Utah Roadtrip: A Sunday Drive to Idaho

After a leisurely start to our day (I did my exercise and swam while Klep slept in), we checked out of the Downtown Hampton Inn in Salt Lake City and went to Heritage Baptist Church in north SLC where we enjoyed worship with about fifty others as we listened to a sermon on Psalm 7 entitled "A Rock and A Fortress."  Following service, we found I 15 and headed to Idaho through the urban sprawl which finally ended after Ogden.  Gradually we saw some limited farmland and some old abandoned homesteads.

The settlements became further and further apart as we left Utah and entered Idaho.

We were getting a little low on gas, so we pulled off at a Sinclair station that advertised itself quite truthfully as "In the middle of nowhere."

 

As we got further into Idaho, we noticed a difference in the rock structures from what we have been seeing this last week.  The valleys also got wider and farmland became more common.  We saw beautiful fields of potatoes, corn, lentils, and alfalfa.  After we got on I 86 headed toward Pocatella, we passed American Falls Lake where the Snake River begins.  

The road along here is part of the original Oregon trail. We continued to Pocatella where we found Uncle Jim's Family Restaurant where we enjoyed a belated lunch or an early supper.  There actually is an Uncle Jim, but he wasn't there today.  Klep had a Greek Salad with hot flat bread and I had chicken souvlaki pita with a tossed salad. 

                         

We completed our triangle by heading south through the lush valleys of southern Idaho exiting the interstate and taking hwy 91 to Logan, Utah where we will spend the night. Klep stopped along the way to pick some alfalfa to show me since this is not something I am familiar with.   We have now reduced the number of states that we have not visited to one.  It is a little too far to drive to Oregon this trip.

 

One of the things I have been wondering about is the number of homeless people that were in Salt Lake City panhandling.  I really didn't expect that, but I guess this is a fact of life in every city now.  By and large, I have been impressed with how clean all the neighborhoods that we have driven through have been whether they were lower or upper socio-economic.  It also surprised us how little we saw of farmland until we got to the northeastern section of the state.  Much of the flat land in the Salt Lake Valley is taken up with urban development.  Where the land is irrigated, we have seen some beautiful alfalfa hay.  We also had never realized the amount of the state --70% -- which is taken up by federal land. 

 

Tomorrow we head south where we will resume our National Park visits.  We will just have to wait and see what we will discover along the way.

 

                                                                              

 

 

 

 

 

 



SLC: Temple Square, State Capital, Big Cottonwood Canyon

Since Klep finished all the research he intends to do at the library yesterday, today was sort of finish up what we want to see and plan our departure tomorrow.  We started our day by driving down to Temple Square and finding free parking since it was Saturday.  The train, our usual transportation when we head to the city center was right next to where we parked.  We again, marveled

At the beautiful flowers that we found all up and down the street.  We entered Temple Square and found that a tour was getting ready to start in front of the Temple.

Three young Mormon women missionaries took us around the grounds showing us the statues and explaining their significance in their faith.  They then took us inside the tabernacle which is not a holy place on the same level as the temple where we were not allowed.  In there, we saw the eleven thousand pipe organ.



After the tour, we made a brief trip through the visitor's center, left Temple Square and crossed to the museum side of the street where we looked at a log cabin which was typical of what the first settlers used for housing.

Klep met a woman at the Family History Library whose great-great grandparents actually lived in this cabin.

 

We had been told that the view from behind the state capital looking down on the city was good, so we drove up there before heading east into the mountains.

On our way up the mountain we stopped for deli sandwiches and as we climbed, we found a shady pullout by a beautiful little mountain stream where we ate our lunch sitting outdoors and listening to the water run down the rocks.

We continued to climb until almost ten thousand feet where we decided to turn around instead of continuing up a road with no center stripe.

The wildflowers were beautiful going up and coming down.

We meandered through the southeastern section of Salt Lake City and back to the downtown Hampton Inn.  The pleasant eighty degree heat at almost ten thousand feet had risen to over a hundred again.....Of course it's a dry heat.

