After a wonderful night’s sleep and a great breakfast, we hit the road again for the highlight of the day: the Bonneville Salt Flats. Any car nut, especially speed nuts, knows that the Bonneville Salt Flats are where many (most?) land speed records have been set. It is a 40 square mile salt pan west of Salt Lake City which is a vast white wasteland – and somewhere Frank has always wanted to go. So we did.
And it’s another post-apocalyptic setting, especially with the clouds and haze we had today. But it was really cool. And then we drove out on the flats – on the 10 miles stretch known as the Bonneville Speedway. It was cool and eerie.
Then we realized that we were only 10 miles from the Nevada border…. well, we can’t leave a challenge unaccepted. So we sped down the road to West Wendover, Nevada where we stopped at the Red Garter casino, spent a few minutes losing $5 on video poker (Frank won several times so he took longer to lose it all.), grabbed a cup of coffee and headed back toward town.
We made a quick stop at Great Salt Lake State Park to see the lake but it smelled pretty bad and the sand flies were unbearable so that didn’t last very long. So then it was off to the other big attraction in SLC: the Mormon temple. It is very impressive and the visitor centers do a wonderful job making sure everyone understands that the Latter Day Saints worship Jesus. We stopped at the tabernacle where the acoustics are unbelievable: we could hear a pin drop all the way across the building.
Just to be fair, we also stopped by the Cathedral of the Madeline, the diocesan seat for the Catholic church in Utah. The murals were impressive and the organ was fantastic. I find myself still lighting a candle for my mother in every church I visit and this was no exception. Then it was off to a fabulous dinner at a small plates restaurant, Eva, before heading back to the Inn. Frank managed to lose 3 games of pool to me before it was time to enjoy the jacuzzi bathtub and waste some time watching Lethal Weapon 4.
Numbers for today:
- Miles driven: 285
- Steps: 14,256
- States visited: 2 (UT, NV)
- French lesson: 1 (La rue est là bas)
- Best poker hand: straight flush (paid $12.50)
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