Utah - Salt Lake City

It’s taken me a week or so to post the last leg (Salt Lake City) of our roadtrip out west and some of you avid readers thought we had been kidnapped by the Mormons? Yes they were as persistant as ever in the great Temple but we did escape safely. The final leg of our trip was Salt Lake City in Utah. There are so many great places to see in Utah and we will definitely come back to check out those canyons and desert icons but for now, it was the capital Salt Lake City. If anybody has seen the current Broadway hit ‘Book of Mormon’, you will know what I mean when I say Salt-a-Lake-a-City. This is a great, funny, witty and clever Broadway show so GO SEE IT when it comes your way. The two days here were pretty cool, even cold and bloody windy. So windy that it would blow a dog off a chain (Deb has not heard this saying before and thinks I made it up but I showed here on the internet that it was fair dinkum Aussie slang) !! Apparently, it’s been super hot the past few weeks and going to be again the day we left but for our two days, it was pretty crap weather really.

We visited the Great Salt Lake which is massive. It’s about 1700 square miles in area and is the largest salt lake water in the Western Hemisphere. It’s about 5-27% concentration compared to seawater (at about 3.5%) and is the largest remnant of the prehistoric Lake Bonneville that once covered most of Utah. The high seawater concentration means floating is really easy and many people take a dip, or float, for fun. It was so windy that we couldn’t stay long to admire the size of this great lake. However, in the small visitors center it clicked to me that Lake Bonneville was where they do annual land speed record racing. It’s about 90 minutes away and I wish we had time to visit. The racing is in August. There was a good movie made years ago and here’s the background. I enjoyed this movie so it’s worth watching if you can find it online.

The World's Fastest Indian is a 2005 New Zealand film based on the Invercargill, New Zealand speed bike racer Burt Munro and his highly modified Indian Scout motorcycle. Munro set numerous land speed records for motorcycles with engines less1,000 cc at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in the late 1950s and into the 1960s. Burt Munro is a sort of folk hero in his home known for his friendly easy-going personality, for having the fastest motorcycle in New Zealand and Australia, and for being featured in Popular Mechanics magazine. However, that recognition is contrasted by his exasperated next-door neighbours, some of whom are fed up with his un-neighbourly habits; such as revving his motorbike early in the morning, urinating on his lemon tree, and not mowing his grass. Burt however has a long-time dream, to travel to the USA and test his motorbike's capabilities at the Bonneville Speedway. Burt is finally able to save enough to travel by cargo ship to Los Angeles but when he arrives, he experiences bureaucracy, skepticism, and the indifference of big city people. It is his blunt but gregarious nature which overcomes each hurdle. He wins over the motel clerk, a transvestite woman named Tina, who assists him in clearing customs and helps him in buying a car. The car salesman allows Burt to use his workshop and junkyard to build a trailer, and later offers him a job after Burt fine-tunes a number of the cars on the lot. Burt declines the offer, however, and shortly afterwards begins his long trip to Utah.

We visited the Mormon Temple Square. It’s not our thing but, we felt like we had to see it. 

The square fills a whole block, maybe two. It contains the temple built back in 1893, the tabernacle (choir sings here), their museum thing, their founders house for him and his MANY wives, and some other family history libraries. We couldn’t go in the temple but had a quick look in the Tabernacle. Everywhere we went, the ladies were there with bible in hand, asking if you had any questions. Given they normally knock on your door, I guess they had a captured audience. Anyway, the grounds were beautiful but we didn’t take too long in the place.

We did a trolley tour of the city on this old restored trolley. It was a roll around the city hearing a few bits of history and a visit to the State Capitol building, which, looks just like all the other State Capitol buildings with the dome shape on top. 

The train station, Union Station, was a stop as its claim to fame is that Walt Disney modeled his train station at Disneyland off this one. Now I googled that station and I think it’s a stretch to see the resemblance, but whatever floats your boat I guess. 

Check out the pics below and make up your own mind. The trolley tour driver had awesome red shoes on so when I asked for a photo, I had to wear the Mickey Mouse ears. No problem for me, I told him I normally wear Batman mask and cape. He was disappointed I didn’t have it my bag that day.

