Summer vacation......

All photograph's displayed here, plus others can be seen in our Albums hosted by Webshots

Saturday, June 30, 2007
We had decided some time ago that we wanted to take a trip over July 4th so that we could look at some fireworks in a different place. As neither of us had been to Yellowstone National Park, we decided that was a good place to head for, and then to fill in the remaining time amusing ourselves in Salt Lake City. One of us (no names mentioned), was excited - the other, wanted to go immediately and "tomorrow" was not good enough. With the result was that the excited one was organized and packed, ready waiting and the other had to run around at the last minute trying to do laundry etc. The very early start of 2AM on the morning of departure came up too quickly, but we managed to get to the airport ahead of schedule and start a wonderful trip out to Utah.

The flight to Salt Lake City was painless, and that includes the Airport check in and Security. The meal on the plane was also good, which proves that we had no idea of what was going on around us as we were GOING ON VACATION !! The lay-over in Atlanta was bearable, but by now we were getting tired, and were in no mood for any delay in getting to our destination. The connecting flight went by (with a little help from the on-board mojito's) and before long, Len was snapping pictures of the surrounding mountains of SLC.

The weather looked great from up there, sun was shining, mountains were green, intermittently capped with snow covered peaks. Really pretty to look at until we got closer to the ground, then the reality hit - the city is in a desert after all. It looked dry, very dry.

Our luggage had been sent ahead, so we were stranded at the baggage pick-up for a while before Len decided to go and look for it. After that, picking up the rental car was a breeze, directions into the city and the drive to the hotel was great. Both of us were amazed and wide eyed at mountains being so close to the city.

In about 30 minutes, we had arrived at our downtown Marriott hotel, and checked into the room. While unpacking we started having a look at the view from our hotel window, which showed not only the city, but the mountains in the background as well. It was Saturday afternoon, and we had time to explore the city and environs before heading up to Yellowstone on Tuesday. Plenty enough time to enjoy our favorite past-time of eating and dining out.

But, back to the current day. We had been recommended by the hotel staff to go to the Metropolitan (see our post on our Restaurant Reviews), where we enjoyed a great evening of food and talking to the couple on the next table. Chris and Alison gave us some pointers on where we could visit while in SLC.

Sunday, July 1, 2007
This morning saw us start the day with a quick tour around the city, first up to the State Capitol and the visitors center. The State Capitol was busy with reconstruction, and the visitors center was closed at 9:30AM, since it was a Sunday.





A couple of photographs resulted with us "posing" with the Bison statues outside the visitors center. After which, we continued on down to the Temple Square, and the beautiful gardens that surround the area.


Len thought that the last photo was a try-out for the Spice Girl's, however we soon realized that the setting was a little inappropriate ! After this we went and had a brunch at Cafe Trio's (see the entry at our Restaurant Reviews), followed by a trip to the Hard Rock Cafe, where I had to get my dose of hat pins.

A road trip out to Alpine Loop followed. It was about a 30 minute drive south of SLC and our first taste of canyons (can you imagine the oohs and aahs that were coming from our vehicle? ) The drive up into the loop started out at American Fork Canyon and soon after entering we came across the visitors center at the Timpanagos Cave National Monument. We did not enter the caves, but we did get the T shirt, the DVD of the Caves and, of course, some hat pins. We also stocked up on some buffalo jerky, which we do not recommend at all. We like spicy/hot foods, so we got their hottest buffalo jerky. It was soft, moist and definitely not spicy nor hot.

The next stop we made along the route, was at Cascade Springs. Here we had a breather from the tight mountain roads, and the green, cool and brief respite from the driving. From here it was back up into the mountain and then on to Sundance.

Sundance is set in a valley, with ski slopes on one side and residential houses on the other. The hotel and open air theatre are on either side of the main center in the valley. We took a ride up the ski lift, and enjoyed a peaceful ride up and back down the mountain, which took 45 minutes. The sun was hot and we came down as red as a couple of lobsters. This did not stop us from getting the additional hat pins though. But soon we were back on the road and in Provo Canyon, and soon thereafter in the city of Provo and back on the highway to SLC.

The day was not finished yet, and more canyons were beckoning. Which one, we had to decide quickly, studying maps for round trips, looking out for Cabela's, and trying to decide on a place to eat that night. We eventually saw Cabela's, promising ourselves that we would return. Then decided that because we could not find a round trip for Little Cottonwood Canyon, that we would go through Big Cottonwood Canyon and up into the town of Brighton and through to Park City. WOW, little did we know what we were letting ourselves in for, I am jumping ahead again.