 

Salt Lake City: Emigration Canyon and the Great Salt Lake:

Klep headed back to the Family History Library and I had a down day in Salt Lake.  I caught up on my exercise in the pool, pushed some photos to Picasa so that we can get them printed, wrote on the blog, explored Western Nut Company across the road, and had a lovely nap.

Late afternoon we headed west to Emigration Canyon in the 104 degree late afternoon

for dinner at Ruth's Diner, a place recommended to us by a young woman working at the visitor's center at Glen Canyon Dam.  We have learned that we often have some of our best meals when we get the ideas of people who are actually from an area.  The diner is a long standing place to eat, first established eighty years ago by a rather colorful woman named Ruth who opened her first place in downtown Salt Lake City and later bought a trolley car and put it in Emigration Canyon where the diner still is.  Ruth died in 1989, but the owners continue to keep the flavor of the place and many of the foods which were Ruth's favorites.  I chose one of Ruth's dishes, having meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and grilled vegetables with a garden salad starter.  It was delicious.
After supper, we drove up the canyon a ways, turned around and headed west to the Great Salt Lake.  It was indeed a large, large lake.  It was also a fairly foul smelling place in the hundred degree temperature, so we did not tarry long to enjoy the view.  Somehow I thought it would be a lovely area much like a small ocean with a beach.  Somehow it didn't quite hit me that way.

We wandered back toward the motel through western and southern Salt Lake City which is pretty much like any other city in America with some industrial areas, houses, chain stores such as Lowe's, Target, Wal-Mart, and all the other things American.  By the time we arrived at the hotel, the temperature had dropped to a balmy 97 degrees.  Forecast is for the temp to be even higher tomorrow.

Salt Lake City: Research and Music

Since the breakfast buffet the Legacy Inn in Price advertised was a little less than interesting, we headed north on highway 6 and 89 toward Salt Lake City.  We climbed until we were well over seven thousand feet in altitude, crossing a rather impressive mountain range that was forested.  We passed ranches with beautiful horses, grasslands, and a few little towns before getting to Provo, the home of Brigham Young University.

Klep pulled into the parking lot of a place called Kneaders which advertised as a restaurant and bakery.  The aromas surrounding it told us that bread was being baked there.  We were not disappointed.  Basically, it is a fast food restaurant which features sandwiches, soups, and salads along with a wonderful selection of freshly baked pastries.  We each sampled soups:  tomato bisque for me; creamed cheese cauliflower for Klep.  Klep also had a sandwich and I had a serving of some of the best sour dough bread I've ever eaten.  We chatted with one of the workers as we were leaving and discovered this is a small Utah chain that began with the restaurant where we were in Provo and had expanded to twenty stores.  I predict that the chain will spread.  I think the food is better than Panera which generally fails to impress me.

After lunch, we headed up to where 89  joined I 15 and merged into traffic until we exited for the center part of Salt Lake City around Temple Square.  We finally found parking under the conference center and walked over to the Family History Library for an afternoon of genealogical research.  After three hours of work on the computer, in the book stacks, and on microfilm, I was no closer to finding anything else about my great-great grandfather and grandmother Brown than I had been.  I had some very nice help, but I left somewhat frustrated.

We checked into the downtown Hampton Inn, enjoyed a rest, got some information about the rail system, and walked to the station nearest our hotel for a ride back to the city center.  We had dinner at the Blue Lemon which serves delicious food.  Klep enjoyed salmon on rice with veggies and a really good oriental sauce.  I chose the braised short ribs with carrots and roasted new potatoes.

After dinner we strolled over to the Conference Center where we enjoyed listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearse.  Even though it was a rehearsal with starts and stops, it was an absolute joy to hear them sing along with the 60 plus piece orchestra which accompanies them.  Some of their selections were for their upcoming Independence Day concert:

  America the Beautiful, This Land is My Land, Shenandoah, 76 Trombones.

