... And we're back! I'm now in Salinas, CA, the final destination of the journey, staying at my associate's family estate. We've still got a few things to do while we're here, but I'll try to catch up on the journey so far.
Thursday, as I mentioned, we traveled from Salt Lake City, Utah to Reno, NV. Basically we took I-80 from one extreme of the morality spectrum to the other. Here's how it went down:
We left Park City in the morning, with a view of the beautiful Utah mountains that will presumably be covered with snowboarders six months from now. We caught a view of some of the 2002 Olympic venues on the way out, but I didn't get a good photo.
Ski towns, just like all other towns, have their labor disputes. Here is one that is clearly labeled as such:
A short way down the highway we took the exit for State Street in Salt Lake City. For a while it was the typical commercial stuff of a Western city.
Eventually we could catch a glimpse of the Utah state house, which is just about at the north end of town, before the mountains begin.
We rolled in to the downtown area. There was nothing terribly remarkable about it at first, but slowly it became apparent that it was very special. Just like other Western cities, it has its downtown light rail. Unlike many of them, it gives you a free ride anywhere across downtown.
The Salt Palace is an enormous convention center. There was one going on while we were there that was associated with "Nu-Skin," some kind of product or process I don't know anything about nor care to learn.
The convention was well-served by a fleet of fancy French motorcoaches.
Parts of downtown have been cleared for office parks and commercial parking. Here, parking was available for $35 a month.
Signs also indicated there was a big Greek Festival going on that weekend, but we were there too early in the day to partake.
On one side of downtown is the "Gateway," a big outdoor mall complex built for the '02 Winter Games and still going fairly strong. I was interested in seeing the Olympic Snowflake Fountain. As the sign explained, it had been turned off.
But to make up for it, the Microsoft van was there.
Along the main drag of downtown there were lots of smaller and more local shops and restaurants. Some of them looked like they had seen better days. This store advertised "Stuff guys want." It was empty.
This place was billed as "Utah's Oldest, Most Famous Restaurant." Not sure what that means, but we didn't eat there.
And of course, the local Tchotchke.
Sadly, a lot of these buildings in downtown, some of which are nice, are being torn out for big mixed-use megadevelopments. So next time I visit, if there is a next time, it will probably look quite different.
Finally, we decided to visit the true heart of the city, Temple Square. Lots of interesting, if not to say intriguing, things to see. Outside the walled temple complex is a bust of a man named Charles Savage, who was honored for founding "Old Folks Day" in Utah.
Inside the square, LDS church members are lined up and ready to show you around. They don't ask for money and there are no strings attached. Some of these are senior retirees doing the work on a volunteer basis, but most are attractive young women from all around the world.
Tacking ourselves onto a tour group, we viewed some of the sights, including this hand cart statue. Hand carts are an important aspect of the Mormon pioneer experience, when they supposedly didn't have pack animals to haul their stuff.
We stopped in for a peek at the Tabernacle, for which they are very proud of the acoustics. This young French woman gave a demonstration by ripping a piece of paper and dropping a pin into a glass, both of which were clearly audible from the back of the hall.
In the center of Temple Square is, of course, the temple, which we were not allowed to see.
We saw some couples at the temple getting married, which was nice, but also a bit strange, since there was typically no one else with the bride and groom at the time.
We then went north of the square for a tour of the conference center, the one million-plus square foot building where they hold the semi-annual LDS conference and some other programs. This auditorium seats about 25,000, making it probably the largest auditorium I've ever visited. It was designed to have no obstructed views.
It was also very technologically up-to-date. I resisted the temptation to try to log into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
It was a rather long tour of a building without a whole lot in it. There was a good amount of artwork on the walls, some of which was nice, but many of which looked more like illustrations in comics or children's books. This is an illustration of a story where a prophet saw the "Finger of God."
Finally we made it to the piece de resistance, the building's roof garden, from which we could look down on much of downtown Salt Lake. Primarily we could see the complex that houses the administrative offices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is a major organization.
Altogether it was an interesting though brief experience. As a city made for visitors, it is overwhelmingly accommodating. Anytime you look lost, someone approaches you and asks if you need help. It was nice, but also disconcerting. In Eastern cities, if someone approaches you or talks to you on the street, it's usually not a good thing. Maybe more cities should be like Salt Lake. Then again ...
Well we left in the early afternoon and began our journey by blazing across the Bonneville Salt Flats. And if you thought "salt flats" was just an expression, take a look:
As we got further away from the GSL, it began to look less salty and more like a regular old desert:
And at times looked like a slightly more lush desert.
Then we got into some more rocky terrain.
And soon after we were in the Great State of Nevada. This was the first exit we stopped at, which was supposed to have a Nevada Welcome Center, which was a small building next to the casino that was closed. We used the restroom at the public park behind the welcome center, which was less than pleasant.
The drive through Nevada was a whole lot of nothing, broken occasionally by hillsides with ghoulish faces in them:
And occasional blurry vegetation:
We chased the sunset over the Nevada hills.
And after sunset, the desert horizon showed all the colors of the rainbow.
Finally we rolled into the Biggest Little City in the World. It was about 11pm, which I think was about the right time to get there.
Our hotel was the "Silver Legacy," one of a cluster of connected hotels at the edge of the downtown area.
Our room number was impossibly easy to remember.
And it had a view, kind-of.
We went back downstairs for dinner at a 24-hour coffee shop in the hotel that featured menu items like breakfast all day, dim sum, steaks, and seafood. Nearby was the most attractive feature of the hotel, a big old silver mining rig, which cranked and bellowed and made noises.
But I guess the real attraction was what was directly below the rig. I spent a little time down there losing some money on the $5 blackjack tables, and then winning myself back to even before giving up and going to bed. So I have to thank the Silver Legacy casino for some no-cost thrills and a free G&T.
So that was our day, going from a city where everyone is nice to you and no one wants your money, to a city where no one talks to you much unless you're giving them your money. I would be amazed to see what happens far off in the future when these two cities 500 miles apart expand into one another.
Soon to come, the final few days of the tour.
1 comment:
did you swing down by Lake Tahoe from Reno - or just stay on I-80 all the way to CA?
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