Salt Lake City, Utah

Arrived in SLC about 9, just in time for a quick trip to Temple Square. Parked across the street and wandered around the Square, taking pictures and checking out the Temple, the several odd statues throughout, the non-functional but seemingly incredibly sophisticated informational computer screen, the various fountains and ponds, and more. Though I appreciate the money involved, and the gaudy beauty of the area, it gave me a vague impression of Disneyland. Also a bit strange to see suit-wearing blond dudes with Secret Service-style earpieces suspiciously checking on things. Wonder what percentage of SLC residents are Mormon.*

Didn’t really see much, but non-Temple downtown SLC seemed pretty dead, with few cars and almost no people. One or two bars on our way in to town, but that was it. No Starbucks or other coffee shops. Ron, you’re right: the streets here are very wide.** Very clean, good looking city, at least between 10 and 11 or so on a Monday night.

After literally driving through the arrival pick-up and the car return parking lot, we found a Candlewood Suites hotel near the airport. Should be fun to check out more of the city tomorrow.

*According to data compiled from several official sources (via Wikipedia, of course), “Salt Lake County was 53% LDS in 2004.”

** The story goes that in 1847 Brigham Young said that all SLC streets should be wide enough [132 feet wide, to be exact] to make a u-turn with a team of four oxen and a covered wagon.

First two hours (or so) of the day dedicated to research and writing. LVL found us restaurants to try in SLC, things to check out on the way out of town, campsites/hotels in and around Boise, etc. She rules.

Checked out of the hotel that exemplified the maxim, “you get what you pay for.” Small, no frills room was not the problem; loud 3:30 am banging/ball-bouncing-against-the-wall-next-to-the-bed was not so cool; neither was someone opening the door and trying to come in the room about 7:00 am.

Before heading back in to the center of the city we stopped to check out Ron and Mary’s old house (LVL was born in SLC and lived there for her first few months). Though neither could remember the exact address (1435? 1530?), we both really liked the Sugar House neighborhood. Tree lined streets, cute bungalow style houses, etc. would make for easy living. The mountains don’t hurt either.

Speaking of, SLC is far more interesting/cool/impressive during the day. The Wasatch mountains surround the city and make for a dominant backdrop. They are everywhere you look and a main feature of just about all of the city’s sights.

Took a short driving tour of Univ. of Utah campus, which is pretty cool. Built right up against the mountains and overlooking the city, it is clean, spacious, and really pretty. Tried to take some pics from up there, to no avail. Wrong lens and too much light.

After striking out at Gandolofo's (not enough veggie options), we stopped at Gourmandise** for some carry out sandwiches.*** LVL found an easily accessible part of the Great Salt Lake, supposedly good for bird watching. The Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve was in fact easy to reach, but no real word on the bird watching (there were basically none) or why/how the sanctuary is considered part of the Lake. There was no water at all, only reeds. We played Band of Horses’ “The Great Salt Lake” on the drive over. Oh, yes we di-id. Maybe it should have been “The Great Reedy Marsh” instead. That was bad. Sorry.

Still, our walk on a boardwalk through the reeds and to a 2-story or so tower for a picnic lunch was great. The serenity of the place, the relative isolation (we were the only one’s there until the very end), near absolute silence (save for a rare bird), and expansive views of the sanctuary and the mountains, all made the trip very much worth it. I’ll jump in the lake and check my buoyancy next time around.

Headed out of town with a different impression of SLC than expected. An aesthetic city, with a similar but more pristine feel about it than Denver. The mountains are breathtaking and more imposing than the Rockies are. Very appealing climate (esp in the summer) and a healthy, ourdoorsy way about it. Very much liked the trolley cars, too. Not sure about either the seeming lack of diversity and (from what I could tell) the relative absence of cultural options.

Not too much on the drive to Boise worth mentioning. Once out of the mountains, lots of nondescript, dry browns and greens. No real interesting landscapes to mention, except maybe the flat-topped sand dunes around Twin Falls/Sun Bird.

**[Ed. note: Anyone else find it odd that the spelling of the website domain name (www.gourmandies.com) doesn't match the spelling of the establishment's name (Gourmandise)? And no, it's not that they bought the domains for both the correct and incorrect spellings because www.gourmandise.com is just a parked page. Weird.]

*** On our way there, two dudes yelled as us to say that our rear left tire was low. We stopped at Sevos to check. They were either idiots, lying, or, well…either of those two.