The quickest way to Big Cottonwood Canyon, was back up I-15, across I-215 and then climb off at the south-east corner and up into the mountains. Beautiful drive, while SLC was dry, the canyon was green. A great contrast and smooth driving all the way up into Brighton. This is where we visited the nearby Silver Lake, which Chris and Alison had recommended, and which lies at 10,000 feet. Great views of the lake, forest and local people.

From Brighton we made our way across to Park City. The mountain road was not paved, and was corrugated, so driving smoothly was not an option. Too many drop off's into the valleys down below for me. We made it safely into beautiful Park City though. But as it was now getting late, we drove through and onto I-80 to make our way back to SLC.

Dinner that night was at Spencer's Steakhouse at the Hilton Hotel. (See our Restaurant Review). Good meal, hated the loaded baked potato though, was just too much placed on it to taste like anything that ought to be served at such a high end restaurant. The cocktails were good as well, so all was not lost.

Monday, July 2, 2007

Last minute planning last night, drinking cocktails at the hotel bar, brought to mind that the Arches National Park was only a couple of hours drive south of SLC. We HAD to see this, and set out fairly early this morning. The idea was to take I-15 south, to just south of Provo and then take a short cut across the Black Beaut Plateau towards the mid-south-east portion of Utah, where the Park lies near Moab, UT.

The weather again was great on Monday. We loaded up our Albertson's bought Styrofoam cooler, loaded it with Arizona Diet green tea and Sprite Zero and we were off. In no time at all we were south of Provo at Spanish Fork where we took the shortcut on Route 6. We went through Thistle, Soldier Summit and Colton before we stopped for gas and snacks in Helper, UT. This was about the half way point of the trip to the Arches. WE used the facilities, stocked up on Beef Jerky, and bought what would turn out to be a bad can opener. (it would bend from the resistance from the can, which by the way I am sending back).

The rest of the way included the cities of Price, Wellington, East Carbon and Crescent Junction.

The trip was full of interesting sights like rivers and water falls in these areas unknown to us. We had a good radio station on and for a while, we were singing along to the 70's whiling away the miles and miles of desert landscape eroding before us on our way to Arches National Park. A little after 4 hours of travel time we had made it to this "Arizonian" like landscape of red rocks and dry plains. But Oh so beautiful!



Three Gossips; Balanced Rock; Spectacles; Devil's Garden

The drive back seemed faster (Len was driving!!). It was the same route but in reverse. We always try to go back a different route to maximize our viewing (and other hobby of County counting), but in this instance retracing our steps was the fastest way.

We got back to the hotel around 7:30 PM. We cleaned up and at about 8:30 PM we went to have dinner at a sushi place that had been recommended by Chris and Alison on Saturday night. This place was named Takashi. ( Please see our Restaurant Review Section) Dinner here was great. We went next door for an after dinner drink and finished the evening at our hotel bar with a night cap. Tuesday was going to be a big day. We were going to YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

No breakfast this morning, as we had a long drive ahead of us today. We did make a stop at a local photography shop, as we did not want to run out of space on the digital camera. So we got another memory stick for the camera, and then left pronto for the trip north.

I-15 going out of SLC, was busy. Not much haste was made, and going thru the cities to the north of SLC was just as bad. But we eventually got out of the congestion and on to the open road. Soon we were crossing over into Idaho and up to Idaho Falls where we needed to branch off of I-15 onto SR-20. Another couple of hours and we were in West Yellowstone, MT and still had to go through the north eastern section of the Park and up to Gardiner, MT at the north entrance. This was our first nights stop.

No, I have not forgotten to talk about Yellowstone National Park, it was fantastic. On entering at the west entrance, we did not see much at all. There were a group of people parked on the side of the road, all trying to get a picture of a bald eagle perched on top of a dead tree. We decided that we would continue. We took a left at Madison Junction, and continued northwards. This was when we had our first encounter with a hot spring. A small group of hot springs with a short boardwalk, showed us the Terrace spring, very interesting, but just not impressive .... yet ! It was our first, so the camera came out, and a couple pictures taken to commemorate the moment. We then went on to see Beryl Springs, all the while driving alongside the Gibbon river, with beautiful views. One place had a couple of elk out grazing, very picturesque. We were even "questioned" by a very inquisitive chipmunk. He came out of his hole to greet us just a foot or two in front of us, decided to then give us the stare, hoping that we would give it some food. It continued to stare at us while we photographed and walked away to the car.

