Weekend in Utah!

Hi all!

Last weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah to present a paper that I co-authored with Olivia Cook, another PLU student. The conference we were presenting at was the Western Communication Association Conference which hosts an Undergraduate Research Conference for undergraduate students to present original research.

We arrived in Salt Lake City late Thursday night and realized that the schedule did not include undergraduate students on Friday. This was great news because it meant we were able to explore Salt Lake all day!

We started the day by walking to Temple Square, which is the largest tourist attraction in Utah. Temple Square is owned and operated by the Church of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) and the Salt Lake Temple is the site in which Brigham Young famously said "Here we will build a temple to our God".

After exploring the temple grounds, we decided to try to find some coffee. This turned out to be much more difficult in Utah than in Washington, because there is a large majority of citizens who are LDS, and that religion does not allow for its members to drink caffeine. Although, we did find a coffee and sandwich shop two miles from the temple, so we eventually got our espresso!

Following our coffee break, we went thrift shopping and then to dinner at Red Iguana. Red Iguana is a famous Mexican restaurant that has been covered on multiple travel shows and is a popular tourist destination. The line wraps around the building every night because there as so many people waiting to get in- but Olivia and I were lucky and only had to wait twenty minutes. The restaurant is known for their multiple moles sauces, and I got a burrito with the spicy mango mole!

The next day was the actual conference for undergraduates, so we woke early to get to hotel where the conference was held. At 9:45 we began presenting, and by 9:55 our presentation was over! It was a great day full of academic support and insight into what the future could be.

I will be excited to travel to Utah again soon!

~Brooke