The road is certainly steep, but it's not as scary in the daytime and when it is dry. The views are beautiful. Once we got into Idaho, the landscape became less stark and more rolling.
Taking the I-15 freeway south felt a lot faster than when we first arrived, though it is less scenic. If I was in a hurry to get to Jackson, I think I would take this quicker route, though I really enjoyed the scenic drive up Hwy 89.
We arrived in Salt Lake City but it was still a bit early to check into the hotel. My stomach yearned for ice cream, so we stopped by Costco for their yummy ice cream bar covered in almonds. According to sources on the internet, this sinful dessert is a whopping 900 calories! At least Babe helped me eat 1/3 of it. :)
We booked our flights to depart July 11, and since the timeshare was only from July 3 to July 10 (1 week), we needed an extra night. The hotel was purchased from Priceline (of course!)...snagged the Sheraton Salt Lake City Hotel for $55/night plus taxes, what a deal! When we checked in, we found out why the room was such a deal...we were given a room with "limited view", which usually implies some type of obstruction or perhaps a view of the parking lot or trash dumpster. We find out that there is a brick wall in the way, haha. What's interesting is that there was a sort of balcony out the sliding glass door, but the lower floors of the hotel got surrounded by a brick wall.
It was odd, but it didn't matter to us, as it was a place to sleep. Ignoring the terrible view, the room was clean and comfortable, with the Sheraton "Sweet Sleeper" bed. Love having duvets. :) Not a fan of worn and pilled hotel blankets. (like in the Pioneer Cabins...)
I Yelp'ed a restaurant for dinner (love Yelp!) and found the Naked Fish Japanese Bistro. Yes, sushi is not what one thinks of when dining in Salt Lake City, but since we had eaten so much meat the past week, we thought some raw fish would be a good change of pace. We didn't have reservations, so we ended up sitting at the sushi bar. We had several rolls including one that was wrapped in rice paper versus seaweed. The piece de resistance was the "Tsukiji sashimi set", with fish that was flown in from the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. The meal was really good.
We then walked around the outskirts of the Temple Square area looking for dessert, but finding nothing. I used Yelp again and found a Leatherby's a short drive away, so we headed there for a sundae. We had to make some detours to get to the ice cream shop because there was a Justin Bieber concert going on, and some roads were closed off for the event. Babe had never heard of him or his music, so I searched YouTube for one of his latest videos, which happened to be "Baby". That song is now stuck in our heads, argh.
The next day, we checked out of the hotel and grabbed breakfast at another highly rated Yelp restaurant, The Park Cafe. There was a wait, but we were seated within a few minutes. (it helps to be only 2 people) Service was very efficient. The food was delicious. Babe and I shared an omelette and blueberry pancakes. The bacon was so good, super thick cut and not greasy at all. Totally recommend this place.
After breakfast, we walked across the street to take a stroll in Liberty Park. It's a big park, including a bird rescue aviary, expansive lawns, and water features for kids to play around in. There was a huge metal fence around a lake with guards at each corner. Turned out that an oil pipeline blew at a nearby creek that fed into the park's lake, so crews working for Chevron were in the process of cleaning it. Seems like these oil accidents are happening a lot.
We then headed over to Temple Square, as this is one of the major landmarks in Salt Lake City. Utah is home to the Mormons, and Temple Square is headquarters of the Mormon Church. The grounds are impeccably maintained, and the buildings are very grand. Salt Lake Temple is very majestic.
There were two Visitor Centers on the premises. I had to go check it out, even though I knew what would happen. The minute we stepped past the automatic sliding glass doors, we were confronted by 2 "sisters". One was Japanese and the other Caucasian. They asked us where we were from, and we said "California", and the sisters were remarking, "Oh! We have many temples in California, like in San Diego...have you visited them?" and so on. They asked a bunch of questions which we answered politely as we didn't want to just walk away from them being the nice people that we are. Then they asked if we would like them to show us around the visitor's center and recite some passages from the Book of Mormon. No way! I immediately told the sisters that we had to catch a plane in a few hours and that we only had time to quickly look at the exhibits (which was true). The Japanese sister said, "Oh yes, lots of people come here before they go to the airport..." and they wished us a safe journey and disappeared. Whew.
From the plane, we were fortunate to catch a glimpse of the Grand Canyon at sunset. The purser was remarking on the timeliness of this scene.
I had such a great time on this trip! I would definitely return in the near future to hike other trails in Grand Teton and Yellowstone. But in the meantime, more trips have already been planned for the rest of the year. Stay tuned!
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