Hanging Out at Salt Lake

Since there was so much we wanted to do in Salt Lake City, we decided to spend two days there to get more stuff in. i woke up kind of late so for breakfast we went to good ole McD's. i got the steak burrito. It was okay but probably would not get it again.

While getting our gear on in the parking lot to go over to the Family History Library, this guy just parked his car that runs on natural gas. Something looked off about him, i was going to say he looked mormon but pretty sure 8 out of 10 people you're going to see a mormon.

Turned out the guy was a cop in an unmarked car. He asked my dad, "how many miles per gallon do you get in that beautiful machine?"...

My dad told him he thought 30 mpg but after doing some numbers the night before he realized he was getting 40 mpg which is pretty ridiculous for that size.

So they talk some more and then the cop drops the question, "What's your religion?" Ah ha! i knew it!

My dad then told him whatever and the cop told my dad that there is a lot of 'truth' in the family history library...and then wrote down my dad's license plate or something so we could get visit from some men dressed in white.

That's pretty messed up if you ask me. But little does he know the address for my dad's plate isn't a home address. Muhahah.

Next stop was the library. It was kind of sick how organized the mormons are. They had some elders ready to sit down with each of us and show us how to do a family search. i passed because i thought it was pointless for me to attempt to track my family when i pretty much don't know anyone in my family older than my grandpa.
uncle floyd found some info that he has been looking for and also got a copy of my great great great grandpa's WWI service record. Maybe that was to many 'greats' but you get the idea.

Around noon we headed back to the tabernacle to see the organ in action. i took video even though i was told not to (i'm rebellious like that) but the video quality is kind of bad and most of it is the back of the person's head that was sitting infront of me.
Lunch was interesting to say the least. We headed to the Office Building of Jesuse Christ of Latter-Day Saints and ate in their cafeteria. The building is huge and a million mormons work there. What do they even do there? Where does all this money come from?

All the men were wearing white shirts but they were able to express a little individualism with their ties as they were all different. For lunch i just wanted to get out of there because we stuck out like a sore thumb. The food wasn't even that good.

After lunch it was time to see something a little more up my alley, the salt lake.

We headed out to the State Park Antelope Island where they have some bison, antelope, and other random animals.

This rock/mountain looked cool so i took a picture of it.

While riding behind my dad and uncle they passed a snake in the road and didn't even see it! My dad might have even went over it with his bike but when i got off my bike to take a look at it, it seemed fine. At first i thought it was dead but i nudged it with my show and it moved a little. i wanted to pick it up and get it away from the middle of the road but cars kept coming and i didn't want anyone to think that i was trying to steal wildlife. Also i'm sure with my luch the snake would bite me and i'd die within the hour.
We biked around the island for a bit and checked out a ranch. After that we went to the 'beach' to see how salty this water really was. Apparently they let you swim in it but after walking almost a quarter of a mile to the water and seeing that there were bugs everywhere and the water just smelled plain nasty we passed on that.

Walkin'

Standing in the water..

Not really sure what my dad is doing here...

Stuck my hand in the water and after the water evaporated my hand was covered in salt. Pretty crazy. Didn't seem that salty when i licked the water.

Man my hands are ugly.

Clouds and junx...

Leavin' the island and running out of gas.

For dinner we went to another microbrew (big surprise) Squatters.

Squatters had some pretty good beer. The first beer i had was the Full Suspension Pale Ale and the second was some Golden Ale which was also very good.

For dinner i thought i'd be adventurous and get the thai curry with chicken. The menu said it came with 'sticky rice' but the rice wasn't actually sticky which was a let down. The curry on the other hand was very good.
Well that pretty much sums up our two days at Salt Lake City. i'm pretty mormon-ed out and can't wait to hit the road to Elko, Nevada.

Random Video From the Trip!

Off roading...

Antelope?

Cruisin'.

The Name's Johnny Utah!

Breakfast was pretty sweet this morning. Quality Inn (not so quality) busted out the cheese omlettes, breakfast burritos, and waffles! Of course it wasn't that good but definitely better than nothing.

While on the road we got a glimpse of some mountains. Click to enlarge..

While going on some random road in the middle of no where, i came across this sign...i thought it was a joke.

But later down the road we saw there was a school looking building and there was a school bus. Didn't look like the bus was running though.

My dad and uncle floyd just love taking pictures...

More mountains..

Windmills are everywhere out here. i wish i had a windmill. Save some money on electric.

These things are huge.