Disneyland

Union Station

In the afternoon we took another tour up the local Wasatch mountains in the big Cottonwood Canyon. There was no one else on the tour so it was nice little private tour for us. Our guide was fantastic, she told us heaps of stuff and generally we had a good chat about all kinds of things. We had hoped to see a moose which are found in the area but no luck again. We did see a fat little marmot - strange creature. It's like a big squirrel really and I think they call it a rock-chuck.

Marmot

Some other interesting facts about Salt Lake City is that Rio Tinto own the worlds largest open-cut mine just outside town (Bingham Canyon or better known as Kennecott Copper Mine). It was massive and has produced more copper than any other mine in the world. It’s about 1km deep and 4km wide.

Utah’s nickname is the beehive state. The beehive is a symbol of hard work and industry and it appears on Utah’s flag and state seal. The state motto is simply, industry. The state insect is naturally the honeybee. All the road signs had beehives on them so that was an early question asked and answered for us.

And Deb learned that the Salt Lake City Mayor, Jackie Biskupski, is gay and married with a wife. Incredible. This was not what we expected in the city of mormons.

So Salt Lake City was good to see, with snowy mountain backdrops, but I'm not sure I'd be rushing there unless you’re a mormom or going there on a business conventions. Apparently this is the city where conventions happen which is why there were stacks of hotels. The local skiing is good apparently and the Winter Olympics seem a distant memory. There were lots of craft breweries and pubs to enjoy and we thought it was quiet sort of place really. We even asked if it was a public holiday but no, it was just the way life is there. Basically I would fly into Salt Lake City and head off to Yellowstone or the other fantastic Utah canyons.

Montana and Idaho

We drove through Montana on our way to Yellowstone and stayed the night at Billings. I had hoped we would see more of Montana but our holiday time was limited and this was all we could do to visit Montana. It was nice to drive through Montana and enjoy the mountains and wide open spaces. I would like to return to Montana and go North to see the Glacier National Park. Maybe we can do this next year as part of our Alaska trip.

We also drove through the bottom corner of Idaho and stayed the night in Idaho Falls after the Grand Tetons. The change in scenery was dramatic, from beautiful mountains to flat, cliff like landscape. The small towns were, small, and all were all agricultural towns. Idaho Falls was very rural with huge farms, maybe potatoes being Idaho? Wiki tells me that Idaho Falls serves as a regional hub for health care, travel and business in eastern Idaho.

While I was reading about Idaho Falls, I found this on wiki. In 1949, a National Reactor Testing Station was opened in the desert west of the city, and on Dec. 20, 1951, a nuclear reactor produced useful electricity for the first time in history. There have been more than 50 unique nuclear reactors built at the facility for testing. All but three are shut down now. The site was the scene of the only fatal nuclear reactor incident in U.S. history on the night of January 3, 1961. The event occurred at an experimental U.S. Army reactor plant known as the Argonne Low Power Reactor. Due to poor design and maintenance procedures, a single control rod was manually pulled out too far from the reactor, causing the reactor to become ‘prompt critical’ and leading to a destructive power excursion. Three military, trained men had been working inside the reactor room when a mistake was made while reattaching a control rod to its motor assembly. Long story short, the explosion was so severe that the reactor vessel was propelled 9 feet into the air, striking the ceiling before settling back into its original position. One man was killed instantly as he was impaled by a shield plug and lodged into the ceiling. The other men died from their injuries within hours. The three men were buried in lead coffins, and that entire section of the site was buried. The core meltdown caused no damage to the area, although some radioactive fission products were released to the atmosphere. While nuclear reactors like this were predicted to have lower total costs than conventional systems, the Army program to build and use reactors of this kind was scrapped due to the higher initial procurement costs of nuclear reactors.

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL), as it is now known, remains a major economic engine for the city of Idaho Falls, employing more than 8,000 people and functioning as an internationally renowned research center. INL operates and manages the world-famous Advanced Test Reactor (ATR).

We checked out this 'things to see' sculpture in the city. The fountain and sculpture of nesting eagles on Utah Street in Idaho Falls, was named roundabout of the year in 2014.

I can't find out what it's meant to mean but I"m guessing it's because Idaho Falls used to be called Eagle Rock in the old days. It was named this because of an isolated island up the Snake River that was the nesting site for approximately 20 eagles. The town name was later changed to Idaho Falls in reference to the rapids that exist below the main bridge. I think I prefer Eagle Rock - maybe it's because it's a classic Aussie song!!

