SLC: the new NYC?

Well, I didn't have any Louie sitings, but I did have a great trip to Salt Lake City. I went for the big annual Toxicology meeting. It is held in different cities each year and I was glad SLC was this year's destination since I have never been.

When I got off the plane I was greeted with this view of the city (taken from the airport). It was hard to get good pictures of the mountains from downtown because the buildings blocked the views. The conference was in the midst of those buildings.

Another view, this one includes the capital building....kind of like Madison, except with giant mountains in the background.
A closer shot of the city.

The first day I went to an interesting seminar on arsenic and it's association with diabetes and metabolic syndrome (relevant to my current work). Later I walked around the city to check out the sites. I wandered to the Temple Square which has the Salt Lake Temple, the Tabernacle, and the Family History Library.

The Temple was bulit between between 1853 and 1893 (so I guess it took a while). Only members of the church are allowed to go in so I converted...........WHAT!?!?! Just Kidding!!!
The Family History Library was REALLY cool. It is the world's largest collection of genealogical resources and the librarians were really helpful. The place was packed and I think the ratio of visitor to librarian was 2:1. I spent hours at the computer looking up my genealogy. The library has electronic and paper copies of birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses, immigration records, ship passenger lists, and tons of other stuff I didn't have time to get to. I made a family tree and discovered that my dad's side of the family traced back to Germany and Norway. My mom's side is also very Norwegian (looks like going to St. Olaf made sense!). I was even able to trace one branch of the family all the way back to 1569 in Scotland!

The conference center took up a whole block. I attended some very interesting talks on POPs (persistent organic pollutants), Bisphenol-A, and phthalates.



Despite many rumors and warnings from my friends, if the city is dry I didn't notice and when I got home I slept all weekend (I'm not sure if the two are correlated).

In a couple weeks I will be headed to Arizona to be a bridesmaid in Diana's wedding! I can't wait!