Stick an American Fork in it.
After lunch and a bit more time wandering about the temple grounds, I hit the road again and sped 20 miles north through Provo and Orem and on to American Fork. This is the second of the two photo only stops I planned to make and, other than putting the photo below in the post, and including one or two more here, I have almost nothing to say about it. It was barely a five- or ten-minute detour.
Yes, that’s a mini-Stonehenge. I read about this on the website Roadside America. I have since come to learn that there are, in fact, six of these throughout Utah. After the trip, I learned that Stonehenge is a chain (or as their website terms them a “family”) of skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers. Each of the centers has this mini construction on its property. Had I found their website before my trip, I could have saved the American Fork detour because they also have a facility in Cedar City and one in Orem. Then again, had I stopped elsewhere, I would have lost the opportunity for my “clever” section header.
I shot the apparently random photos of snowcapped mountains in the Stonehenge photos folder (linked above) in Spanish Fork. In one sense, random is precisely what they are. I took them because the temperature at my location exceeded 90 and yet those nearby mountains still had snow providing clear visual evidence of the difference elevation makes in the weather.
Let’s Dance!
Perhaps the shortest drive between any two stopping points on the entire trip was the four miles from American Fork to Lehi. Initially, Lehi made my list of places to see because it’s another 1984 movie location. (The other was Starman.) The truth is I could have driven to probably a score of spots in and around this part of Utah seeking one location after another but this particular one in Lehi is among the more iconic. Additionally, a quick search on Atlas Obscura revealed two nearby Lehi attractions that easily resolved any doubt about where to visit.
But first the movie. The first six actors billed are: Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, John Lithgow, Diane Weist, Chris Penn, and Sarah Jessica Parker. For reasons known only to a very few, someone saw fit to remake the film in 2011. In all likelihood, it was the soundtrack with its unforgettable Kenny Loggins title track that kept the movie present in anyone’s mind. While this information and the picture I took
have likely revealed the title for some of you, I suspect others might still be wondering.
Fair enough. But before I tell you, here’s a screen capture from someone who streamed the movie on his phone and uploaded that to You Tube (though I didn’t get the same angle and, of course, there’s a 7-11 on that corner right now – and a McDonald’s on the opposite corner):
So, if the clues haven’t provided it, the answer is: Footloose. Now I’ll move on to the two other attractions.
This is Atlas Obscura’s abbreviated description of The Museum of Ancient Life:
Opened in 2000 as part of the $230,000,000 Thanksgiving Point museum complex with Gardens, a working Farm, a Children’s Museum and the Museum of Ancient Life in Lehi, Utah, the Museum of Ancient Life contains sixty mounted dinosaur specimens and proclaims itself the largest dinosaur museum in the world.
And this is the site’s description of The John Hutchings Museum of Natural and Cultural History:
In 1955, the town of Lehi, Utah acquired the extensive collection of local amateur naturalist John Hutchings and put it on display in the town’s decaying WWI Veterans Memorial building.
One room houses Hutchings’s mineral collection, another his bird eggs and taxidermy. Elsewhere in the small museum there are dinosaur fossils, arrowheads, and Tahitian dresses. Over time, as Lehi residents have donated their own curious artifacts to the museum, its collection has grown outward in strange directions. One wall hosts a large display of toy fire trucks.
The day was getting late though not late enough that I couldn’t have squeezed in a short visit to both. However, I was approaching my sightseeing saturation point so I decided to pick just one and leave myself some time to relax in Salt Lake City before dinner.
Knowing my propensity for seeking less traveled roads, you might have correctly guessed that I chose to visit the Hutchings Museum. It was only about three-quarters of a mile down Main Street but, given the lack of parking near the Mill, I drove the short distance and found a spot right in front of the building.
When I went in, there were three women at the front desk working on cataloging a recent acquisition of old Air Force base newsletters. They were most pleasant and we chatted a bit as I handed them my three-dollar admission fee. I got the unsurprising impression that visitors from the DC area are a rarity.
On the floor plan, the rooms are numbered two (Butterfly and Insect Hall) through twelve (Native American Room). There is, in fact a room one but it’s the entrance and information area. I started in room 12.
This small museum is every bit as eclectic as Atlas Obscura promised – from the Old West and Jail Room
to the barber’s chair to the dinosaur fossils and casts (that you can see here). I simply can’t leave here without copying the description of the building on the floor plan:
The historical Lehi Memorial Building was built in 1921 as a memorial to the veteran’s of war and served as a library, city offices, courthouse, police and fire departments, and a place for political gatherings and civic meetings. The jail itself was in use until the 1980’s. The Hutchings Museum collection has been housed in this building since 1996.
A portion of the basement is also home to the American Legion Post 19 where meetings are held monthly.
It was early evening when I reached Salt Lake City. I checked into the Peery Hotel – I’ll tell you why I chose to stay there in the next entry – and had a shower and a rest. I didn’t have to go far to dinner because the Salt Lake Brewing Company
was across the street and just a half block from the hotel. I had a tabouleh quinoa salad with a cup of tomato bisque and a wheat hefeweizen. (I know this because I somehow still have that receipt.)
An item I saw on the news before going to sleep prompted me to change my plans for Friday so stay tuned.