The drive through Idaho to Salt Lake City in Utah was uneventful but it's nice to see this part of the West. The weather was certainly hotter than yesterday and we have no idea what to see in Salt Lake City. That's our research for the night time.

Wyoming - Grand Tetons

We left Yellowstone very early and headed south through the majestic Grand Tetons which are smaller in area than Yellowstone. Near the entrance to the national park we saw a big ‘bear jam’ – lots of cars and people gathered on the side of the road. Our excitement jumped and we quickly found a spot, grabbed our cameras and joined the crowd. It was a grizzly bear and her 3 cubs. The cubs were playing around and climbing small trees, swing around the branches. Mum bear was just grazing on the grass and keeping a close eye on her cubs. We snapped a stack of photos and managed to get some nice ones. We where thrilled to see the bears and were captivated by them. There were three rangers there ensuring cars kept moving and I checked they all had bear spray on their belts. It wouldn’t take much for that bear to reach the crowd if she wanted to run at us.

We only had the day to drive through the Grand Tetons as our destination that night was in Idaho. The day was cold with rain patches and low cloud which cut off viewing the top of the mountains. The views were still beautiful but a clear day would have been magic. These mountains are full of outdoor adventure activities - hiking, climbing, biking, rafting. We stopped at a few lookouts and took a short ferry ride across Jenny Lake to get a better view of the canyon. The canyon is called Jackson Hole which should not be confused with the actual town called Jackson which is outside the park. In the old days, they called canyons ‘holes’ so the canyon between the two mountain ranges was called Jackson Hole. 

The town of Jackson was named in late 1893 by Margaret Simpson, who at the time was receiving mail at her home as there was no post office. She named the town in order for easterners to be able to forward mail west. Jackson, which became incorporated in 1914, was named after David Edward ‘Davey’ Jackson who trapped beaver in the area in the late 1820s. Davey Jackson was one of the first white men to spend an entire winter in the Valley of the Teton Mountains.

We drove a few corridors (roads and areas) where wildlife are prevalent but sadly, we didn’t see anything new. We saw some white bum elk and a fox. We hoped to see some moose but none were seen. Bugger. Maybe better weather would have brought them out.

The Snake River winds through the Tetons and like the Yellowstone River, it is strong, fast flowing and a great sight to see. It flows all the way into Idaho and we followed it for the drive into Idaho Falls, our stop for the night. It had been a long, long day and we were looking forward to a hot shower and relaxing for the night. We checked out Dixie’s Diner up the road and had a light dinner. Still not quite the diner experience we see on TV but it was better than the little joint we visited at in Wyoming a few days ago. When we got back to the hotel, we couldn’t remember our room number. Clearly, we were suffering from too-many-hotels-itis. We wandered to the end of the corridor and asked each other, what room are we? It’s room 330. We’re not 330, that was last night. I think we’re next door, try that. Swipe, red light. Try it again, red light. Try 330 again. I’m telling you that was last night, swipe, red light. Aren’t we in the corner room 336, swipe, red light. Farkkk. What about this room 334, swipe, green light. I did not want to go to reception and admit I forgot my room number, thankfully that didn’t happen.

We are quite tired after several long days and will sleep in tomorrow before we head off to Salt Lake City in Utah.

Bear Jam

Batman Adam West Dies

It is with great sadness that I write this post dedicated to Adam West, the real and original and very best Batman. I grew up watching Batman and Robin on TV after school and was captivated by his bravery, handsomeness, ability to escape every problem and of course, the Batmobile. 

The CNN news today reports that:  

Adam West, star of the popular and campy 1960s "Batman" TV show, died Friday night after "a short but brave battle with leukemia," his family said in a statement. He was 88. In a signature role, West played Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, the crime-fighting, costumed Batman, a popular comics character who came to life on the ABC-TV series. The show, with a catchy theme song earned a cult following.

I always hoped one day I would somehow meet this man. He was my hero. Thanks for making me always believe in superheroes. Boom Crash Kapow Batman, I miss you already.

 

 

 

Wyoming - Yellowstone Part 2

Our third day in Yellowstone continued to impress with panoramic scenery, more wildlife and huge geysers - smelly ones, colourful ones and the classic Old Faithful. There are MORE geysers in Yellowstone than anywhere else on earth which explains the never ending sight of steam and bubbles in the park. You never forget you are exploring an active volcano.

