Hey!

Happy birthday Dad! It's not here in the USA, but seeing as its 1am there:) Hope you have an amazing day! Sorry I couldn't be there!

My last night in Denver was good fun! I met up with the bar staff I met the night before and they took me to this other bar by my hostel. I met their friend there, who is a mentalist magician, and he is AMAZING! Kind of like an American Derren Brown. He wrote out a few words on bits of paper, like career, education, travels, love etc. I had to pick one, put it back and then think about that word. He guessed what word I was thinking of and then wrote it down... he guesed ambition, when I had career, but I think we can say that's close enough. He then asked me to think of a memory related to that word, so I thought of the summer that I worked at the Ministry of Justice. He wrote down heat (as if in summer) and the year. He then asked me to think of a particular person associated with that memory. I of course thought of Michelle, because she got me the job... he wrote Mich and then underneath Shelle. Its funny because I was thinking of how people in work would call he Shelley! Crazy! He then did a Urie Gellar style trick by bending the fork. Was impressed. We then went to a British pub:) Union jacks, red phone boxes and pictures on the wall, not just of London woohoo, but of the North as well! All the Brits that come by get to put a pin in the map of the UK, there was a surprisingly higher number of North Westerners than any other part.

Salt Lake City has definitely beat all my expectations. Its a beautiful city and a lot bigger than I imagined. I've had a really fun day hanging with the Mormons. And don't worry, I haven't converted, still got the rosary on my foot. two girls, probably about my age, gave me a little tour around Temple square and explained their faith to me. One of them was from Boston, while the other was from Blackburn! They are both doing missionary work, which is volunteering for 18months, 7days a week! Gez, I thought my week volunterring in Lourdes was tough. But then my experience did involve drinking beer in the evening with my friends, whereas there's most liekly doesn't. They are so typical of someone my age, but crazily dedicated to the church. We couldn't enter the temple, because its not open to the public, but they took me to the two convention centres where they have conferences twice a year. Basically its just their prophet preaching at them.

It was interesting to hear their history , but the argument is that this Joseph guy was fed up with all the Christian denominations arguing about who had the right beliefs so he sat down with the bible and prayed. He had a vision and was told the real doctrine of Christianity from no other but the big guy himself. It's great that they have a faith, but they are dead set on every other Christian being wrong. They were understanding that I was catholic, but they asked me did I have a choice in the matter. I told them Mum and Dad dragged me to church every Sunday whether I liked it or not, jokes! I wondered the same thing about the English girl, sounds like her family are Mormons. They gave me a flier that I was supposed to write down my details and a Mormon in Liverpool would come out and visit me... creepy! I could mail the flier to them, but only within the States, so I've got 2 months to convert:) I really don't like the idea of people selling religion, I used to sell double glazing over the phone (probably not the same thing), but I felt like I was violating people's privacy! Its the old foot-in-the-door technique that everyone knows if yu've ever picked up a psych text book, I've performed a small favour by giving you my details, so the big favour of selling my soul is a lot easier:)

Despite my rant, I think this place is stunning and the Mormons are genuinely lovely people to talk to. I listened to the organ play for half an hour in their tabernacle. It was impressive. The acoustics are so good, that at the start he drops a 3 pins and you can hear them clearly at the back. I was told thats a distance of 170feet. The city is surrounded by the Wasatch mountains, and its beautiful. I went for a free tour of the State Capitol, which was good, but not much different from the Denver tour. The Denver one was probably more in depth.

I haven't had a chance to go out and see the Salt Lake, which is gutting. My hostel do tours out to Antelope Island, which is the best place to view the lake and see some wildlife. But I leave early in the morning for my 25 hour drive to Seattle. I'm sooo ready for this!

Anyhoo, loves to all! And hi to Katie and Gel! Glad you both had fun on your holidays! Sounds relaxing:)

Love lots xXx