Numerous hot springs and sights followed, which we stopped at to look. Artists paint-pots (not too impressive, but we saw our first buffalo here, at a distance and from behind BUT it was a buffalo), Sheepeaters Cliff (interesting formation). At the junction of the the Norris Canyon road, we took some time to explore the Norris and Porcelain Basin. Some good photo's were taken of the area, after that the Gibbon river waterfalls and the Upper and Lower basins of Mammoth Hot Springs. The upper basin was the better of the two. Mounds formed from the calcium and the forming travertine. Huge mounds of the impure travertine filled with different colored algae. Cascading limestone infused heated and steamy waterfalls. We passed through the Lower basin, briefly taking a quick picture, after coming a little way down the mountain. This was on the outskirts of the village of Mammoth Springs. The mountain carries on downwards to the north entrance and out into the town of Gardiner, MT.

Gardiner, MT is a beautiful spot. Southern Montana, northern Yellowstone National Park, mountain air and streams, just a great place, albeit full of tourists in the summer and I believe full of snow-boarders in the winter. It did not take us long to find the hotel we were staying at - Best Western. On checking in, we were given a $5 voucher to be used at the local casino. The ground floor room was a real eye opener. There was a sunken spa/hot tub in the bedroom. We immediately decided that after dinner we just had to get a bottle of wine. Dinner at the Yellow Mine Restaurant alongside the hotel was good. (See our Restaurant review). Friendly staff, a curio shop next door for hat pins, a grocery store down the street for that bottle of Sterling Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon and the Casino on top of the hotel for easy access and the splurging of the $5 voucher. Yes, that is all we spent there. Need I say that we were only in the place for about 10 minutes, enough time to finish our cocktails. A slow stroll around the town gave us the opportunity to add to our ever growing souvenir collection (hat pins and T shirts).

Then it was time to head back to the room to share that all important bottle of wine. A keeper that will definitely need to be drunk again.

To recap, we saw a lot of hot springs, a couple of waterfalls, elk, lots of chipmunk but the elusive moose, bears, buffalo's and geysers were still to be found.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAY AMERICA! Today the sun was out shining in full force. Looked like a perfect day to go and celebrate this national day. But first there was coffee, then breakfast and the road ahead.

We once again went to the Yellowstone Mine Restaurant to enjoy their buffet breakfast. After which it was a short drive back into the park, to continue on the northern, eastern, southern and the remaining western parts of the park. We had decided on this pattern because the best was saved for last (as the song goes!!). Then back into West Yellowstone, where we entered the park for the firework celebration.

This eastern side of the park had a lot to offer though, so before I let you know ALL about the fireworks, I will go into some of the details of what we saw.

First we came across a lonely buffalo grazing in the fields. This was extremely exciting for us, and we held up the traffic a little to take a picture or two. This obviously was not the game plan for those cars behind us, and they sped angrily by. This was then followed by the Gardiner river canyon and Undine waterfalls on Lava Creek, petrified trees (name escapes me), the Tower waterfalls on Yellowstone river by the rest and shop area and Roosevelt Lodge. We heard at the gift shop that, up ahead was a black bear being friendly and placing it's paws on the cars as they stopped. By the time we got there, the bear was going over the mountain, looking as if we were probably not going to seen it again. However, this was not the case, and around the corner was, thankfully, also the other side of the mountain, and there stood our black bear, in full view. After that excitement we continued our drive along the Antelope river (tributary of Yellowstone river), and the road south to The Yellowstone Grand Canyon, when we came across a lot of cars parked on the side of the road. All the people were standing on the edge of the road looking down into a valley, with their small digital cameras clicking away. We could not see anything, so after asking, we were shown what was a grizzly bear with 2 cubs walking through the valley floor. Now, we could hardly see them with our naked eyes, so I have no idea how those digital camera's were taking pictures. The black bear mentioned above was relatively close and certainly appeared a lot closer than what our digital has shown. Needless to say, we did not get any pictures of grizzlies, but will always remember those 2 cubs and mother walking along so peacefully. Great site to see. Just up ahead was the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone Park", and in my opinion, the best views in the park. The canyons were good, as well as the upper falls on the Yellowstone river, but what is the most spectactular, was the view of the Lower Yellowstone river waterfalls from the Artists Point. Breath-taking vistas of the falls and canyon.

