Salt Lake City and the Golden Spike
With our decision to leave Wyoming behind we still have to cross a couple hundred miles to Utah and Salt Lake. This part of Wyoming, as I said before, is barren. Rocky ridges with little vegetation and few animals. In fact with the exception of birds, the only animals we saw were domestic sheep. The rock formations were unusual and some were quite beautiful. One of the disadvantages of RV travel is you cannot just pull off the road for quick pictures as you could in a car.
We did have our first sighting of snow topped mountains far in the distance. I believe they were the Uinta range. Beautiful!
The final leg down into Salt Lake was a bit scary. We descended from almost 8000 feet to about 4500 most of it at a 3% to 6% grade. Tom downshifted and kept Molly on a steady course the whole way but we both gave a sigh of relief when the descent was done.
The Salt Lake City KOA was a great choice. Clean, lots of big shade trees, paved sites, only 2 miles from the city center. An excellent place to stay if you venture to SLC.
I had read that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir practiced on Thursday so that we showered and headed downtown. Temple Square in the center of Downtown Salt Lake City contains in addition to their Temple, the Conference Center provides for public viewing of the Choir. It was a very enjoyable hour listen while the choir master cajoled and corrected the singers. The Square also had the genealogy library, the beehive house, and many administrative buildings. The area is beautiful with flowers, trees, and fountains in abundance. A wonderful evening.
In 1869 the first transcontinental railroad across the United States was completed with the driving of the Golden Spike in Promontory Point UT, thus celebrating the joining of the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific Railroads. The railroad has long since bypassed this remote spot 60 miles north of SLC, the rails were torn up in the 1940s to provide iron for the war effort. In 1957 it was named a National Historic Site and is now administered by the National Park Service. Two steam locomotives, replicas of Jupiter and NO.119 the original locomotives that met, now steam down the section of rebuilt track. The original railroad grades are still present and visitors can drive along the higher grade. A steam demonstration is held for visitors and there is a movie of the building of the railroad. Along the road visitors can walk through Chinese Arch, a natural limestone arch. We visited the Golden Spike on Friday.
Slideshow of the Golden Spike National Memorial
On our way back to the campground with took a detour to Antelope Island in the middle of the Salt Lake. This is a huge island reached by causeway mostly populated by buffalo, pronghorn antelope, and the unseen big horn sheep. We saw many buffalo and one even posed for me! We had given up on the antelope when we rounded a corner and there was a handsome male waiting for his picture. We enjoyed driving around the island.
Slideshow of Antelope Island State Park
On Saturday we rested, caught up on our bills and then went downtown for dinner. We also drove up to the State Capitol Building which looks much like the US Capitol.
We would have like to stay a few more days but there was no room in the campground so Sunday morning we went west to Wendover, NA, and the Bonneville Salt Flats. The salt flats were used for years to set land speed records. They are also where the infamous Donner Party lost many of the horse and cattle and partially lead to their becoming trap in the snow in the Sierras. The flats are like being on another planet, like nothing I have every seen before. Miles and miles of white salt covered in some places by water. Tom and I walk out into the water a bit, the gritty feel was not pleasant.
Tonight we are staying in Wendover, NA. Wendover was an Air Force Base during WWII where many of the pilots who fought in the Pacific and Europe trained. It is also where the Enola Gay was prepared for her flight to Hiroshima.
Tomorrow we leave for Twin Falls, ID.
June 19th, 2016