Leg Two of Vacation

Sorry I haven't blogged for a few days. I'm having issues connecting my Apple to the wireless network here at my Aunt and Uncle's house in Salt Lake City. Yesterday I made the looooong drive across I80 from Reno to SLC. I should have slept in later on Thursday because 1 hour into the drive and I had to stop for a triple espresso drink at a drive through coffee shop. That only worked for a few hours before I started seeing double traffic lines down the middle of the freeway. For fear of crashing into a car driven my a nice Belgium couple, I pulled over and took a nap. I then made it to SLC by 6:30, even with the one hour time zone change.

For dinner last night we went to Ruth's Diner down the hill. It is always crowded, and most of the outside tables were taken, expect for one that was near the stage with the live band and under a tarp. When it began to rain suddenly, one by one all the guests got up and ran inside except for us because we were protected from the rain - until the tarp began to leak and water dripped into our food and beer! So we ate quickly and left. However, the food and beer were very good, despite the rainwater added.



The road to this house is all torn up, and there are temporary stop lights that are timed to handle the flow of cars up and down through the one-way sections. The city is putting in water pipes and adding bike lanes to this very popular biking path. This morning I slept in and then went for a hike. The hike began at a trail head at the top of the road. I wasn't sure how long the trail was or when it ended. I hiked to the creek, but then continued to follow a very narrow and overgrown path. The trail then went straight up a steep canyon where it took me to a summit where I could see over to the east side. Then I saw the trail off to the right and continued up to another summit looking north. My GPS said I was at 8000 feet, and the trail head was at 6400 feet. I felt I had hiked long enough, so I headed back down. I was hoping to see some wildlife other than bugs, birds and lizards, but I didn't. The partly cloudy weather made for perfect hiking conditions as the trail led up through several climate zones.