Bison were all over the area, all of them were molting because of spring, so they looked a little untidy and unkept. Did not stop us from taking pictures of them though.

We continued our way towards the Yellowstone lake, passing a couple of notable places, like the Sulphur Cauldron (more bison), Mud Volcano and Dragon's Mouth Spring. We were treated to a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds, when a group of people came running towards us in panic, turning around every now and again looking back. After the Fishing Bridge had been cleared of people, across came a lonely bison, just trying to keep ahead of the vehicles behind him.

After a pit stop to freshen up on soda's, we left to travel along Yellowstone Lake for the next attraction at West Thumb. This part of the lake is another cauldron that sank deeper than the rest of the lake, and has numerous springs and geysers along it shore. Some interesting fumeroles were seen together with blue springs and algae run-off areas. We also found out here that Old Faithful was about to blow in a couple of minutes and the next occurrence would be in 88 minutes. We wanted to get a good viewing point. Old Faithful was only about 10 miles from this point, but we decided to leave West Thumb and make our way across. The Continental Divide was crossed over twice on the trip to Old Faithful, one pass was 8,391 ft above sea level and the other, called Craig's Pass was 8,262 ft above sea level. It was at Craig's Pass that we saw a beautiful mountain pond, covered in lilies. Very picturesque. After making a brief stop at Kepler Cascades, we eventually got to Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin, we managed to find an excellent parking spot in front of the lot, then great seats in the first row of benches provided in front of Old Faithful Lodge.

The temperature was 105 F, very dry. So we took the oppurtunity to get some ice cream at the Lodgewhile we waited (the hat pins and T shirt were bought soon after parking !). But then we enjoyed crowd watching as it grew bigger and bigger, wondering at the same time how many people actually visit the area every day. If each viewing of Old Faitful had this many spectators, of approximately 1,000 people, and if a maximuym of 20% were repeat continuous visits, and Old Faithful would erupt every +/- 90 minutes, with about 10 hours of viewing per day, well then that would work out to be about ....... you do the math, all we know is that would be a lot of people per day. The view around Old Faitful was fantastic, as the Upper Basin contained numerous big geysers that were erupting all the time. Really amazing.

The next stop along the route was a quick one at Biscuit Basin, before going down to the Midway Geyser Basin, where the very pretty Grand Prismatic Spring is located amongst others. After that we decided to head for West Yellowstone and to check into the hotel there. We were going to leave the Lower Geyser Basin and the Firehole Canyon drive for the next day when we had planned to travel back to SLC.

We left the Park at the West Entrance, and checked into the Best Western Westin Hotel (can you believe such a small town of about 1,300 people can have THREE Best Western Hotels??). We asked at check-in where the fireworks were being held, and received the VERY disappointing response that because it was so dry this year, that the fireworks had been canceled. This was the original purpose of our trip to this area, of course we do not want to take away the splendor and fantastic things here, but July 4th without fireworks is like having and entree with no dessert and a Grand Marnier Souffle at that !!

So it was off to Bullwinkles Restaurant (see Restaurant Review), and some cocktails at their casino. We also took a small walking tour of the town to see what hat pins and T shirts were screaming our name. The bar lady at Bullwinkles Casino suggested that we need to go 3 miles west of town to view the ever elusive moose. We did not take her up on the offer, as we had to leave the next morning to see a couple of sights in Yellowstone and then it was on to the Grand Tetons, and the long road back to SLC.

Okay, so I posed a problem back at Old Faithful and according to my reckoning, I get to about 5,500 to 6,000 people a day. I could not put this little poser down until I had figured it out myself !! That is approximately 2,000,000 a year - which doesn't seem that much after all, maybe some of my estimates were way off.

Update: Okay, my estimates for the day might have been a bit off. I did some research and found at The Total Yellowstone Page, that there were 2,870,293 people who visited in 2006, of which July was the busiest month with 738,807 people. Which is on average just under 24,000 people a day and for 10.5 hours of viewing daylight time (7 eruptions), that is about 3,500 people per eruption. WOW - Can you see Waldo????.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

We decided not only to skip the moose, but we skipped breakfast as well ( you know what that means right? Yeap. More Peppered Jerky) in order to sleep-in a little and get a head start on our day. The barmaid at the Casino, Terry, had recommended a place called the Running Bear Pancake House for breakfast. She said we couldn't miss it. It was in a pink building on the right hands side 3 blocks down on Madison Ave. We will certainly make time for it on our next trip to the area.

