Luke chose old rural highways on most of the drive from Bryce Canyon to the Great Salt Lake. His reasoning was twofold: one, the scenery would be better on the backroads than on I-15; and two, the Adventuremobile tops out around 65–70 mph anyway, so we wouldn’t really be saving any time by taking the interstate.
The scenery was indeed better.
Our highway met up with I-15 in Nephi, Utah. We were all hungry, so we stopped there for supper.
On this trip we mostly ate food we had packed for the road, or picked up at truck stops and gas stations. But we did have two meals that were good enough for a proper mention. One of them was at Lisa’s Country Kitchen in Nephi. I recommend it if you’re ever passing through there.
Back on the interstate, the views got kinda boring again.
The most interesting part of it was all the Mormon churches.
Our plan was to spend the night at Great Salt Lake Campground. But when we got to the entry road, the gate was closed and there was some kind of big event going on at a nearby venue, with some guys directing traffic and us right in their way. They told us that the only way to get the campground gate code was to have reservations, which we would have to try to get online. They told us to pull out of the way on the side of the road and figure it out. We decided to get out of their way completely and go find a truck stop and regroup.
Saturday night in Salt Lake City is a crowded, trafficky place. We fought our way to a Love’s Travel Stop, thinking that we’d spend the night there and go back to the campground when it opened in the morning, only to find it jam-packed full of disgruntled truckers who had discovered, like us, that you can’t spend the night in a travel stop that close to the city center. We had to drive out to the outskirts to find one that allowed overnight parking.
That was the only part of the trip that was really unsalvageable. We settled into the travel stop around 5:30 or 6 pm. It was already dark, and cold, and there was nothing to do but scroll on our phones until we got tired enough to sleep.
I found out much later that you can get the Salt Lake Campground gate code anytime just by calling the camp office and asking. Reeeaallly wish we’d known that at the time.
In the morning we sorted through our options. Dealing with city traffic and spending the night in a truck stop instead of a lakefront campground had made us grumpy, and we were starting to bicker amongst ourselves. Not a good start to the day. We’d had a particular breakfast cafe on our itinerary, so we decided to go there, have breakfast, and then decide how badly we wanted to see the Great Salt Lake.
Driving through Salt Lake City on a Sunday morning was easier than driving though it on a Saturday night. My impression of it improved slightly.
The Temple was completely covered in scaffolding, I guess the renovation is still in full swing. Saw some other interesting buildings in there as we drove past.
You can sorta see the Salt Lake City Union Station in the next pic. I think Denver wins this one.
When we got to the cafe, the line was out the door. They took our names and gave us a buzzer, and we went for a walk around Liberty Park across the street. Here we discovered the Tracy Aviary, and decided to visit it after breakfast.
Liberty Park is pretty, even in late fall.
Just as we were finishing our lap of the park, the buzzer buzzed and we headed back to the cafe.
This is the other restaurant that merits a mention: the Park Cafe.
They serve a serious breakfast!
Oh maple syrup decanter. You understand me.
More to come!
An Invincible Summer 