Day 15 & 16 - Salt Lake City, Utah

Day 15 (10 July) - We departed Yellowstone through the south entrance and went straight into Grand Teton National Park. The drive through the park was spectacular, particularly the views over Jackson Lake to the mountains. We then continued south through Wyoming before cutting across the south-east corner of Idaho for a short-time and then into Utah. The changing scenery from the heights of the mountains to the valley and range floors as we criss-crossed through mountain ranges was wonderful. There were great rises where the old Dodge Caravan was like the little red train that could, and so were we - that is saying "I think we can, I think we can." We passed a number of beautiful lakes, though as we got further into Utah the mountains remained and the trees thinned out.

The massive Great Salt Lake upon which the town was built came into view. As we planned to leave Salt Lake City on Monday morning we thought it best to stay on the south-side of the city so that when we drove away it was against morning peak-hour traffic for that first day of the working week. We eventually found ourselves settled at the Holiday Inn Express. The distances have been long and tiring and sharing the driving has made it so much easier. We knew that Salt Lake City was a strong mormon centre and been told by locals that many things were not open on a Sunday due to the religion. They also said that it's pretty hard to get any alcoholic drink above about 3% strength due to the religious influence, but we didn't test that out. Maybe we were a bit tired and hot due to the change in altitude and temperature but we didn't quite take to Salt Lake City as we drove through so decided that a simple day on that Sunday would best.

Day 16 (11 July) A very slow day that involved short local drives, watching the FIFA World Cup soccer final and dinner out. The most interesting thing of the day was when the kids wanted to have a swim in the hotel pool. We went around mid-afternoon and peered around the corner of the building because there was a lot of party music, adults and no other kids. The kids baulked and thought they would feel more comfortable returning later. Late afternoon we returned to a much quieter pool where a party was being cleaned up. I noticed it straight away and bought to Andrea's attention that there were no females present and a bunch of fellows who would fit right in at the Blue Oyster Bar (remember the gay bar in the original Police Academy movie). I recall reading the hotel propaganda that it was 'gay-friendly' but I didn't think its policy was so supportive - and as Seinfeld would say, "not that there's anything wrong with that." Andrea took much delight in continually letting me know that I was getting checked out.