After a frantic night of packing and planning until late into the evening, our morning began at 3:45AM. A wee bit too early if you ask me.. but if you really want the honest answer.. way too early. We left the house and filled up the tank, then we were officially on our way West. The first 45 minutes of the ride consisted of B singing America the Beautiful at least 3 times and one of us gasping and saying, ‘Did I pack _____?!’ about 45 times. Thankfully, the only thing we have currently realized we have forgotten is the peanut butter. Ain’t so bad if I say so myself. I took my ‘first nap’ according to B at 5AM. To me, it wasn’t a nap, it was just a continuation of my evening of sleep, we won't argue about that here though. B woke me up at the border of Utah and Colorado where we made a couple pour over coffees and snapped a picture by the sign. We have our picture by this same sign from the last (and only other) time we have been to Utah, Lake Powell last year! B kept on with his turn driving. Taking another nap is something that may have happened for me right around here. ;) I woke up and we were passing through Provo, Utah. The mountains were so beautiful with the clouds hanging low and snow falling atop them! We drove into Salt Lake City to have lunch and a coffee refuel. I had chosen a place called Robin’s Egg, but we found a Döner kebab restaurant instead! We got inside around 11AM and it was already poppin’! With 2 orders of döner and a side of sweet potato fries, we were two happy travelers! A short walk away was, Three Pines Espresso, a coffee shop I found on Yelp! Their drinks were delicious and we also split an earl grey blueberry scone which was yummy! 426 miles into the trip, I hopped behind the wheel. Yes, B is keeping tabs on how many miles each of us drives. After going in a huge circle by accident, I finally got us heading in the right direction. Ha! While heading out of Salt Lake City, B started looking for The Great Salt Lake. Unfortunately, you can’t see it from the highway we were taking. At the last minute, we decided to take a pretty big detour and head to Antelope Island to see the lake. Because, you can’t go to Salt Lake City and not see the Salt Lake. It tacked on an extra couple hours to our already huge day.. but we both agree it was worth it! The lake was so huge! There were points when it faded into the distance and you couldn’t see it’s end point. We drove up to Ladyfingers Point to get a view from above. Some weather started rolling in, so back into the car we went. On our drive back out of the park we spotted some buffalo! They were grazing near the edge of the lake in some cattails. As soon as we rolled down the windows, it started snowing! B and I thought that we wouldn’t encounter much weather colder than home.. but good thing we packed our winter gear! We hopped back onto the interstate and kept on West. I kept noticing the highway signs as we passed them. They look like bee hives! B looked up the history behind it and it has a really fascinating answer! One would think that maybe Utah has a big honey bee population or conservation program, but the answer is more than that! The early Mormon settlers used the symbol of the honeybee to represent hard work and industriousness. They saw the example of a beehive, in which all of the workers cooperated in the construction of something much bigger than themselves, as a model for a properly run society. We saw little hints of beehives and honeycombs all over, even the metal grating around trees in the city was honey comb shape! I drove through some downright crappy weather out of Utah and into Idaho. I also totally blew past the ‘Welcome to Idaho’ sign. When the speed limit it 80.. things start to just blur by. LOL. We were going to turn around .. but the next exit was 40 miles away so that was a big ole’ NOPE. The weather let up a bit around Twin Falls. We passed a sign that said ‘Shehone Falls’ and since we didn’t have a single thing planned for this trip, we decided to go there! So glad we did! The falls are known as the Niagra of the West. The falls are on the Snake River, a huge gorge. It was beautiful, even though it was freezing and super windy! The visitors center was near the falls, as well as the place where Evel Kinivel attempted and failed to jump across the Snake River Gorge.. so we obviously had to go check it out. Our hopes were that the visitors center had a 'Welcome to Idaho sign', it doesn’t, so don’t try that. We didn’t find our sign, but the major detour was worth it to see the falls and the gorge! B cut my driving shift off at 256 miles. Whatever. He got us to Boise just before nightfall where we found a place to park our car and set up camp for the night. We put all our bags in the front seats and set up our sleeping bags in the back. Dinner was peanut noodles and leftover döner. After 12 hours of driving plus sightseeing.. we are pooped. Up again before sunrise tomorrow for the drive to Portland! Driving Tally B: 569 miles J: 256 miles
3 Comments
Monkey Momma
5/18/2017 09:01:55 am
As usual...your blog never disappoints! I truly feel like a passenger in the back seat! I so wish I was!
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Debbie Nolan
5/18/2017 08:25:56 pm
What type of food is doner? The falls were spectacular!
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Johnny
5/19/2017 08:55:41 am
Döner is a Turkish wrap, traditionally with lamb that's been roasted on a spit for hours and hours.
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