Utah - The Beehive State

Tourism Motto “Life Elevated”

Suggested Motto “Life Devout & Sober”

Two Truths and a Lie

• Utah is home to some stunning scenery preserved in a plethora of National Parks. In fact, Utah contains more National Parks than any other state in the contiguous 48 states. (Alaska claims the most overall with 8 compared to Utah’s 5)

• In 1970, Robert Smithson enlisted the help of heavy machinery to move about 6,000 tons of basalt rock and earth to create “The Spiral Jetty.” Though occasionally submerged, visitors to the Great Salt Lake can still see this spectacular piece of land art.

• In 1955 the Utah State Legislature selected the California Gull, Larus californicus, as the official state bird. The state library says that in1848 a plague of locusts was destroying crops. Farmers were in despair until a horde of seagulls descended from on high to gorge on the pests.

The Recipe - Homemade Graham Crackers

Utah is home to extraordinary geography, really nice snow, and lots of Mormons. In the 1840s, tens of thousands of Mormons walked from their headquarters in Nauvoo, Illinois to the Great Salt Lake area. Their new home was dry, rocky, and wild. Early settlers had to be as hardworking as bees to survive. And thus Utah gave itself a nickname. (Utah’s native bees actually live solitary lives and burrow in the ground or existing holes in the ground).

So anyway, I wanted to honor the Mormon heritage in this cookie. Founder Joseph Smith prohibited his followers from consuming alcohol, tobacco, and even hot drinks like tea or coffee. But he did not ban any foods; instead, he encouraged whole grains with lots of fruits and vegetables and reduced meat. This diet reminded me of another 19-century religious movement/diet craze led by Sylvester Graham. Graham, an evangelical preacher, hated industrialized bread. He invented Graham flour and used it in his now ubiquitous crackers. The high fiber content from the whole grains was supposed to cure sexual desire, which he claimed was a scourge on the health of America.

So Graham wasn’t Mormon and not many beehives actually exist in Utah, but I still wanted to make my own graham crackers packed with whole grain flour and raw honey. This is a stretch, but I found it preferable to turning green jello into a cookie somehow. (Also, I ate soooooo many s’mores last time I camped in Utah).

These were delightful. They were so simple to mix and bake. Before serving, I used a bit of honeycomb to dress up the humble treats. I served them with cold milk because that’s all Joseph Smith would approve of.

Want to experience Utah for yourself? Then Teresa recommends ...

Utah is spectacular. I camped in Zion National Park back in 2013 and cannot recommend it enough. The red rock canyons are lovely, the hiking is fantastic, the night skies are breathtaking. (See the digital double exposure below) My husband and I were lucky enough to go on a back-country hike to see a fantastic place called the subway formation - easily one of the best hikes of my life. We also made a day trip to Bryce Canyon which I can best describe as “Mother Earth’s sculpture garden - the hoodoo section.” If you want to get a sense of the canyonlands from home, watch the movie “127 hours”.

Time for the whole truth

California has nine National Parks, more than anywhere else.

(By the way, you can click on any of the 2 truths and a lie statements to visit the source of the trivia)