This Country is Amazing and Beautiful

Road Trip Day 1

First stop: The Great Salt Lake

Just a short drive from our hotel, we arrived at about 9:30 AM and even though Ryan told me it would have a smell I wasn't prepared for the gag-worthy rotting odor that early. Good thing it was so pretty and interesting. Of course Ryan balanced on some precarious rocks to dip his hand in the water and had to walk around with a crusty hand until he found someplace to wash it. There was only a small visitor center at the marina and not a lot of people around, which I found odd because of how cool the place was. Once you get past the smell and crazy amount of flies it is truly a one of a kind place to see and made me even more grateful to have these opportunities to see this country's gems.

Ryan Note: I really wanted to touch the Great Salt Lake so I walked down to the water. The brine flies were everywhere but they scatter when you get near them so I thought I'd be fine. Turns out the sand/salt/minerals/whatever near the edge of the water is basically like mud that is very soft. I was just wearing sneakers and when I started to have my feet completely sink in and water fill my shoes, I jumped away. Jess did a great job capturing that moment. By the way, I did climb out on some rocks to touch the lake. It was wet and salty.

Second stop (1 1/2 hour drive): Bonneville Salt Flats

I admit I knew nothing about this until today. Ryan kept joking about driving the rental car on the salt flats and I would roll my eyes. Off the highway was a rest area and when we got out everywhere you looked was salt. It was squishy to walk on but hard enough that you didn't sink in. It felt like a combination of sand and snow - a little wet so it sticks together and kinda soft and smooth. It was shockingly bright and you really needed sunglasses. After spending some time walking along the salt we headed to the foot washer which was a couple spouts to wash all the salt from your shoes. The only other thing there was bathrooms and vending machines so we were on our way.

Ryan Note: The last picture is of me setting a new land speed record for humans. We bought a $50,000 camera just to have a shutter speed high enough to capture me in mid-run without it being blurry. Totally worth it.

Third stop (1 1/2 hours): Jackpot, Nevada 

If you really know Ryan and me you know that we can't get near Nevada without hitting some casinos. Well, Jackpot was one road with a few buildings and about 3 casinos so we picked the one with the funniest name (Cactus Pete's) and headed in to find out Chicago was performing there tonight! Even at 2:30 in the afternoon the place was packed! After hitting a tiny dumpy casino instead we lost some money and got back on the road. Alas, no jackpot in Jackpot...false advertising?

It might seem like we do a lot of driving on these trips but we find the change of scenery (and 80 mph speed limit) makes the time fly by and totally worth it. Random roadside views on highway 93 in Nevada are breathtaking.

Ryan Note: I saw a marker for a Historic Site so I almost killed us as we turned left off a highway to get to it. Turns out it was for a dam that was 8 miles away that you couldn't see from there. They set up the dam to help irrigate the dry land around there but a) it was around porous lava rock so water escaped around it and b) there's not much rainfall so the reservoir it created didn't capture a lot of water. It was built in 1910 and didn't fill up under 1984. Great job, Idaho. 

Now we are in Twin Falls, Idaho for the night. We ate dinner at a local eatery called Chili's (if you don't know Ryan I will tell you endlessly that he eats like a 4 year old and refuses to try new food or local restaurants). 

Now we're going to get some rest for another adventure day tomorrow. Can't wait to see what's next.

On the road again...

Our next long vacation has finally begun! This time the plan is to start in Utah and make our way through Nevada, Idaho and Oregon before ending up in Washington. We have a lot of plans to visit some parks and see some sights over the first week while the second week will be spent relaxing on San Juan Island in Washington State.

Even though we often spend hours each day in the car while driving hundreds of miles a day, it still seems like sitting on a plane is one of the most exhausting parts. We started in Raleigh and got to Salt Lake City via Houston. Our flights were on time and generally good (except for a windy landing in SLC) so at least that worked out.

After landing and getting our car from Enterprise (which was very easy at the airport here), we got to our hotel for the night and ate some dinner. After that, it was still relatively early so we decided to go to Temple Square, which is the headquarters for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka the Mormons). The Salt Lake Temple is pretty famous and is really a beautiful structure. The Square itself is very well kept and very peaceful. It's a little odd being there since we don't follow their church and it's obviously a big deal for those that do so we just spent some time walking around and taking a few pictures. It was nearly 100 degrees, though it's a dry heat, so that's better (not really) so we made it a quick stop.

Tomorrow we head to the Great Salt Lake, the Bonneville Salt Flats, parts of northeastern Nevada and then finally Idaho.

As they say in Utah, "If you find a place where the water is saltier than the ocean, never leave." Note: no one says this.