Day 1: Salt Lake City!

Wow. Yesterday, I would have told you that mountain driving is strenous but managable.  After trekking across Wyoming and Utah and encountering semis that are passing me at 75 mph during a decline, I feel much less of a Westerner in my ultimate pansy reaction to the whole situation.  5 years of flatland have done me in.

Dramatics aside, today was a beautiful day of discovery.

While driving in Northeast Colorado to get to I-80, there were many patches of soil that were deep shades of red.  I hadn't seen the red soil that is the namesake of the state that prominent.  I can no longer make jokes about the supposed "colorful" Colorado--it really is that red.  How the heck am I supposed to be funny now? :)

The rolling hills in eastern Wyoming make it clear that this whole part of the land used to be an ocean floor.  The sandy hills dotted with little green bushes would fit right into a picture of the Australian reef.

 Utah is gorgeous. Absolutely breathtaking. Terrifying to drive in, but the vistas. Oh, the vistas (I am mainly using this word because my mother used it about 7 times today and also fancy words are the coolest).

Who got to see the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake? THIS GIRL.










At the Great River Platte museum in NE, there was plenty of information about the trek that the Mormons made from the plains to Utah.  As I viewed these mountainsides, I could not imagine how those people stuck it out through the desert conditions that cover these huge mountains.  Directing houses that are hauling wagons made with wooden wheels.  Must have been an abundance of perseverance and hope for what the Wild West could offer.

Thanks to the lovely Elizabeth Pierce for hosting us in Salt Lake City! She was a great tour guide to the Capitol, the Mormon Mecca (ha probably not the correct word but it gets the point across), and University of Utah!