By the time we exited the rehearsal and walked back on the western side of Temple Square under the soaring sycamore trees to our train station, the temperature had started cooling some  which was nice.  We rode our little train the three stops to the Courthouse and walked the last three blocks to the Hampton.  The sun was just setting when we closed our drapes and fell into bed.

Canyons: Upclose and Personal

Wednesday morning we found a fueling station (all pumps, no building), headed up highway 191 and took a little detour in a Canyon by the Colorado River where we looked up at sheer cliffs and formations on both sides of the flowing blue river which later would go through the Glen Canyon Dam, down through Grand Canyon and on to Mexico.  We drove with the window down enjoying the freshness of the morning air.

We returned to highway 191, continued to 313 and climbed to a height of over six thousand feet again, ending in a high grassy plateau.  We descended again within the canyons and entered the Canyonlands National Park.  We have found that the best thing we can do is stop at the visitor's center and talk to a ranger.  We get some good hints about how to see the most and we get information about anything special going on.  After that, we walked up to the Mesa Arch

Even though it was only ten-thirty, the heat was intense.  That was enough hiking for the morning.  We continued driving through the canyons on both sides of the park to the Grand View where we listened to a half hour talk by Park Guide Interpreter Gretchen Weiss who explained the various layers of rock--seven--and what forces  caused them.  It was awesome sitting on the large rock at the very edge of the rim looking out at miles and miles of the canyons, the backbone of the earth, in that serene setting.  We next drove to the overlook of the Green River which is the other major river running through these canyons.

After leaving Canyonlands we drove up to Deadhorse Point State Park where we got a good view of the Colorado river running through the canyons.

We also saw potash ponds down in the canyon which were so blue that we knew they were something created by man.  They were part of an operation which brings the minerals up from deep in the earth.

 

We enjoyed our trip back through all the territory we had climbed to earlier in the day as we wound our way back to the main road and then up to Price for the night.  We had delicious burgers at Grogg's just up the road from the motel, found ice cream at Coldstone  Creamery, and settled in for a good night's sleep.

 



 

Arches National Park: Moab, Utah

The haze that kept our photos from Monday from truly catching the deep red hues of the rock formations Monday was gone when dawn arrived early Tuesday morning, leaving us a deep blue, cloudless sky.  After checking out, we headed up the highway 163 and then on191 traveling further into Utah passing through such little towns as Mexican Hat and Monticello before arriving at our next national park, just north of  Moab, obviously a tourist town, Arches National Park.

We met an extremely helpful worker at the Visitor's Center who gave us a rundown on the must see spots on the driving tour.  Again, we were amazed at the rock formations and the wonders of nature we saw we took the over two hour drive.  The colors were quite different from Monument  Valley.  The predominant color of the arches was more of an orange red.  Some of the other areas had grey and white intermingled.

Although the park is most famous for its spectacular arches, we were equally intrigued with the stone formations which have been given names.  I think our favorite was a towering group known as the three gossips which actually did look like three women decked out in long dresses having a good talk.  We also like the long elephant parade that we saw on one of the roads off the main road.  By the time we finished our drive, we were naming the ones which did not have a name on the map.  We stayed out of the Devil's Garden....we didn't want to tempt fate!

 

We have decided that Moab is a lot like Gatlinburg.  If it weren't for the tourists, there would be no town.  It looks like it is about three or four blocks across and about a mile long before the six miles of motels and tourist stuff spread down the highway.  We found a little Italian restaurant named Pasta Jays for dinner where we enjoyed a good bowl of pasta.  We will head to Canyonlands National Park tomorrow.

 



 

 

Navajo Country

Monday morning we moseyed  over to the Ranch House Grill for some grub.  We were not disappointed.  By the time we finished with breakfast, we knew that we were good until dinner time.  The service was good, the food tasty, and the waitress kept Klep's coffee cup filled with really good coffee.  Yep.  We would go there again if we ever, for some strange reason, end up in Page, Arizona again.

