Day 12 - Friday 8/9/13 Kemmerer, WY - Salt Lake City, UT (169 MIles)

Lunch on the Primus stove
Immigration Canyon, UT

The drive from Kemmerer to Salt Lake City (SLC), while short, was pleasant.  We stopped for lunch of leftover Mexican from last night (heated on our Primus stove) at the Little Dell Recreation Area, along the Mormon pioneer trail that winds through Immigration Canyon.  It was first forged by Bringham Young and his band of merry pioneers.  The trail would subsequently be used by the gold rushers and the Pony Express.  We would have preferred to camp in this area just outside the city, but the few sites left were 1/4-mile walk-ins and the campgrounds were so undesirable, situated on the edge of a large reservoir whose water had dropped about 30' and with no shade.  So, we found another great priced room at the Hilton Garden Inn right in downtown SLC.

Extra wide streets with mountain backdrops

The city's historic buildings are abundant and really well preserved.  They sit along incredibly wide streets supposedly designed so that a man could turn around his 4-horse team and wagon, a large convenience back then, and now too I suppose for those who still prefer the old-fashioned mode of transport.  We were delighted that the city offers FREE light rail throughout it's downtown corridor as well as the increasingly popular City Bikes service that offers cheap bike rental stations throughout downtown, but preferred to walk after so many miles in the car.

Free light rail service in downtown SLC

City Bike rentals

On our way to Temple Square, ground zero for the Mormons and the geographic center of the city, we explored a 25-story stone hotel, The Grand American.  Surely, we thought, this was built in the early part of the 19th century because of its intricate detail, luxurious construction, layout, etc., but were shocked to learn that it was built in 2001, just before the SLC Olympics.  We explored the rear corridors, ballrooms, function rooms, etc., wherever we could poke our noses without raising attention.  We loved their little hotel shops; an amazing children's store called Zou Zou's that was so full of whimsy that as adults, our clocks wound back to 2nd grade.  Their French-inspired sweets shop MAY have had some great lemon gelato and macaroons.  Both shops were absolutely out of this world fun.

Zou Zou's Whimsical Display Window
from plastic spoons

Further toward Temple Square, we encountered the city's annual "Craft Lake City" art/craft/music festival with hundreds of artists hawking their creations.  May have picked up something here too ;-)  As hunger set in, we wandered even further in and found the BeerHive Bar for dinner - sat at the bar, which had a chiller "rail" for your brew.  Pretty cool...no pun intended.

For You, Dad.  XOXOXO

BeerHive Bar "chiller rail"