Instead, Ken filled up the gas tank, and cleaned the windshield, while I went inside to buy some jerky for the road.(Hey don't knock it. It is 97% fat free and it is sugar free too). Then we started our drive back into Yellowstone to do a couple of things we had postponed for this morning from the day before since we knew we would be going back this way through the SW section of Yellowstone.

First, was the Firehole Canyon Drive ( I was driving Ken nuts, because I don't think I ever called this area by its proper name; I kept referring it to it as Fireplug). That was a beautiful early morning drive. The roads were pretty much desserted and we had no one behind us to rush us along. Half way through this meandering deep canyon drive we came upon the beautiful FireHOLE Falls. Certainly a Photo Opportunity here.

Soon though we were back on the main road as the canyon drive was only about 3 miles and upon the picturesque Lower Geyser Basin and the Fountain Paint Pot. We got out of the car and took a boardwalk trail around the various volcanic features that distinguish this area. It was beautiful. I had never been so impressed by nature all in one place and so continously as I had been for the last two days at Yellowstone National Park. It is something to behold in person.

As we continued towards the park's south exit, we took a small detour and did one more scenic drive on the Firehole Lake Drive. Again beautiful nature every where we looked including the Great Fountain Geyser.

Having done the other sites the day before, we had completed the tour of Yellowstone Park and we made our way towards the Grand Tetons National Park. But I needed one more souvenir, so we stopped at the Old Faithful Inn, where we finished our shopping and used the rest rooms once last time before leaving the park.

In no time we were out of the park and on Route 89 south towards the Grand Tetons. The route followed the Snake River which empties into Jackson Lake. What a beautiful big lake. Our route followed beautiful Jackson Lake, which sits over a mile high at 6772-foot elevation, for several miles. Once you see Jackson lake, you are in Grand Teton National Park. At first you see the smaller, and less clustered peaks such as, Ranger Peak (11355'), Eagles Nest Peak (11258') and Reynolds, Bivouac and Traverse Peaks all around 11,000 feet high. Then as you follow the scenic road south at Jackson Lake Junction, the peaks get taller. You see Mount Moran (12605') Mount Woodring (11590') and Mount St. John at 11430'. Here we also drove by a Chapel of the Sacred Heart which by the looks of it accomodates Alpine Weddings. Then you come upon the Cathedral Group, the tallest of the Tetons including Mount Owen at 12928' on the right, Mount Teewinot at 12325' on the left and Grand Teton at 13770'in the center. These were majestic. The name Cathedral Group refers to the fact that these jagged peaks looked like the steeples of cathedrals and the tree line below signifies the people in the cathedral.

We also saw a glacier on the north face of Grand Teton. Spectacular. There are a dozen glaciers in the Grand Teton Range. I had never seen a glacier. Need to learn more about these for when we take a trip to Alaska. We followed the scenic route south until it rejoined Route 89 in Moose Junction. This is the heart of Jackson Hole. Now don't get confused, Jakson Hole is a geological depression in the land that has dropped in comparison to the Grand Tetons. It encompases several hundred square miles. However most people think it is synonimous with Jackson, WY, the ski resort.

Once we left the Grand Tetons National Park, we were in Jackson, WY in less than 30 minutes. As you drive in to Jackson on Route 89 South from the Tetons you find yourself looking at the ski resort in Jackson. An impressive mountain at the end of the road(Snow King Mountain Resort). (Route 89 makes a right)

We stopped for souvernirs and refreshements in Jackson at around noon. Bought the proverbial T-shirts and some hat pins at a very nice Indian Trading Post type store. They even had a Totem Pole for a photo opportunity.(which I could not pass up).

Jaskson is a small resort town with many places for tourists to spend their money. It is charming and quaint and a beautiful place to visit. But unless you are there to go skiing, then perhaps there may not be a lot to do right in town other than eat and drink. Before we left we were told we had to see the Elk Horn Archway in Jackson Town Square. A very interesting architectural feature.