Getting close to Salt Lake City we got on to this country road that led us through some tiny towns and took us by a lake.
After finally arriving at our hotel, uncle floyd bounced to get some information on Salt Lake City and after he came back we got a tour of Mormon Temple grounds. We were told all the tour guides were of the ages of 21-24. Not sure why they would tell us that...
The 'tour' was pretty lame. More like an attempt to make me mormon. On the brightside, the buildings are pretty cool and the tabernacle has a pretty sick organ in it.

For dinner we hit up the Red Rock Restaurant where they have some microbrews.

i ordered the shrimp scampi thing it was a pasta dish because it usually is but it was just shrimp. Once i saw the waitress come out with it i knew it wasn't going to fill me up so half way through the dish i orderd a reuben.

After dinner we walked off our buzz a bit before hoping on our bikes to go back to the hotel.

Art Museum.

Rockin' Over to Rock Springs

Ahh, sleeping in that queen size bed was awesome. i didn't want to leave. The hotel room was pretty cheap too. Since the breakfast at the Econo Lodge was pretty weak we decided to go out for breakfast to get some real food in our stomachs.

Note to self, never let my dad navigate/lead ever. i believe he asked the guy at the front desk for the best place to get some breakfast. His answer...Perkins. Are you serious? A chain? He couldn't think of a little family diner or something??

i'm not sure how but we ended up riding around for 10 miles looking for this place as a result of my dad trying to find the place. He said this Perkins was next to a Hamptons Inn but turned out it was next to a Holiday Inn. Ugh, stuff like this drives me nuts.
i got the craziest thing on the menu, the Steak House Scrambler. Basically a bunch of suff mixed together. i believe some of the stuff was steak, eggs, potatoes, and mushrooms.
While riding we saw some antelope. i pulled over to take a picture of them but they ran off before i could get a shot. Almost as if they knew i was trying take a picture. Stupid antelope. As a result of me pulling over i got pretty behind uncle floyd and my dad. i was stopped for about 5 mintues and they were traveling at like 70 mph.

The road was pretty much straight...not a car in sight...and i had some ground to cover. The perfect oppurtunity to see what my bike could do. So i pull back the throttle as far as it will go. 60...70...80...90...101mph, and that's it. i get this massive bike and all it can do is 101 mph?! i was going to take a picture but i'm sure i'd wipe out or something. i guess my bike is no speed demon. Then again, i did have the massive windshield on and 50 lbs of gear. Maybe if i loss those i could get the speed up. Some other time i guess.

Cows or something...

Not sure what the big deal was with this town but we stopped to take a picture of Medicine Bow. Population of 274 and elevation of 6353 feet. Crazy yo.

Mountains and junx..

Life is a highway?

Ah ha! Got me some antelope!! How do you like em' apples?!

Coming in for a refueling, uncle floyd spotted a fellow Goldwing rider pushing his bike on the shoulder of the road. Uncle floyd then pulled over to see if he could help him out. Gave him a ride about half a mile or so to the gas station where they guy then borrowed a gas tank. My dad gave him a ride bike to his bike and he brought it into the gas station to fill up. Turned out he was on his way to California from Montana. Two guys talked to us at the gas station asking a whole bunch of questions about our bikes. They had some crazy accents so i could barely understand them...just kind of smiled and knodded like my dad does.
We took this crazy dirt road right before reaching Rock Springs. Turned out we didn't have to take the road to reach the "ghost town". Not so much a town as it was really an outpost or station.
We got off our bikes to take a look around. By the ruins there was a skeleton of some crazy animal. Most likely a cow. Almost looked fake or staged. The cold/heat (i don't really know anymore) was getting to me so i decided to wear the cow pelvis bone as a hat...
We finally made it into Rock Springs, UT. This is probably the worst town we've been to so far. There is nothing here. Also the people at our hotel, Quality Inn, were ridiculous. Gave us a bunch of crap about how they couldn't give us a discount and they wanted our license plate numbers. It was pretty ridiculous. Though they did have complimentary drinks between 5-7pm. Coors and Budlight and you're limited to two drinks...What kind of deal is that?!? If i have to drink horrible beer i'm going to drink a lot of it until i can't feel feelings anymore. So we didn't take advantage of this spectacular opportunity.

For dinner we decided to hit up another micro brew. But when we arrived to the place it was closed. Because it was Sunday....Lame.

Our second choice was mexican.

i had the Mole Enchiladas.

i believe uncle floyd notice this gas station company before i did...just, wrong.

Salt Lake City tomorrow!