I learned a completely obvious yet horrifying piece of information about cows and milk the other day and need to share. Love milk...a lot. Will stand in front of the fridge and guzzle it, and all chocolate and most other desserts are improved by 50% when paired with a big glass. Never really gave much thought as to how it gets from udder to my lips as that is a conversation that is rarely pleasant for any food or drink. We're sitting around with friends at dinner the other night and a guy says he grew up across the street from a dairy farm and vividly remembers the screams of the cows. Have never heard a cow scream so followed up with 'why do the scream?' He explained that cows only start giving milk after they have a baby, which makes total sense even with my limited knowledge of mammalian boobies, and that they can then give milk for years after giving birth if they are milked regularly. They scream as their babies, mostly after their first borns, are taken away from them at birth and they are screaming in anguish of losing their children. Used to scoff at vegans in my youth but have evolved to understand that they are just better people than I.
Here is one more story that'll first restore your faith in humanity, then drag it behind a beat up pick-up truck with Confederate plates. It tells the story of Chobani yogurt. You should give it a read but briefly, Chobani was started by a Turkish Kurd immigrant who got a small business loan and bought a defunct Kraft foods manufacturing site and is now the # 1 yogurt brand in America employing 2000 people and buying 4 million pounds of milk (from 'merican farmers) a day. By all records, is a generous boss and amazing world philanthropist who consciously employees hundreds of immigrants from all over the world. There is more, but amazing right? Breitbart has been tearing at him as a jihadist who is choking America with Muslims and bringing TB and rapists to rural Idaho. Just stunning. And if you're one of the people saying it is simply liberal media spin, just go to the original article and for the true masochist, read two or three of the awful reader comments. That these people exist disgusts me that we share the same DNA strands. And a vote for Trump puts you in that category. By the way, was reading the latest about his "mass deportation" plan and a lot of the chatter relates him to Hitler. I don't as the Nazi's were far more transparent in their prejudism and didn't couch it so coyly. What it reminds me of is the talk is exactly like that from the Young Turks, with the same terminology, of "deporting en masse" the Armenians 1915. Now known commonly as the Armenian genocide. Read some history. Just sayin'
Onwards...Utah is big. Every horizon is large
It was this day where we could not escape the biker gang from Missouri.
- Give yourself more time than one day. We did the Rim Drive, which was on a nice road that our Chevy Cruze could handle, but the way to do Canyonlands is to rent a Jeep and camp for 3-4 days. Sounds like it is not too strenuous or dangerous and is far more beautiful than just driving the rim. Plus you can tool around the desert in a Jeep.
- Secondly, and am sure I have mentioned this one before, but the History Channels series 'How The Earth Was Made' is my favorite ever. Two seasons of about 12 eps each, all are fantastic and the reason I mention it here is that the one on the Grand Canyon explains the how/where/why/when the Colorado River does what it does. They are all easily found on YouTube and have watched most of them a 1/2 dozen times.
Our base was in Moab, a city of 5,000 that is more 'cosmopolitan' than a city in rural Utah has any right to be. TripAdvisor said that this food truck, Quesadilla Mobilla, was the best meal in town. They were damn good and we went back a second time.
Next day was Arches. While Canyonlands was carved by running water, a different kind of erosion was at work here. Wind mixed with moisture entering cracks in the rocks produced hundreds of natural stone arches and stunning rock formations. You seriously have to go to see it for yourself.
The drive from Moab to Salt Lake took about 5 hours and was pretty. Did a drive through Provo to peek at BYU and hit SLC in the late afternoon. Clean. Three general observations about the 'road'.
- In the Mountain West states, they offer 85 octane gas
- There must be no helmet laws for motorcycles in Colorado and Utah
- 'Your Speed' signs, the ones that flash your current speed, have gotten really aggressive. They used to just flash when you went over the limit, then they started flashing faster when you went 10 miles over. They changed them to then flash in red 'SLOW DOWN'. Now, they still do all of the above but now start blinking a strobe light. Extremely distracting and is gonna cause someone to freak out and crash at some point. Don't ask me how I have been able to learn about this sign evolution.
