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I chose to go for a walk in one of my favorite areas of Salt Lake. I went up behind the capitol building. At first I was a little concerned that I wouldn't see anything too dynamic symbolizing how humanity has developed things around the landscape. But once I started looking at things with a geographic perspective, there was a lot to notice. From this area of Salt Lake, I had a great view of the way the city has been laid out. It appears to me that the entire city was mapped and out and centered around the capitol building. Whether this is true or not, I am not sure. Nonetheless, that's how it appears. The state capitol building sits atop a hill and state street, which is a main artery of the city, runs directly to it. I like how clean and direct the city appears to be mapped out. I have spent time in a lot of cities that look very confusing and unorganized. So this is something I appreciate about Salt Lake. Seeing this on my walk made me appreciate it even more. Another major factor I noticed was the way in which people have build their homes on the sides of the mountain. Its as if they have absolutely no regard for the fact that eventually, the mountain will move in one way or another. One deep ravine in particular called, Memory Grove, displayed this perfectly. As I stood on one side of that ravine and looked at the other, I could see the homes dotted along the edge of it. From a geological standpoint, it is easy to see that the Earth (soil, sediment, etc) has shifted since the building and homes were erected. I couldn't help but wonder if this was even something that crossed people's minds at all. Regardless, people have obviously modified the landscape to achieve a selfish view. Another point of interest that caught my attention was a small hill above the capitol called, Ensign Peak. From visiting this area, I read a plaque informing me that when the city was being settled, several men went to this point to decide how to map out the city. I could easily see that this would be a good point to do so. From Ensign Peak, I could see the way in which the city has also been structured around the major freeway the runs north and south. Another observation was the location of the airport. It looked to me as if the airport was strategically placed far enough away from the downtown area to avoid congestion (i.e., flying through buildings and near mountains) but close enough for easy access to the city center. In addition, I assume it was placed near the Great Salt Lake with the geographic knowledge that it would never interfere with anything in that area due to the fact that man will obviously not be building on the lake anytime soon.
Culturally, I noticed a certain demographic to be in this area. I visited this area on a Saturday morning. The people in the area were predominantly white, middle aged and healthy. Most of the people I saw were running or doing some other form of exercise. I made note of the fact that as I increased in elevation in the neighborhoods surrounding the capitol that the homes got larger. With the larger homes, I didn't notice too many things outside of the homes showing me what type of lifestyle the people living there had. Yet, as I drove down away from the capitol and the homes got smaller, I would see lots of things indicating lifestyles and hobbies. For example, as the homes got smaller, I would see things like children's toys and bikes in the yards, decorative yard ornaments and boats.
Reflection
I was looking forward to doing this portion of our assignment. As someone that goes for walks daily, I knew this wouldn't require something out of the norm for me. Having learned thus far in the semester about certain aspects of geography, I was anxious to look at things from a more educated point of view. We had been experiencing scattered storms, so I knew that the view would be fantastic up behind the capitol building. I enjoyed walking around to different view points. I chuckled to myself as the only people I kept coming in contact with were the members of a Salt Lake City scenic tour bus. Once I actually jumped deep into this assignment and began thinking about what I was really looking at and looking for signs of symbolic value, I realized that I wasn't having any profound "a-ha" moments. I think this is because the way in which our physical environmental conditions have shaped human elements in the landscape is something I usually notice anyway. I am always thinking, on some scale, about human geography; prior to taking this class. That is why I chose to take this class. In conclusion, I didn't notice anything too new and I realized that I have been noticing signs of human geography for a long time before taking this class.