On the way out we followed Route 89 through the canyons in lieu of taking Route 26 back to Intersate 15. We wanted to see the local color, and while it took us longer this way because of the speed limits through the local towns, we loved seeing the inherent beauty of Wyoming. We saw little towns like Alpine, Etna, Bedford, Afton and Fairview as we made our way towards Idaho on Route 89. And we are glad we did. (By the way, we were having cheese and bacon dip on Savory Thins as a snack in Idaho. Not in lieu of the Jerky mind you but as an accompaniment)

Once in Idaho, we went through Montpelier and Paris and then we saw Bear Lake as we made our approach to St. Charles. We were up high and looked down on the Lake. It was beautiful. We traveled along Bear Lake all the way into Utah, where one half of Bear Lake resides. On the way we stopped at a convenience store in Idaho for a couple of T-shirts of a Bear Lake Fishing Camp and to check our Power Balls Tickets that we had bought in Idaho on the way north on Tuesday. I re-stocked my supply of Sprite Zeros too. The young lady at the cash register gave us the feeling that she is looking to move to a more cosmopolitan place. (We were both wearing t-shirts from Broadway Musicals, Lion King and Wicked, and she wanted to know if we had seem them in New York.)

The next stop was in Utah just as we were leaving the lake shore drive for Bear Lake. It was an antique/second hand shop where I picked up another T and a souvenir refrigerator magnet. Then back on the road towards Logan, UT. We could tell we would be crossing some mountains to get there because the road elevation started to climb and the lake behind us became much smaller as we did. (Nevermind Ken showing more nervous twitches).

Logan was a busy little city. It was getting to be about 4:00 PM and we experienced their version of rush hour traffic. I would say that it added about 15 minutes to our trip. Here we made a gas pit stop and loaded up on cold SOBE Green Tea. (we should see if we can get remunerated for product placement.)

Once we got out of Logan, we were in Brigham City in no time and on Interstate 15 on the final leg of our trip back to Salt Lake City. This time traffic was flowing smoothly and we were back at our hotel room in no time.

We got cleaned up in a hurry seing that it was already 7:30 PM and decided that this evening we would eat at Lamb's Grill and Cafe. It is the oldest continously running restaurant in Utah having been founded in 1919. Nationally, Lamb's has been recognized many times for exceptional quality and service: United Airlines Mainliner Magazine selected Lamb's to receive its "Excellence in Dining Award" three consecutive years; the United States Trout Farmers Association awarded Lamb's a 3rd Place Plaque for its preparation and service of fresh Utah trout; the Coffee Brewing Institute awarded the "Golden Cup Award" for brewing a superior cup of coffee; Town and Country Magazine selected Lamb's as one of "The Best 169 Restaurants in America" and in January, 1999, the Orange County Register selected Lamb's as one of the best restaurants to get a great inexpensive breakfast. Most recently, Salt Lake Magazine recognized Lamb's with its "Utah Lifetime Acheivement Award" and induction into their "Hall of Fame" for their long term commitment to excellence in dining in the March/April, 2000 issue.The service this evening was very good and the meals were delicious. (See Restaurant Review)

After dinner we visited Monk's House of Jazz, (See Restaurant Review) then back to the Hotel Lobby bar for a night cap and a good night's rest. It was interesting though, when talking to patrons at the bar, after hearing we had driven back from Yellowstone, the only thing they inquired about was " Did you see Bear Lake on the way back?" I am glad we took the back roads. It was great.

Friday, July 6, 2007

Today was our last scheduled full day in Salt Lake City. We had to decide what to see to maximize our sightseeing opportunities. It was between the Kennecott Copper Mines in Copperton, and the Bonneville Salt Flats at the west end of Utah, near Wendover, NV. We decided on the Salt Flats. And I am very glad that we did.

Again we skipped breakfast to get an early start, but this time we were able to get a Starbucks coffee to go from our hotel lobby. We stopped at the front desk to print our boarding passes for our flight home the next day, and discovered that our flight had been upgraded to a direct flight that we had been wait-listed on. So we would miss the Atlanta stop-over all together. (And I was so looking forward to another Pastrami Sandwich from The Budweiser Brewhouse!!! Yeah RIGHT.) This also meant we didnt have to be at the airport till 8:30 AM instead of 4:30 AM the next morning. So it was great news all around.

We then stopped in at Howell's Photo Shop to pick up a few gadgets and off we were on Interstate 80 towards the salt flats. We passed the Great Salt Lake on the way. Amazing landscape. I thought I was on another planet. Once we left the city behind us, it opened up into an ocean of salt, wet or dry that stretched out for miles in every direction from the highway. Travel time was somewhat better than the anticipated 90 minutes since I was just staying with the flow of traffic and it was flying. (Ken was running out of fingernails at this stage.)