Another note I made on America at this point in the journey...the credit card chip reader thing is now everywhere. Didn't see a single one last summer and was amazed at how ubiquitous they've become. Have to assume that it is for our safety, but so effing annoying. First, never knew if it was still a slide of the magnetic stripe or the chip thing and always picked the wrong one. Every cashier seemed as disgusted by my incorrect choice as I was by the whole situation as I got the dismissive "Use the chip reader Sir." What I heard was "hey old man, we have technology now". So after this push me/pull me crap, and waiting for what seemed like 10 minutes each time (yes I pulled it out early a few times too), once it's done it starts barking at you with a super aggressive sound. Wouldn't call it a beep, and think they copped the noise from the China Syndrome soundtrack. How about a gentle ding with a progressively more frequent and louder ding before you get all Jane Fonda on my ass. Screw you chip reader machines.
And here is a travel tip I discovered. Take an ice bag. After all of these walks in the high desert, my knees started barking and hit the drug store for an ice bag. Icing down after exertion is good for everyone and even for those without chronic joint pain, you never know when you will twist an ankle or something. They are also good for headaches and other ailments. As we were spending hours in the hot sun and needed water, found that I could fill up the bag and use it as one of those igloo cooler packs to help keep our beverages cool and sandwiches fresh with the added bonus in that they don't sweat, so stuff stays dry. Not only that, but if you ever got stuck and ran out of water, you could use the melted water to keep you alive. Will taste like rubber, but will keep one properly hydrated. It takes up minimal space and weight and I will never leave home without it. You're welcome.
Thoughts on Salt lake City...
- Ski shops were everywhere and there were several world class slopes minutes away...the Olympics were there not long ago. If I was a ski nut and could choose my place to live, no question this would be #1 in the States as you have world class runs minutes from an urban center.
- Tons of cool urban stuff too. Thought it was gonna be all Mormoned out, but there were many coffee shops and bars and one of the nicest gay parts of town I've ever seen.
- The layout of SLC, and most towns in the Mormon heartland, are laid out in a N-S/E-W grid with the streets mostly named North/South/East/West. So an address will be 125 East 600 South St. Didn't take long to figure out and we were able to navigate it easier than anywhere I've ever been.
- And the traffic was a breeze. Big streets with little congestion, even at rush hour on a weekday.
- Extremely clean and while it has to be about somewhere, did not see a truly impoverished area anywhere. Homeless people had been abundant and were noticeable everywhere we had been so far, but they were few and far between in SLC. The ones we did see were the white meth-y variety.
- Walked one morning around the State Capitol and it was similar to those in most of the Western states. Commanding view of the spectacular valley and mountains. Learned a ton about the lore of the Mormons and their initial interactions with the natives from the murals that line the halls inside.
- Walked one morning around the State Capitol and it was similar to those in most of the Western states. Commanding view of the spectacular valley and mountains. Learned a ton about the lore of the Mormons and their initial interactions with the natives from the murals that line the halls inside.
- I had heard there were no black folks there, but I saw a lot. Not anywhere near DC/Balt/Philly quantities, but plenty. Saw a Rosa Parks Blvd.
- Had no problem getting a drink. Had read that to get one in the past, you had to join the restaurant/bars club and pay a membership before you could be served, but they ditched it in 2013 now it's let the good times roll.
- Mormons. The first thing that you notice about them is that you can't see their horns. Everyone knows that the uniform of the male missionaries is the white short sleeve button down with tie, but what I did not know is that the women all wear dresses. I didn't look it up but there must be some custom as the amount of women wearing them was readily apparent. The dresses are well designed and Laura Ashley must make a killing in town (am a long time fan of that look)
The temple itself is a lovely building but is much smaller than I thought it would be.
