Salt Lake City - Day 1

Thursday, July 23, 2009
I took the Greyhound bus from Los Angeles and arrived in Salt Lake City (SLC) around 7AM. I didn't feel like dealing with public transportation, so I just took a cab to the hostel. Unfortunately, there was a bit of a glitch in the check-in process. The hostel has an automated process, however, it was anything but automatic. I received the email about the change in door code, but I seem to have missed the one about no check-ins until 2PM. For a $5 fee, I was able to check in earlier than 2PM. The problem? The person doing the check in was just hired, and was having trouble with the computer, then with the credit card carbon copy printing machine. It was one of those hand held contraptions that prints the company information on the receipt when the blank receipt is laid on the machine, and the handle is pulled across. Anyway, the clerk just couldn't get it working. Finally, she settled for hand writing the information onto the receipt. So much for convenience.

After I showered and changed clothes, I called my epal from SLC. Last summer, my epal made the comment (either via email or through his blog) that I should come to SLC and he would show me around. Knowing that I wouldn't be doing anything this summer but eating and sleep, I took him up on his offer.

We met up for lunch at a local restaurant. Since my epal would be doing the driving, I offered to pay for lunch(about$18 plus tip). After lunch, the plan was to do a bit of sightseeing. My epal said that we could do any sightseeing as long as we got back before 7PM. His family was throwing a sweet-sixteen party for his niece, and he had to attend.

First up, was a drive up to the top of a mountain for a panoramic view of the SLC valley; it was a very nice view of the valley. On our way back down, we stopped at the State building. I found it a bit strange that the lettering identifying the building were off-centered.

Next up, we went to a park called, "This is the Place". The state of Utah was founded by Mormons. My epal told me that after the Mormons migrated down into the valley through a passage called "Emigration Canyon", the leader at the time proclaimed that the the spot they had seen would be where the pioneers would settle. So, "This is the Place" is the place believed to be the place, where Brigham Young made that statement. The place is now called, "This is the Place Heritage Park". In the park is also located some of the structures of that time, included a pony express outpost, Brigham Young's residence, and a farm.

After visiting "This is the Place", my epal drove us up to a ski resort. It sounded a bit strange because I had assumed that no snow meant that the ski resorts would be closed for the summer. However, the ski resort was opened with summer related activities (like a miniature bobsled-type of slide, rock or rope climbing, and a zip line. trampoline, etc...).

On the way back, my epal drove us to the school that was used for the filming of High School Musical.

We finished our sightseeing adventures about 5PM. My epal had a party to go to. Since it was still early, I did some walking around the local neighborhood. I settled for buying myself dinner at Whole Foods.


Completion Date - Friday, August 14, 2009 4:11PM
Post Date - Sunday, August 16, 2009 12:40PM