The National Parks Service website says....Sprinkled amid the hot springs are the rarest fountains of all, the geysers. What makes them rare and distinguishes them from hot springs is that somewhere, usually near the surface in the plumbing system of a geyser, there are one or more constrictions. Geysers are hot springs with constrictions in their plumbing (sounds painful), usually near the surface (ouch), that prevent water from circulating freely to the surface where heat would escape. The deepest circulating water can exceed the surface boiling point (199°F/93°C). Surrounding pressure also increases with depth, much as it does with depth in the ocean. Increased pressure exerted by the enormous weight of the overlying water prevents the water from boiling. As the water rises, steam forms. Bubbling upward, the steam expands as it nears the top of the water column. At a critical point, the confined bubbles actually lift the water above, causing the geyser to splash or overflow. This decreases pressure on the system, and violent boiling results. Tremendous amounts of steam force water out of the vent, and an eruption begins. Water is expelled faster than it can enter the geyser's plumbing system, and the heat and pressure gradually decrease. The eruption stops when the water reservoir is depleted or when the system cools.

The most famous geyser is Old Faithful which spurts every 90 minutes or so. Everyone sits around the edges on the long seats waiting for the old geyser to fire up, steam and spurt water upwards. It was overcast, cold and slightly drizzling so the colour show wasn’t that great. It would be amazing with a blue sky behind it. The photo doesn't do it justice but it's quite a show for about 20 seconds when it starts. And then, it's another 90 minutes until it does it again. This area is widespread with Geysers and while they can start to all the same, our GPS guide (Alan-Alan-Alan), tells us that each one is unique. And he's right. The size, the colour, the shape, they each have something to make you glad you stopped to see it. The surprising thing is that bison and some other animals hang around this area in winter as it's warm. They must know which ones are dangerous with sulphur and those that aren't. Or they aren't affected - I need to research this a bit more. But there's hoof-prints and bison crap amongst the geysers.

We explored the Grand Canyon in Yellowstone which was awesome. I can only imagine what the Grand Canyon in Utah looks like as this canyon was huge and cut a very high and steep groove in the mountains. The Yellowstone River was flowing strong and fast and the waterfalls were loud and powerful. There are so many places to stop and view the river, the canyon, the waterfalls and the landscape. Wow, it was just beautiful.

 

And we saw some more wildlife. We saw elk although their antlers were very small. Apparently they shed them each year and grow them back. These guys were fairly cool about people stopping to look and snap photos. The striking feature is their white bum.

Our Yellowstone adventure comes to a close but we now head into the Grand Tetons which are about 2 hours south of Yellowstone. This is another fantastic national park and we are keen to explore this albeit for only one day as we will eventually cross over into Idaho.

Wyoming - Yellowstone Part 1

My opening words about Yellowstone are DO IT !! I read in the travel book we have that seeing Yellowstone from the back of a cramped station wagon, or these days a decked-out Winnebago - is almost a rite of passage in this country.

Yellowstone is the US’ first National Park. Early expeditionists submitted a report to congress who granted the region National Park status in 1872 (under President Ulysses Grant). It is worth noting that President Theodore Roosevelt is considered the conservationist President as he established many national parks and established many more monuments. When you think National Parks in the US, you think Theodore Roosevelt.  

It is a nearly 3,500-sq.-mile wilderness recreation area atop a volcanic hot spot. Mostly in Wyoming, the park spreads into parts of Montana and Idaho too. Yellowstone features dramatic canyons, alpine rivers, lush forests, hot springs and gushing geysers, including its most famous, Old Faithful. It's also home to hundreds of animal species, including bears, wolves, bison, elk and antelope (thanks wiki).

