TEMPLE AT DAYBREAK

Daybreak Utah contains some of the prettiest neighborhoods I have seen in Salt Lake Valley. The homes are right out of the 1930s, and the owners and designers do not shy away from painting the Hardiplank in primary colors.

The temple at Daybreak features a facade covered in a Chinese granite of a beige tan almost brown cream color. Not white mind you, like the Draper Temple or the Jordan River Temple, both of which are visible from the front porch on the east. I liked the facade a lot.

Speaking of the front porch on the east -- it must have a night view of the Salt Lake Valley to behold. For those who know where to look -- Mount Nebo appears to the south, then Santaquin Peak, then Spanish Fork Peak, then the tip of Cascade Peak, then an impressive view of the northwest face of Mount Timpanogos. Box Elder Peak is visible if one knows where to look for it, and then Lone Peak, then the various mountains of the Salt Lake Valley that I don't know by name. The mountains in Davis and Weber County loom to the north.

This marks the first time I have visited one of the new rectangular modern temples based on the old Saint George Temple shape or the London Temple shape. The floor plan has at least two and maybe four staircases that keep the foot traffic moving. It also contains a two story central atrium complete with chandelier and double hallways on both floors. I liked looking at it, but I don't quite know if it constitutes an efficient use of space.

I adore crystal chandeliers, though I do not like to clean them. The chandeliers in this temple combine the shapes of a double star of David, an iceberg, and icicles all together.

The World Rooms in this temple contain murals of vistas high up in the Oquirrh Mountains complete with cougars, moose, deer, bears, and babbling brooks so realistic one can just about hear them.

ASIDE -- I wonder if the World Rooms murals in the Vancouver Temple will have pirates in False Bay and drug dealers in Gastown. I also wonder if the World Room murals in the Rome Temple will have the Vatican in the distance and hookers plying their trades on the Piazza d Popolo. Now there's wildlife. It's a shame Minerva Teichert isn't alive to take those World Room mural assignments.

Brethren, we know we will have achieved equality when they build temples with Groom's rooms in them.