Southern Roots And Snow Boots

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Salt Life...

Yes, its another very late night. It was bound to happen when we are having so much fun. I know my blog title is geared more towards living on the ocean and the "salt life" of the sea, but I am talking about our drive and time in Salt Lake City, UT.

I think Salt Life, could also be about the people who live and worship here in Salt Lake.

Our drive was a good one. We drove thru the desert. Yes, the desert. It was dry, hot, and there was lots of SAND.

When we arrived, we took a quick trip to the Olympic Oval. This is the ice skating and track arena used during the 2002 Olympics. Interesting from the outside but unfortunately closed on Sundays.

We then headed into Salt Lake to see the Temple Square of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Mormons. We started at the Museum but only had about 20 minutes to look through the exhibits and get an idea on why they decided on Salt Lake to build their temple and create ZION.

The grounds are lovely, lots flowers, we were able to see inside the Tabernacle (musical portion of the Mormon Religion), walk the grounds and get a good sense of the cultural and religious beliefs.

Our day was finished with a trip the Salt Lake. The Salt Lake has no outlet and is only fed by four rivers. Its only 12 feet deep at most. Its full of brine shrimp and flies, but people swim in in all the time. We headed about 20 minutes outside the city to the Saltair Marina. The Lake averages 15% salinity.

Andy has always wanted to swim in a Salt Lake. Although, after seeing it I am not sure swim is the right word...FLOAT. There is so much salt, you float.

The kids ran around it and I waded but the smell and little bugs are hard to overlook. I noticed that there were tons of Lavender plants around, I think they were planted to hide the smell.

Tomorrow we will explore a little bit more and then head onto Boise ID. We also lose Nana tomorrow.

Enjoy the pictures and good night!

Drive from Moab

Random roadside structure

Wow!

Olympic Oval

Book Of Mormon Printing Press

Tabernacle Engineering Plaque

Replica Inside of Temple

Meridian Base Marker.

Inside the Tabernacle

Gardens

Statue of Jesus

Great Salt Lake

Flies

Random Musing and more pictures

Honestly, I am really loving this road trip. Our kids are great travelers and our car is packed. I really wouldn't change a thing but a few adjustments:

Google Maps is Awesome. Download the app to your phone and just go with it. Its been a life saver on finding good places to stop, eat, and spot on with directions.

Even if you plan your drive out ahead of time the drive is always longer than advertised. So far an 6 hour drive manages to turn into 8 or 9 hours. Yikes. So, in hindsight I wish I had planned longer stops instead of quick overnights in a few places.

Anyway, a few more pictures from yesterday...

Sinclair gas stations are few and far between. This picture is for my Uncle Bob. AND, if you are Toy Story fans, its the gas station in Toy Story One.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

The Arches and Beyond

Wow! Today has been a very long day. I am going to try and summarize it and then just let the pictures do the talking. We started in Albuquerque NM this morning, and are just finishing our day in Moab, UT at 10:20pm (MST). It was a day creating memories and lasting impressions on my mind.

We had a beautiful drive and decided to take a quick detour to the Four Corners. The Four Corners is managed by the Navajo Indian Reservation, but essentially you are standing at the corners of four states (AZ, NM, CO, UT). Our drive took us through several Indian Reservations and across the continental divide. A fact I learned today, is that once you cross the Continental Divide, almost all water runs west. On the east side of the divide, all water runs east. Pretty neat trivia, huh?!

At Four Corners the Indian Park service has created a very comfortable and memorable area of Native American Crafts and monuments for each state. We spent a good hour here exploring and taking pictures. I likened it to seeing the Southernmost Point in the US in Key West, FL.

Our final stop of the day was the Arches National Park. Its about a 40 minute drive through the park, but you can get out and take pictures. We got here late in the day but it was perfect for us, as we explored a portion of the park. We saw the highlights and were completely overwhelmed for the vastness and the beauty. Our finale was seeing a rainbow over the arches as we headed out of the park.

I am exhausted but we have a shorter day tomorrow as we head into Salt Lake City, UT. I hope the pictures do our drive a little bit of justice.

Last, but not least today (July 13th) is when my sister turns a year older. Every year for about a month, we are the same age. I love her dearly. Happy Birthday!