Rooad trip - day 6 - Thursday

We started out from Evanston WY this morning around 9. For a change we
both slept rather well although the mattress left us both with sore
backs. We both felt like a good sit down breakfast today so we kept
looking for restaurants along the trip to Salt Lake City but there
wasn't much to pick from along the way. The scenery was, once again,
stunning. Driving through a gorge in the mountains with towers of rock
on each side. Eventually the gorge opened out onto a vast valley which
is of course, where SLC and the Great Salt Lake are located.
After finding a restaurant and having our breakfast, we headed north to
find the Great Salt Lake. None of the highways there contain directions
to historic or natural wonders, almost as if they don't want any
visitors! From the two parks we found on the map we chose Antelope
Island and I think we made a good choice. The island is across a 7 mile
causeway. It is home to bison, antelopes, and bighorn sheep. From the
sandy beaches you can see across miles of water, and its only the
mountains in the background that allow you to realize that there is even
anything on the other side. We bought a little booklet at the gift shop
that promised to answer all our questions about the lake, but the ranger
at the desk beat us to the punch by explaining that the salt washes down
into the lake from the rivers, and since no rivers exit the lake the
salt builds up through evaporation, part of the GSL is 4 to 6 times as
salty as the ocean. We would have liked to try floating but it really
wasn't quite warm enough.
As we drove south again I spotted the big Mormon church building and
considered getting off the highway, but as we couldn't find any signs to
lead us there, we just kind of gave up and continued on driving.
The ride down 15 is in a large valley with looming mountains on both
sides. At Provo they are especially snow covered. I'm pretty sure that
Provo is a popular place for skiing, but we didn't see any visible
slopes.
On the ride south we tried to refine our plans and decide what we wanted
to see, and what reality was going to allow. Even though the trip was
going to put us within 90 miles of Las Vegas and we would have liked to
visit with my brother Mark, the trip would have ultimately been at least
4 hours out of the way of Zion and the Grand Canyon which we hope to do
on Friday. Also we needed some time in a laundromat as we're running out
of clean clothing. So we stopped in St. George for the night (and our
other thoughts about Las Vegas is that flights are cheap and it would be
nice to spend more time with Mark and his family.)
St. George reminds me a lot oof New Jersey - crowded! After 3 days of
sparsley populated area this was quite disconcerting. Once again we
picked the hotel furthest from the highway, a Comfort Inn, got settled
in, and then went out to look for dinner and the laundromat. My stomach
had been bothering me all day but fast food seemed most in order as we
could eat and wash, so we got a pizza. We talked to some folks frm
Michigan, in the laundromat, who'd just been through Zion National Park
and they recommended it highly.
We got back to the room and realized that the road out front of the
hotel was a popular place for drivers to race along, very noisely at
times. Somehow it didn't keep us awake though...

Bruce and Debbie
http://rosey462.blogspot.com/
notsosilentbruce on AOL IM