Davis, CA to Salt Lake City, UT

It’s day one of a cross country road trip.  A friend of mine found a summer internship in New Jersey, so he’s making the journey across country in his car.  I’m along for the ride.  Driving across country is something I’ve always wanted to do, so of course I jumped on the chance to cross something off my bucket list.

Our plan for today was to drive across California and Nevada and try to make it to Salt Lake City.  Mission accomplished.  The drive through Nevada was pretty boring as expected, a long drive through an arid wasteland, interrupted here and there by a casino oasis.  The only really memorable parts of Nevada were the cheap and good meals at local casinos.  A $2.22 breakfast at Terrible’s casino, and a $7.77 prime rib dinner at some random casino in Elko.

It wasn’t until we crossed the border into Utah that things got interesting.  Immediately after the border we hit the Bonneville salt flats.  It’s basically a humongous flat expanse of salt, and it almost looks like a light dusting of snow.  Apparently in ancient times there was an ocean here, which has since dried up.   The first thing we did when we got outta the car was to make the whole area slightly saltier, or maybe slightly less saltier, I’m not sure of urine’s salt concentration….

Curiosity got the best of me so I had to take a lick of the ground.  It tastes just like ordinary table salt.  Of course I did this away from the area that we had contaminated.

The Great Salt Lake was the next major landmark on our way to Salt Lake City.  By the time we passed the lake it was already getting dark, so we didn’t stop there.  I don’t think we missed much.  Besides it smelled like my toilet a morning after my housemates and I hit a buffet.

We arrived at our hotel just in time to hit the happy hour at the bar.  After a couple of bud lights we decided to walk around town and explore a bit.  Overall Salt Lake City seemed like a pleasant city, but because of its proximity to the lake, all of Salt Lake City had the faint smell of ass.  It wasn’t overpowering, but it was pretty apparent at first, but I forgot about it pretty quickly.  It makes me wonder if people when they visit Sacramento or San Francisco for the first time notice a smell that the locals are accustomed to.

Our hotel was pretty close to the mormon temple, so I wanted to take a few night shots of it.  Luckily I packed my tripod so we were able to get some decent shots.  The temple was closed, so we couldn’t enter the courtyard.  Some day I will return and infiltrate a Mormon service, but I have a feeling that they would give me the hardest sell trying to convert me.  Maybe I shouldn’t return….