Oddly enough -- and this impresses LDS folks:

The Mormon Church was founded in upstate New York, and left there to establish its first temple in Kirtland, Ohio. Many of the Church's Doctrines and Covenants were promulgated there and in Hiram, Ohio.

*I worked in Burton, Ohio and used to drive to and from work through Hiram -- I've also visited the Temple in Kirtland.

They left Kirtland and moved to far western Missouri, where they were forced out (in a very cold February) and Joseph Smith arrested (for murder, I think). Cold and sick, the marched east across Missouri, crossed the Mississippi River at and were granted asylum in, Quincy, Illinois.

*I was born and raised in Quincy, Illinois. Some of my ancestors most likely sheltered some of the Mormons (I like to tell the Mormons I know that our family has always taken in stray dogs and Mormons (they laugh)).

From Quincy they moved upriver about 60 miles and founded Nauvoo, where they built their most famous temple. Joseph and Hyrum Smith were murdered in Carthage, Illinois.

*I've been to Nauvoo many times, beginning in the 1950s and most recently a week before the temple there was dedicated in June, 2002. My sister was for a time the Director of the Carthage Public Library.

The Mormons fled from Nauvoo and spent a cold winter at Council Bluffs, Iowa.

*The National Guard unit I belonged with back in the '60s traces its ancestry directly back to a militia unit which was activated to protect property in Nauvoo after the Mormons had fled.

At Winter Quarters (as the camp in Council Bluffs was called), the Mormon Church schismed. Emma Smith and Joe Jr. founded the Reformed Church (RLDS), another chap took a bunch off to Beaver Island, Michigan (an interesting side to American history here -- you should look it up!), and Brigham Young marched the rest to Utah. They spent most of the journey across Nebraska on the north side of the North Platte River, along what is now called "The Mormon Trail" (the south side of the river was the Oregon Trail).

*I've driven this route at least three times. At least.

To wrap it up, yes, I've been to Salt Lake City several times (heck, it's just 2.5 hours south of here). AND...

the Mormons I know can't understand why, with a personal history a lot of them envy, I'm not a member of the LDS church.