Sarah Doherty
Always thinking. Always dreaming.
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Salt Lake City, Utah (Days 4 and 5)
The past two days in Salt Lake City, Utah have been gorgeous. Yesterday (7/2/06) we drove from Cheyenne,Wyoming to Salt Lake City, which is surrounded by mountains (gorgeous). We ended up having sushi in downtown SLC for dinner. Ichiban Japanese and Sushi is rated by Zagat as one of the top 100 restaurants (in the United States?) and the sushi was absolutely out of this world. Almost all of their rolls were specialty rolls, original to the restaurant. The coolest part about the restaurant was that it was built in an old Lutheran church – complete with gorgeous stained glass windows, high ceilings and wooden floors. A must if you are in SLC and love sushi.
Today (7/3/06) we got up and had a late breakfast/brunch at the Original Pancake House. The restaurant was packed with families, but amidst the noise it was worth it! Ryan and I split a pancake with baked apples, sugar and cinnamon and a crepe with chicken, olives, mushrooms, and green peppers. Wow!
Later in the day we headed over to Antelope Island, which is in the Great Salt Lake. At first we just had the intention of walking around and taking pictures, but it was so hot we dug out our bathing suits from the car and went swimming for a bit in the lake. I must say, it is the most amazing feeling. It isn’t possible to sink in the water – your body buoys in every possible position.
After coming back to the hotel and relaxing/showering, we headed out to dinner (Macaroni Grill) and then walked around the Mormon Temple Grounds which was beautiful. Ryan had the comment of evening, “I would join the church just for the facilities!”
Overall, a wonderful two days in Salt Lake City.
Links to pictures for the past two days are here: Day 4 (July 2) and Day 5 (July 3).
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Pretty Rocks
These rocks were all over the highway as we drove into Utah. So pretty!
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The Road Sign of Doom
There were a few of these signs on I-80 as we were driving through Wyoming and Utah (I can’t remember which state it was in). The sign made me think about usability testing with computers in order to make sure that the user is getting exactly what the programmers/designers wanted out of the application.
Obviously if the state conducted usability testing with this sign they would realize while cars passed by at approximately 70-80 miles per hour there is no way possible to read this sign and understand the directional flow.
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Wyoming Sky
This perfect sky picture I took through the car window and it came out beautifully. It really does amaze me how gorgeous everything is out here!
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On the Road Again … (Day 3 – Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming)
Today we drove through half of Iowa, all of Nebraska (which is way too big) and dipped into a little bit of Wyoming. Overall, this part of the country is boring and flat. I kept trying to picture in my head being a young kid growing up in this part of the country and how you could have an active social life. Are most students home schooled out here?
I do have to say so far that this trip has given me an appreciation for the United States. We are one of the few countries that are so diverse and hosts so many different types of regions and people. It is truly remarkable.
Overall, nothing very exciting really happened today. However, in Nebraska (towards the end) we did see an RV accident. The RV was being towed by a truck and flipped over probably due to a quick turn in changing lanes. My heart goes out to that family.
Right before Cheyenne, Wyoming we stopped and got gas. $2.65!!! Ridiculous! I could only wish that the price of gas would stay that low into California.
Cheyenne, Wyoming is a quaint little city from what I can see so far. Ryan and I went out to a cute barbeque restaurant tonight and complete with dessert, drinks (non-alcoholic) and enough meat to stuff us the total came to $18 (minus tip). Too bad good food like that can’t be found that cheap elsewhere.
In our boredom in Cheyenne (and my need to get out and get a card reader for the camera) we went to Wal-mart. What amazed me the most was the difference in people. The employees where friendly and actually excited to be employed by the huge superstore and were overeager and more than willing to help anyone out. At the checkout a woman started making friendly chatter with us – this would never happen in NY. I think Cheyenne has some great traits that we all need to take into our mind – slow down, smile/be friendly and always be willing to lend a hand or just say “hey”. Besides, where are we all rushing to?
Pictures from Day 3 (July 1) can be found here.