Day 9: The Road to Vegas, Baby!

Salt Lake City and Las Vegas are two worlds apart, and yet when you leave Salt Lake City to the west, the road signs point to Reno one way, and Vegas the other. Driving to Vegas also illustrates the differences between the two. Nowhere on this whole trip have we experienced such drastic changes in the landscape in a single day.

Before we left town, we wanted to stop by Saltair. We'd been there 13 years ago, and we wanted Madison to see the Great Salt Lake again, this time so that she could remember it. The current Saltair pavilion (#3 actually -- the first two burned down) is actually about a mile from the original, and hosts local music acts. It was kind if sad-looking 13 years ago, and not much has changed on that front.

The gift shop has photos and s scale model of the original, built in 1893, which was quite enormous. The train took people right up to the front door, practically. In addition to a large theater, there was a hotel, Ferris wheel, and more. The biggest attraction of all, of course, was the lake itself, which advertised that it was impossible to sink due to the high salt content.

The lake had really receded when we got there (apparently quite a problem for the original resort), so we had to walk out a good ways in the sandy lakebed to fill the tiny plastic bottle we'd gotten at the gift shop.

Then it was back in the car for the six-hour (or so) drive to Vegas. The farms (llama and lavender were distinct stand-outs today) finally gave way to red, arid rocks as we headed into the desert. I also noticed yesterday that Utah (at least in the West) seems the be the dividing line between states that roll hay up in giant rolls (as seen on The Amazing Race), and states that go with the more traditional, block-shaped bale.

Gleefully, I saw our first of a few 80 mph zones today, but I was hard-pressed to actually drive that fast due to the massive amount of traffic leaving Salt Lake and on the way to Nevada. Who knew there would be that many people heading from Salt Lake towards Vegas? Made me long to be back on that desolate highway in Montana just a few days earlier.

I realized yesterday that the best business to be in is the manufacture of orange and white traffic barrels. We've now driven from one side of the country to the other, and I've seen them in every state. Sometimes in work zones for as long as 60 miles (no exaggeration). I learned on our last cross-country trip that no matter how far away from civilization you are, you can always find road construction. Today was a perfect example. As we left Utah, we dipped through the top corner of Arizona for about 40 miles or so. Scorching hot, 120 degree mountainous desert. And that's where we hit road construction. 

We were stuck for nearly an hour trying to merge two lanes into one. When we finally got to the actual construction site, there was no sign of anything being done. At the next town, the poor McDonalds, gas station, and other fast food places were overrun by a bunch of ticked off people who really needed to go to the bathroom.

We got into Vegas pressed for time and a bit behind schedule, but luckily our son, John, had flown in yesterday and had already checked us into the Bellagio. Which is beautiful and freakin' HUGE, by the way. Marsha just loves the buttons that open the curtains in our room. John quite likes the extra reading lights over each bed.

The temp when we got here had dropped to a cool 107. A big switch from the 60s and lower we'd just experienced in Yellowstone. But it's a dry heat, you know.

We got ready lickety-split and then went straight to Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill (another first for us, though we love Bar Americain in NYC) next door at Caesar's while I ran to pick up our Beatles Love (Cirque du Soleil) tickets next door again at the Mirage. Managed to get lost a couple of times, but made it back (mostly) in time for dinner. I asked several people for directions as I tried to cut through the  hotels. Some of the people gave me great directions, others not so much.

The meal was fantastic, but the service a bit slow. Seems they need fewer wait staff who just stand around and more people in the kitchen. We had to eat quickly, but luckily we still had time for dessert, which was Marsha's and Madison's favorite part of the menu (churros and sticky pudding).

Our next-to-final treat was the show itself. We got there just in the nick of time, especially since I now know the route. I had originally thought that Cirque du Soleil and The Beatles were an odd combination, but it really was a perfect fit. This show had a lot more dancing and fewer circus acts than the other two shows we'd seen, but it was less weird. There were several parts that were just totally unique, like the amount of sets that came up from the floor, an "exploding" life-size VW Bug, and a giant parachute that they used to cover the entire audience. That was the craziest thing I've ever seen. All-in-all the show was amazing and our favorite Cirque show!

Our final treat was the fountain show at Bellagio, which was more awesome than any of us remembered. The song choice we heard couldn't have been better: "Luck Be a Lady" by Frank Sinatra. Had no idea the water could shoot as high as it does. It sounded like cannons firing. Probably with good reason.

Day 8: Water Going Up, Water Coming Down

Today is my birthday, and one of the more memorable ones I've ever had. Due to the horrendous weather yesterday evening, not to mention the traffic jam due to the elk sighting, we headed back over to Yellowstone for a bit. We didn't want to leave without seeing Old Faithful erupt. Again, due to just how huge Yellowstone is, there's no such thing as a quick jaunt in. Just getting from our entrance gate to the main road that loops inside the park is 14 miles.

Our first stop was the Grand Prismatic Springs, a large hot spring that creates multiple colors. It's so amazing that you can even see the steam rise in multiple colors.

From there it was off to Old Faithful, our last stop before hitting the road again for Salt Lake City. And we immediately got stuck in a 40-minute traffic jam due to a bear sighting. By the time we got to the bottleneck, though, the bear was already gone. That didn't stop several people from getting out of the cars and wandering the woods as human bear bait.

Luck was with us though, when we got to Old Faithful. When we saw hundreds of people sitting on the benches surrounding the geyser, we figured it must be soon. The next predicted eruption was only twenty minutes away, plus or minus ten minutes. We sat and waited, wondering if it would rumble or something beforehand. The steam would increase, then decrease. Then suddenly, it bubbled up and shot up some 100 feet in the air. Talk about incredible! Truly an awesome sight.

Mission accomplished, we hit the road again. Or at least, we attempted to, as it took us another 45-min or so to get back out of the park.

When we finally got out of the mountains of Montana, we drove through endless miles of Idaho farmland (potatoes?). We noticed that the landscape, save for the farms (and lots of irrigation systems), was much more arid. That makes farms in every state through which we've driven.

The trip back to Yellowstone put us way behind schedule. We had 6:30 dinner reservations at the Garden Restaurant (overlooking Temple Square), at which we'd eaten 13 years ago on our last trip across the country, which wasn't going to happen. We also had lawn tickets that Marsha bought as my birthday present to a show presented by Glenn Beck called "The Man in the Moon" (which we had no idea what it was).

But due to a gigantic thunderstorm, we decided to pass on the show (now we still don't know what it is) and do dinner anyway. The restaurant was just as terrific as we remembered. Afterwards, with a break in the weather, we explored the Temple grounds and peeked into the tabernacle.

The Temple grounds are just beautiful, with numerous fountains and flowers everywhere. We couldn't get enough of the fountains. Despite the rain and the change of plans, it turned out to be an awesome birthday after all.