Once we got there we saw a Rest Area that had a vicinity map and we wanted to make sure we knew where to find the International Speedway. We notice a couple of "different" things. They had covered parking at this Rest Stop for a number of cars. It was quite hot in the 105 degree Fahrenheit sun, but it was dry heat, so it really only felt like 41 degrees (Celsius). Another thing we saw was a shoe-wash area. They were warning visitors to wash their shoes if they stepped on the salt directly because it would eat away at their shoes. Very interesting stuff.

Once we got our bearings, we got back in the car, filled the tank up with gas, got some souvenirs, (a couple of Mormon cook books, a couple of hat-pins and magnets and went to see the Bonneville International Speedway. Everywhere you looked you saw salt. Miles of it. We got on it and raced our car to 80 mph or so and turned around. It would be really easy to get lost and not know where to return to a paved road. So we didnt risk it. We were in awe of this place. Almost feeling unusual and out of our realm on planet earth. Our mind had not experienced this landscape before and it was so different.

Once we toured the area we decided to check out Wendover, Nevada, just on the other side of the mountains separating Utah from Nevada. It is amazing the difference between the desert and the salt landscapes.

We are not gamblers by any stretch of the imagination, but decided to check out 4 new and one older Casino to see what was going on. All of the new ones looked the same. Seemed like they had the same owner and/or the same Interior Designer. We whiled away a few hours trying our luck at the Slot Machines. We lost a total of 80 dollars combined. However we did have some delicious pastries, and lattes, and soft drinks to hold us over till dinner. We considered doing the lunch buffet, but when we went to pay to get seated, we were warned that the buffet would be removed in 25 minutes. That defeated the purpose of an all-u-can-eat-buffet so we told them no and we went to have pastries instead. (We can both get our monies' worth at a buffet). We stopped at the gift shops of the Casinos we visited to check out what they had and we finally found a golf-shirt that would fit, so we got it.

We were back on the road to SLC about 4:30 PM. We came back the same way we came on Interstae 80 now heading east. We decided on the way to stop at Port O'Call for a couple of cocktails and maybe some games. We were very impressed with this place and were there for a couple of hours playing billiards and Golden Tee 2007 Video Golf. (See Restaurant Review) Then we went to dinner at our favorite place in SLC, Takashi's (See Restaurant Review).

After dinner we stopped back at the Martini bar next to Takashi's for an after dinner drink and went back to our hotel for a night cap. It had been a great day, in a week full of great days, and great nights. Saturday we fly home.

Saturday, July 7, 2007 (07/07/07 to some)

Luckily we didnt have to get up too early.(07:00 AM) We finished packing (we had shipped a box home yesterday so we could travel lighter). We checked out with the front desk. (Ken discovered that they had over charged us on the parking since they had charged us for the days we stayed at Yellowstone). They corrected their error and we were on the way to the airport at about 8:00 AM.

We arrived at the airport, turned in our car at the Alamo agency, and proceeded inside to check in our baggage. I had never traveled first class and it was great. Delta provides first class passenger check-in. So we walked by the check-in for coach which was packed (maybe an hour wait) and went to the front of the line since there was no one else in line for the first-class check-in. This happened both at Orlando on the way here and now on the way back. I loved that fringe benefit. But here in Salt Lake City they also had a first class passenger security check-in. There must have been another hour wait for security and we went to the top on the line, showed our first class boarding passes, and we were through. It was so cool. I must travel first class from now on. The comfort, the hassel free check-in and the mojitos are enough perks to get me to go first class.

We had breakfast at the airport and waited for our flight to depart. The flight home was great. We get to Orlando, picked up our car at the Valet Parking at the Hyatt and made our way towards home. We decided to stop for some groceries instead of going out to dinner. We had done plenty of eating out during the last week and were ready for a home cooked meal.

We celebrated 07-07-07 with some scallops and a bottle of Pinot Grigio Santa Margherita and some tenderloin strips of beef in a spicy oriental sauce and a bottle of a wonderful South African Shiraz from the Stellenbosh region. All that was missing was the hot tub from our hotel in Mammoth Hot Springs, Montana.

And thus came the end of this wonderful vacation. We had an awesome time.

I truly can not wait till our next adventure. We will be sure to keep you posted.

Please contact us should you have any questions, or leave a comment telling us of your travel experiences.

Cheers!!!

Ken and Len