Perhaps that’s a slight exaggeration, but we did cover three states today. We left the little town of Salina by 8am, and headed straight to Salt Lake City. We spent some time looking around the city centre, including the impressive State Capitol, and the Temple Square. This city is the headquarters for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and while there were many Mormons around the square and the town, apparently less than 50% of the city’s population today are Mormon.
We had stopped at a Kmart on the way into town to pick up some supplies as we could not see a Walmart anywhere (which is generally superior in bargain prices and choices). Leaving there, we found Zac crying in his seat a few miles down the road because he had dropped his Bobba Fett (a Star Wars character) key ring in Kmart he had bought with his own spending money at Legoland. While in the Temple Square Assembly Hall, Zac found his key ring deep in his pocket and decided God must have put it there because he was visiting a church!
We enjoyed a leisurely but late (2pm-ish) lunch a block up from the Visitors Centre on grass looking out over the city and Capitol Hill. From there we left Utah for Idaho to visit Idaho Falls, which was impressive but not what I expected! We stopped to have coffee and admire the falls which are actually the result of a hydroelectric plant, and continued on to Wyoming.
Side note: decent coffee has been surprisingly hard to find so far. I know I am spoilt at home, but we have found it difficult to find decent cafes that don’t give you a polystyrene cup and direct you to a push-button machine. Business opportunity anyone?
So we did leave Utah, visit Idaho briefly and arrive in Wyoming in a few hours. We decided to get as close to Yellowstone National Park as possible, planning to spend tomorrow exploring there. We toured through Jackson Hole, but had difficulty finding an RV park. And by this time it was so late at night, visitors centres had closed. We finally found a campground near Grand Teton National Park, with some difficulty as it wasn’t well signed, and finally parked and served up dinner at 10.30pm!!! The hours we are keeping do not sit well with a routined mother, but can’t be helped!
Tonight we are “roughing” it – there is a toilet a short walk away but NO showers, no electricity and no wifi! Aargh! And signs to “be bear aware” everywhere because bears reside nearby. I will post this entry tomorrow if I survive! 😉