the next presentation, my coworkers and I wind up fielding questions about downtown Salt Lake City. Got a baffling one today.
GUY: Hey, I have a question for you! My family is in town for one day, and everyone tells me that we have to see Temple Square! What's that?
pause while my coworker and I exchange puzzled glances
COWORKER: You want to know where it is?
GUY: Well, yes. But also, WHAT is it?
ME: It's ... well, it's the Mormon Temple.
COWORKER: The LDS Temple. There are beautiful gardens ...
ME: Make darn sure you don't walk on the grass!
COWORKER: ... visitor centers ...
ME: I should add that you really aren't allowed to go inside the actual temple.
GUY: *with dawning confusion* MORMONS? It's all about MORMONS?
another pause
ME: This is Salt Lake City. So, yes.
The guy was not so sure about this, so my coworker and I gave him some other options. He settled on the Natural History Museum and Red Butte Botanical Garden,* which are right next to each other and quite lovely, with a far different feel than the Temple. More of the cool natural history, and the pre-frontier human history, than Temple Square, which I like better. (Though Mormon history is, uh, interesting.)
But that still left us with the question.
COWRKER: He ... he hadn't heard of the Temple. And he came to Salt Lake.
ME: Has he even HEARD of Utah before?
I mean, I know that we're not eactly as iconic as, say the landmarks of New York City, but by god, Mormons are pretty much the only thing anyone outside of Utah knows ABOUT Utah. That was the first question I got asked ANY time I said I was from Utah when I was anywhere else in the US--"Are you a ... MORMON?" I was going to make T-shirts. To have someone who doesn't know the most iconic thing about Utah is just ... bizarre.
*I also recommended the Museum of Look At These Fucking Dinosaurs, which is AWESOME, but he was not willing to go that far.
GUY: Hey, I have a question for you! My family is in town for one day, and everyone tells me that we have to see Temple Square! What's that?
pause while my coworker and I exchange puzzled glances
COWORKER: You want to know where it is?
GUY: Well, yes. But also, WHAT is it?
ME: It's ... well, it's the Mormon Temple.
COWORKER: The LDS Temple. There are beautiful gardens ...
ME: Make darn sure you don't walk on the grass!
COWORKER: ... visitor centers ...
ME: I should add that you really aren't allowed to go inside the actual temple.
GUY: *with dawning confusion* MORMONS? It's all about MORMONS?
another pause
ME: This is Salt Lake City. So, yes.
The guy was not so sure about this, so my coworker and I gave him some other options. He settled on the Natural History Museum and Red Butte Botanical Garden,* which are right next to each other and quite lovely, with a far different feel than the Temple. More of the cool natural history, and the pre-frontier human history, than Temple Square, which I like better. (Though Mormon history is, uh, interesting.)
But that still left us with the question.
COWRKER: He ... he hadn't heard of the Temple. And he came to Salt Lake.
ME: Has he even HEARD of Utah before?
I mean, I know that we're not eactly as iconic as, say the landmarks of New York City, but by god, Mormons are pretty much the only thing anyone outside of Utah knows ABOUT Utah. That was the first question I got asked ANY time I said I was from Utah when I was anywhere else in the US--"Are you a ... MORMON?" I was going to make T-shirts. To have someone who doesn't know the most iconic thing about Utah is just ... bizarre.
*I also recommended the Museum of Look At These Fucking Dinosaurs, which is AWESOME, but he was not willing to go that far.
