Day 2: Las Vegas to Salt Lake City

Quote of the Day: "Welcome to Arizona?!"

a random house next to a gas station

Outside of Cove Fort

the Mormon temple

Mormon Tabernacle

How can I even begin to describe the day? We began with an overload of food at a continental breakfast (yummy!) and then packed up the Jeep only to find that our tire problems were not solved. In an effort to be proactive, we drove to a tire repair shop where Estrella worked her Spanish magic—quickly conversing with the owner. The men said that they could not find a puncture in our tire and that everything was (and hopefully still is) fine. We then began our trek towards Salt Lake City.

                To start, let’s talk about how none of us girls knew that the 15 freeway crossed into Arizona after leaving Las Vegas. So imagine the shock and horror on our faces when we saw the “Welcome to Arizona! Home of the Grand Canyon” sign. Fortunately we had our GPS and were able to quickly find out that we were still on the correct path (insert huge sigh of relief). The scenery was absolutely spectacular with immense red rock formations and an ever expanding horizon.  Katherine almost lost her hat and sun glasses because she had the window rolled down so far to enjoy the view! Katherine bought a blue Yale hat at the gas station, fulfilling her desire for a blue baseball cap.

                As we settled into our day we found that what we had hoped to be a long, yet easy drive transformed into a much more difficult stretch. We needed to switch drivers more often than planned because the seemingly infinite, straight road was rocking us to sleep. Of course, throughout this whole drive the car tire pressure reader keeps registering different tires as flat or low (stress).  At about 5:30 we finally we made it into glorious Salt Lake with its beautiful snow capped mountains in the distance.

                We gathered our stuff, snuck two people into the hotel, and then began to wander downtown in search of food. We eagerly sat down at Cindy Lee’s Café and ordered Chinese food and Pho (the pho in an effort to soothe Katherine’s and Christina’s sore throats and increasing sickness).  We then wandered around, tripped over a few loose cobble stones, avoided some creepy people, and made it to the Mormon Temple.

                After taking a few pictures and exploring the Temple Square, we were approached by some Mormon missionaries. We discussed our religious beliefs, our random connections to Mormonism (go LC!), and questions about their faith.  We became so involved in conversation that we had actually stayed in the Visitor Center after-hours. The girl missionaries then began to walk us out but allowed us to sneak into the tabernacle even though it was closed. They then left us alone in the glorious structure. After taking a few photos, we were quickly chased away by a mysterious, and angry, man in a black suit. We quickly made our way back to the hotel where we went for a quick dip and watched some guilty pleasures on TV. The night ended with sighs of happiness and relief. Our bodies were in need of rest after an adventurous day and ready for the beautiful drive and day in Helena, Montana ahead of us.

Best:

• Finding out our car is fine!
• Pretty drive with the mountains
• $6 hats
• $3.49 hats
• sneaking into the tabernacle
• People moving out of our lane so we could pass them
• Free breakfast!

Worst:

• Losing things in the abyss in the car 
• Bad shower curtain
• Music
• Not allowed into the Mormon temple 
• No jacuzzi