Friday, August 12, 2011

This is the Place - Licking Salt in the City

First day on the road was grabing historic places, BBQ joints and HD shops. Inspection went flawless at Baileys. The only intimidating thing was pulling off the pallet since it had a block of wood that I had to go up and over. Started the bike, a rev, drop the clutch and didn't look back. It looked worse than it was, they always do. It will be that time when things look simple, when the unexpected will occur.

First stop was Kaiser's BBQ. This locks up Utah for Smoke Chasing 2011



Off to where Brigham Young saw the Salt Lake Valley coming thru the Emigration Canyon in 1847.

As the account goes, Brigham Young was very sick with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and was riding in the back of a wagon. After exiting Emigration Canyon and cresting a small hill, he asked to look out of the wagon. Those with him opened the canvas cover and propped him up so he could see the empty desert valley below. He then proclaimed, "It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on." The words, "this is the place," were soon heard throughout the wagon train as the Mormon pioneers descended into the valley, their long journey having come to an end. (Source Wikipedia)

We had a pleasant surprise as well. We grabbed our fist NP stamps at the visitor center. Three stamps in all, Pony Express, California and Mormon Trail.



Next stop is Temple Square for some historic landmarks. The Beehive House is where Brigham Young housed his many wives. The name doesn't come from the king bee being busy in the house, but from the Beehive Sculpture atop the house.





The Lion House is right next door and also houses some of Brigs wives, he had more than 2 dozen of them and fathered 57 youngins.



Couple last stops, before we head north for our hotel

Salt Lake Temple. Note the couple in wedding garb.



Old City Hall and the Capitol. Old City Hall is a National Landmark



The Capitol



We rode around SLC quite abit. It is a strikingly clean city. The mountains surround the city and some snow is in the hills. While it is home to the Mormon Latter Day Saints, the city does not seemed oppressed with religious overtones. It looks like it would be a nice place to live.

Our next stops were a couple of post office for Water towns, a BBQ joint we had planned to eat at but had closed up shop for good and a Harley dealer for a shot glass. While I had a hankering for BBQ, in retrospect it was probably a good thing because we definitely got to the hotel in Trementon before the sun went down. Just making good on riding during the daylight this time.



When we were all said and done, we still had not gotten a sign that said Salt Lake City for An Affair with Water hunt. Hope we remember when we head back in in 17 days. Another observation is that it is easy to go fast out on the highways. I looked down a couple of times and we were doing 86, but we were not zinging past the cars either. Its all relative.

A couple pics from the road






2 comments:

Pamela Colleran said...

We'll be thinking of you both on your great trip West! I'll favorite this blog and stay tuned for your story.

Pamela Colleran said...

Ken and I are following your blog. We are living your life vicariously! Someday we'll be going out there ourselves and seeing what you two have accomplished is inspiring! Take good care. Pam/Ken