Couldn't go inside but the grounds around it had beautiful gardens and interesting public spaces.
Non-Mormons can't go inside and I read that even Mormons that haven't reached a certain level within the church are not allowed entry either. Also read that since they can't get married in the church that it is a custom to take wedding pictures on the back steps of the temple. Babydoll and I were walking the grounds and started heading to the back steps to check it out, and as we turned the corner were stunned at the amount of people that were there. Hundreds of them. Not just the couple coming to take a picture but entire wedding parties...and this was at 11am on a Thursday. We obviously don't belong as I'm wearing shorts and t-shirt and Babydoll has on her short shorts and tank top, but as we are wading into the scene, a man comes up to us and asks if we are there to take our honeymoon pictures. She and I glanced at each other with a look that screamed so much...ewww, embarrassment, horror, disgust, gross, etc. I obviously felt like Woody Allen and could only muster up "no" to the guy as we proceeded on in silence.
I wanted to take a ton of photos here but felt that it would be wrong as this is a big deal to them and didn't want to be disrespectful. Had to take a snap at this wedding party as the girls were so freakin' hot and really shows what I'm talking about with the dresses.
The one taking the photo is in the traditional pilgrimage dress.
The above photo was inside the theatre where the Tabernacle Choir sings...they give free concerts open to the public on Thursday but were out of town this day unfortunately. What we noticed about them here, in the other attractions around the temple and really all over town was just how nice the Mormons are. Always smiling and positive and engaging. Very open with their body language. In the "library" they had a little theatre where they showed Mormon stories...ones that showed people from different walks of life and how their religion interacts and shapes their life experience. It was kinda hot outside and we sat there for a while to recharge our batteries. When one of the films ended, you had to go to the menu to select another story. One ended and we are just vegging, and the woman who was stationed at the attraction (young, hot and in a dress) comes up and says, "can I play the one I like the best, please?" These folks are so damn nice that it was impossible to dismiss them as I was so prepared to do but just could not shake this underlying feeling that I still cannot describe. Stepford wives gets tossed around but that isn't it. I wrote in my notebook that it was like the aliens in Mars Attacks when they are still in their human disguise.
We popped out to the Great Salt Lake to check it out and it is pretty, but not really pretty. I knew it was to acidic for much life but was surprised that there was no boating traffic on it. Not much to say other than we saw a ton of buffalo and that they smell a lot.
We hit the road for the long ride to Grandma's house in San Francisco and on the way from SLC near the Nevada border is the Bonneville Salt Flats. Most famous for the place where the land speed record was set and still stands. Hundreds of miles from anything of note and about 250 miles form Salt Lake City The flats were part of a massive inland sea that has shrunk now to only the Salt Lake. Not much to see other than this white plain of rock hard salt, but unlike anything anywhere.
Talk soon
- Had no problem getting a drink. Had read that to get one in the past, you had to join the restaurant/bars club and pay a membership before you could be served, but they ditched it in 2013 now it's let the good times roll.
- Mormons. The first thing that you notice about them is that you can't see their horns. Everyone knows that the uniform of the male missionaries is the white short sleeve button down with tie, but what I did not know is that the women all wear dresses. I didn't look it up but there must be some custom as the amount of women wearing them was readily apparent. The dresses are well designed and Laura Ashley must make a killing in town (am a long time fan of that look)
The temple itself is a lovely building but is much smaller than I thought it would be.
I wanted to take a ton of photos here but felt that it would be wrong as this is a big deal to them and didn't want to be disrespectful. Had to take a snap at this wedding party as the girls were so freakin' hot and really shows what I'm talking about with the dresses.
We popped out to the Great Salt Lake to check it out and it is pretty, but not really pretty. I knew it was to acidic for much life but was surprised that there was no boating traffic on it. Not much to say other than we saw a ton of buffalo and that they smell a lot.
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