Gypsy Guide. I must put a plug in for this fantastic app I loaded onto my phone. It’s called Gypsy Guide and cost $14 for Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. Once the application is loaded, it doesn’t use cell data when you're travelling, only your GPS which just sucks power so make sure you plug into power in the car. As you drive into the park and around it, the app tour guide talks along way. It (he, we call him Alan, Alan, Alan) knows when to talk because he knows your GPS location. The guide tells you information and suggests things to see along the way. It’s been fantastic. They do other locations so check out their website and I will definitely be using this again. https://gypsyguide.com

We stayed in West Yellowstone which was a great launch point to the park each day. There is daylight from about 6am to after 9pm each day so we easily packed in a long day. There are essentially two big loops like a figure 8 with major attractions in each loop and with heaps of other things to stop and see along the way. The scenery is just so gorgeous and the Yellowstone River is mighty, fast flowing and impressive with several beautiful canyons and falls. Being an active volcano, there are lots of hot springs to visit. They are boiling and bubbling and absolutely stink of sulphur smell (rotten egg smell). It was overpowering to say the least. You can’t touch the water, the ground or anything cause it will either burn you, melt you or kill you. Some of the springs have erupted over the years and I’m not sure I’d like to be there with that stuff being thrown at me. Some of them had beautiful colour due to the bacteria and algae.

The highlight so far has, of course, been the animals. The park is full of tourists in their cars, RVs, vans and Harley’s. We’re all here for the same thing and everyone is patient, courteous and soaking up the magnificent experience. You have to be very careful driving as the traffic can stop and jam at any moment due to an animal sighting - this is known as 'bear jam' or 'animal jam'. People scramble off the road or slow/stop as they drive by…so we all do the same like a slow moving train. I love it. It is a lot of fun actually. Deb has been the chief photographer and captured some great photos with the long lens. At one stop, I took a peak through another guy’s tele-photo lens at the fox photo and it was so close – wow, just incredible. We have the park map on our lap so we can cross check the animals that we see. Quite often cars pull up and say, what's here? They just stop regardless cause everyone else is stopped. At dinner at night or breakfast in the morning, the conversations are usually about what animals everyone has seen and more importantly, where they saw it cause you want to go there if you can.

There are lots of bison and they are bloody huge. They look quite messy with their winter coats falling off. We’d stopped to watch a bison right across the road and he decided to cross the road towards us. It was quite funny as I was at the car putting eye drops in so couldn’t see anything. But I could hear the ladies all saying, quick quick, get in the car and there were foot scuffles. I was trying to quickly blink the drops in so I could see what was happening. Then, Deb appears and I can see everyone scrambling into their cars as the bison is coming towards us. Talk about instant reverse and departure mode. He didn’t look harmful but you can’t be sure. I don't want to be explaining a bison dent to the car hire company!! Was such a funny scene though. There are about 5,500 Bison in Yellowstone, they weigh about 2000 pounds for males, 1000 pounds for females. Yellowstone is the only place in the lower 48 states to have a continuously free-ranging bison population since prehistoric times. In the 1800s, market hunting, sport hunting, and the US Army nearly caused the extinction of the bison. By 1902, poachers reduced Yellowstone’s small herd to about two dozen animals. The US Army, who administered Yellowstone then, protected these bison from further poaching.

 

The golden highlight was seeing some black bears. Firstly a young bear on his own and then later, a massive crowd was forming roadside with a ranger (holding a big can of bear spray) to view a mother and her two cubs in the distance. 

We also saw a fox sleeking through the bushes and then a coyote stalking some bison. I could only catch him as he was moving away but it was amazing to see him. The feeling of seeing these wild animals in their natural habitat is a bit like finding presents on Xmas morning from Santa when you were five years old. Very exciting feeling indeed. 

Anyway, here are some animal photos below to give you an idea.

Coyote running away

Fox having a rest 

Elk

Big Horn Sheep

Fox on the Run (sounds like a good band name!!)

The Batman

Cody. Before entering Yellowstone, we drove down from Billings in Montana through Cody. Here we visited the Buffalo Bill Centre of the West. I'm a bit young to remember Buffalo Bill and his theatre and shows but I've heard of him. This is a Smithsonian museum and was quite huge. It has five museums inside - Buffalo Bill museum, Plains Indian museum, Cody Firearms museum, Western Art museum and the Draper museum of Natural History. We spent most time in the Buffalo Bill and Plains Indian museums as our good friend recommended the Indian museum. It was worth the visit and I have to admit that I find the Indian history and culture very interesting. Buffalo Bill material was interesting but bit before my time. I did enjoy the firearms museum - I've never seen so many guns, rifles and pistols. It was an extensive collection from flintlocks to Glocks to Gatlings. The is the US I suppose. 

It's late as I write this and there is much more I could write but my pillow calls me. The Yellowstone adventure is to be continued...