Tag Salt Lake City

I spent about a week in Salt Lake City with an old work friend.  We hadn’t seen each other since he left Boston a few years ago and it was really great catching up.  Although most of my week was inside his condo working, I did get out and do some exploring.

My friend, Lyle, had a very comfortable condo with a beautiful view.

I took a trip out to see the Bonneville Salt Flats and stopped at the Tree of Utah on my way.  The Tree of Utah is an 87 foot tall, mostly concrete structure built along route 80 in the Great Salt Lake Desert.  It was constructed by Karl Momen, a Swedish artist, and dedicated in 1986.  It is said he had the inspiration for the structure after having a vision of a tree while driving across the Bonneville Salt Flats.  It is a bizarre thing to be driving along the desert and seeing it in the distance.  A strange looking structure in the middle of nowhere.

I thought I’d drive out here, drive across the flatness and go home.  I ended up spending over 3 and a half hours here. What an amazing place. This deserves it’s own blog post (Bonneville Salt Flats blog post).  As barren as this magical place is, I took alot of pictures.

I explored these two adjacent cities which is more like one city divided by the state line.  There is some history here as it was a place where the Lincoln Highway passed.  It also has a memorial to the Victory Highway which was a memorial to those who fought in WWI.  I bought some tacos for lunch in Utah and ate them in Nevada overlooking the desert.

I walked around the capitol building and Temple Square.  Unfortunately, Temple Square and some of the buildings in the square are being renovated and were closed.  I was approached multiple times by young Mormon’s asking if I had any questions about the square.  They were very friendly folk.

I also learned from the beehive sculpture at the capitol building why Utah is known as the beehive state.  I was curious about this as there seemed to be beehive motifs all over the state and their highway route signs have beehives on them.  The beehive symbolizes the Utah community as each person in Utah works together to support and help one another and to create a successful industry, as do bees in a hive.

My friend Lyle left MaidPro and Boston to work his father’s farm just outside of Salt Lake City.  His primary crop is hay and he is selling it on Amazon as The Viking Farmer. He has a great reputation and has recently been approached by a top pet food supplier to promote his products on their website. While visiting, we went down to see his farm and I helped him fix the door on his tractor.  It was a great first hand experience and I really enjoyed seeing the farm and sitting in the tractor! I can be such a kid sometimes.

I’m not a gun person.  I’ve never owned a gun and probably never will.  Lyle, however, does have a collection.  I enjoyed listening to him talk about his collection.  He owns many old weapons and weapons from other countries. He very much likes the history and to talk about the history of what he has.  He also talks with a ton of knowledge of how the guns are built and operate as a machine.  Since this was all new to me, he took me to his local gun range to try some out.  I had never done this before so thought I would try it.  I like trying new things, especially on my travels. I did enjoy it.

I met Byron, our MaidPro Sandy owner, for coffee one morning next to the Draper Historic Park.  I arrived early so spent some time walking around the park and learning some history of the area.

I really enjoyed my stay in Fort Collins but it was time to move on to my next destination.  I was heading to stay with an old friend just outside of Salt Lake City, in Draper, UT.  It was a full day of travel with plenty of exploration.

Although Cheyenne wasn’t on my original itinerary, I added it.  Cheyenne was only slightly out of the way and besides having some disc golf courses, I enjoy seeing state capitols. I’m this close to Cheyenne, I may as well stop by.

I arrived very early in the morning, grabbed a cup of coffee at a local coffee place, The Crooked Cup, and headed to the capitol building.  I thought this capitol building was a bit drab, especially in comparison to some of the capitol buildings I had seen on the trip.  I walked around the building and admired the one stature they had, a cowboy on a bucking bronco.

Of course… I had to play a round.  I really enjoyed the course at Romero Park in Cheyenne.  It was a beautiful morning and since I was the only one on the course, it was very quit and peaceful.  Shot par for the course.

There were stretches of road along my route through Wyoming were wind farms in every direction as far as I could see.  Mile after mile of windmills.  I found it fascinating.

Continuing on Route 80 West, I came across the Summit Rest Area just before reaching Laramie, WY.  It was originally built on the highest point on the Lincoln highway.  The Lincoln Highway is the first transcontinental auto road stretching from New York to San Francisco.  I saw many references to the Lincoln Highway on my travels.  When Interstate 80 was completed, it was moved to this rest area.  I like how Abe’s bust just sits there, forever looking out on the highway.

I took another break at the Vedauwoo Recreation Area which is located in the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest.  This forest is more than two million acres of public land in Colorado and Wyoming.  This was also a stop that was not on my original itinerary, however, I saw these rock formation as I was driving down the highway and was curious.  I followed signs and it turned out to be a good place for a little hike.

What it looks like to be driving through nowhere Wyoming….

I went to a nine basket disc golf course in Rock Springs, WY before breaking for the night.  It was a fun little desert course.  It was set on a hillside and was very rocky with very few obstacles.  It was quite windy which made it challenging.  I played it twice!

I arrived in the Salt Lake City area early the next morning.