After gassing up the car, we headed toward Utah and arrived at Goulding's Lodge.  This is actually the only privately owned land in the middle of an Navajo Reservation of 60 million acres which covers parts of four states.  The Gouldings came to Monument Valley in 1923 and established a trading post where they originally traded for things like rugs and blankets for staples, Later, when the depression came along, Mr. Goulding headed to Hollywood to try to interest the movie people in coming to the Valley to make films.  He finally got in to see John Ford, convinced him of the beauty of the place, and promised to be able to accommodate a crew in ten days.  Somehow they did, and that was the start of this location being in many of the films mad since then.  This brought money and work to the people here.  Later, the first lodge and restaurant were built.  Many of the old buildings which have been seen in many westerns are still there including the cabin which John Wayne used in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.

Klep and I enjoyed the museum and walking around the grounds until we met Larry, the tour guide, and the other tourists for our four o'clock tour of Monument Valley including many off road places that we could not have seen otherwise.  The trip was over three hours, was a little like "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride," and was a lot of fun.

Monument Valley is considered a Holy Place by the Navaho's and I can understand why.  The mesas and formations are a deep, deep red from the iron deposits in the soil.  We saw rock formations shaped like huge animals, some arches, some Anasazi ruins, and a Hogan where we watched a Navajo woman card and spin wool by hand.  She also styled a young Italian woman's hair into the Navajo fashion.  The valley stretches for miles and miles with occasionally a house.  The Navajo by tradition do not

After our bouncing around, a quiet dinner at the hotel restaurant, where we enjoyed sampling fried brea, and bed after sunset were both welcome.

Road Trip 2013 - Utah

Road Trip 2013 has been in the planning stages for months, and Saturday we launched with a flight from Valdosta to Atlanta and then to the glittering lights of Las Vegas, landing just before midnight local time.  By the time we made our way to the rental car building after passing row on row of slots in the airport, got the little red Dodge crossover, and found the hotel, we were more than ready to fall into bed.   This morning the bright desert light woke us and we put the plan into motion.

Our first stop was Wal-Mart for those things which we could not take on the plane:  water, ice chest, ice, extra pillows, and a sun hat.  We were intrigued by the upscale store, quite desert and chic -- very Vegas --in design.  We then left the congestion of the city for the barren desert and hills, mesas, and buttes and little towns like Mesquite, Nevada (a well watered upscale development complete with golf course)  heading into Utah at St. George where we angled over to Arizona.  On the trip we slipped back and forth between the two states, on and off reservations, and finally ended at Page Arizona to stage our Monday activities.

The route today is almost the same we took 44 years ago when we passed through much of this area on our road trip to the west coast headed to Japan with two striking differences:  we had no interstate highways then and we were headed toward Vegas instead of away from it. We passed through
scenery which varied from stark to strikingly beautiful with many gradations of color on the soaring rock formations.  As we approached Page, we saw formations which varied from grey (almost white) shale to red rock.  We discovered when we stopped at a National Park overlook that many of the rocks contain fossilized oysters and other sea creatures from eons ago. Coal deposits lie under the earth from when the vegetation was lush.  This is also the area where dinosaur relics have been discovered.

We stopped at the Glen Canyon Dam, second highest in the US, which is actually the reason Page exists.  Page began as a strictly company town built for workers constructing and later working at the dam and then became an independent municipality.

We had researched where to eat in Page, a town of six thousand;  unfortunately, our first two choices were closed on Sunday.  We finally chose the Dam Grill and Bar which was adequately average although the Dam's décor was interesting, giving the impression that we were actually eating at the base of the massive structure.

Today, the primary impression we had was the contrast between the timeless soaring beauty of the natural formations and the rather tawdry relatively new efforts of mankind in the developments.  We saw the ubiquitous chain stores and restaurants in every small town.  We hope later in the trip to enjoy some little individualized places that local people frequent.  We also rediscovered the searing heat and hot wind of the area in summer.  Yes, the standard comment is "but it's a dry heat."  Doesn't matter: it's hot!  We were glad that the rental car had AC, not a feature of my deep green 1967 Mustang. 

Tonight we catch up on sleep and anticipate our trip tomorrow up into Utah to Monument Valley which is located entirely on a Navaho Reservation.