Written 9/20/08
I’m writing from a Super 8 Motel in Hurricane (pronounced hurricun), Utah. I was hoping to camp tonight but everything was solidly full so this seemed my only option. Tomorrow morning I have to leave by 6:45am to get to Zion in time to do a half day horse riding trip. I’ll try to camp again tomorrow night.
I’ve spent the past few days in Salt Lake City, visiting Steph and her husband Adam. We spent the first day wandering around down town, visiting the public library (a very cool use of public space. There are shops and galleries and cafes all in the library building.) the geneology library, and temple square, and then up to the Avenues for ice cream. And, I got a crash course in using the moutains to figure out directions. The big mountains are in the East, right Steph? Salt Lake City is a clean well-laid out city. Really nice to visit and the mountains surrounding are pretty amazing.
The next day, we went up to Snowbird to check out the mountain. The leaves were all changing so amongst the rock there were patches of red and orange and yellow. We tried to buy a day pass to go on the tram and alpine slide and zip line but were informed that only the tram was open. Oh well. Up we went. It’s a beautiful view of the mountains and valley from the top…. Except that it was hailing. Not even snowing, just sharp pieces of hail hitting us in the face. We couldn’t stop laughing. We could see the sun shining on the valley down below, while up on the mountain it felt like mid winter.
Later that evening we went up to Park City. Steph had read in the paper that there was a large figure skating competition happening in the Ice Rink. Well, after lots and lots of wrong turns we got there but it wasn’t exactly a major competition. We were expecting Olympians but got local kids. The only other people watching were parents. I was there with Steph and Adam and Kelly (Steph’s sister). We probably weren’t on our best behavior as we each picked our favorite to win and laughed at the poor kids that kept falling over and over again. It was, shall we say, an interesting competition.
Park City is a cute town with lots of shops and restaurants nestled against the ski mountains. Apparently you can ski from the main mountain straight onto Main Street. We got dinner and walked around, checked out a ski movie that wasn’t starting anywhere near on time and then went home to play a few hours of Mexican Train Dominoes (yes, I brought my set with me.)
Today, we woke up and made pancakes for breakfast and I got back on the road. After my last 9 hour drive, this 5 hour one through mountains and valleys seemed short.
Zion National Park tomorrow and then on to Arches. I might stop in at Canyonlands as well. Then Denver for the night before making it to St. Louis in time for Rosh Hashana. The trip is just flying by. It’s been wonderful and still is but I’m looking forward to seeing the east coast again.
Love to you all.
Love, Tamara
2 comments:
Man, it sure sounds like a bummer with everything that went wrong, huh? At least we laughed really hard. Also I'm SO glad you called yesterday and told us about the other little "problem". We're getting it taken care of right away. I'm so sorry. You're such a good friend for putting up with everything. We'll understand if you're not in a hurry to come back. But we LOVED having you here and had so much fun the whole time!
I had so much fun in Salt Lake! Of course, I'll be back. And I expect to see the two of you in Australia sometime soon, as well.
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