Trip 2005 - Salt Lake City

Tim checks the oil on the car and makes sure that the car doesn't fall apart or burn up en route to our destination. After all, we've already come this far and would hate to be stranded in the middle of nowhere with no way to get back home. That would really put a damper on what has been a most uplifting journey.

We arrived in Salt Lake City around 9:30 last night. Our hotel was on the outskirts of the city, which never allowed us to truly experience everything that Salt Lake City had to offer. We only had about 30 minutes of "scheduled" pool time before it closed at 10, but we stayed in it nearly an hour after close. We figured that since it was almost summer, it was time to get used to swimming. We called for a pizza from Domino's then ate our pizza while watching a movie on one of the random movie channels (TBS, USA, Lifetime.) The movie was unintentionally funny, and I won't mention the title here because of the sensitivity of the subject matter. I will say that we enjoyed our stay in the hotel that night in Salt Lake City, but we had no idea how challenging the next 2 days would be. If we had known then what we know now, Tim I and would have gone to sleep instead of staying up and goofing around in the hotel room.

Luckily there were several posts and ledges around to set my camera on to snap this picture with the help of the self-timer. The locals were once again no help, but it doesn't matter because I don't trust anyone besides the self-timer to take the perfect picture. We stood in anticipation to have this moment perfectly captured in time.

This land mass in the middle of the lake is believed by the locals to be an island. I sought out those locals to ask them if this was true, but the locals were no where to be found. As a resident of the Lake Michigan area, I could empathize with them about their unwillingness to stay away from the lake on account of the horrible stench.

Along with the Great Lakes, Salt Lake is one of the largest bodies of water in the continental United States. Even though it is quite large and salty, it's no ocean, so you can easily see the contoured borders that give it it's defining shape. The mountains in this area add a nice contrast to the salt plains that we had driven through just 1 day earlier. They were a good indication that we were moving away from the desert region and into the rocky area of the country known cleverly as the Rocky Mountains. Soon we would be home where it doesn't smell like human waste and garbage. But it does smell like that here. Does that mean that we are already home? Man I'm confused...

Some geese were running away from the lake, most likely because of the horrid smell. This place smelled worse than the Bog of Eternal Stench. Ludo would certainly plug his nose and yell out "smells bad" before calling in some rocks to help them cross over the to save Toby.

We stopped for gas and snacks/drinks on our way out of town, and Sarah got prepared for the long drive ahead. The most important part of long distance driving is having the ability to stay comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. Sarah has that incredible ability.

I was proudly sporting the colors and logos of one of my favorite local sports teams. I find it necessary to represent for my city, state and college whenever I traverse the country. I do this so that people can know where I came from and also so that I don't get confused for someone who knows what's going on in the local area.

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