Tuesday 19 Sept
Staying 6 nights in Riverton, Utah with Mandi and Jared
263 miles
A long drive today but no rush to do it so we decided to take our time and follow the scenic back roads rather than rush along the freeways. Dora (the sat nav) had other ideas though and kept trying to send us in different directions!
We drove along by the side of a river past a point on the map called Beaver Dam - we were looking for a reservoir until we realised that the river was full of little lodges built by beavers!
But there was nowhere to stop as we saw them so Mike says that the pictures I managed to take are just of piles of driftwood. Shame as some of the lodges were quite tidily done and large.
A varied route with lots of interesting bits and pieces and a landscape that changed from rocky mountains to slopes covered in grass and flowers.
Lots of agriculture - nice to see cows and sheep in fields instead of scrubby desert. And tractors. And crops.
Wondered why there had been lots of references to Butch Cassidy along part of the route!
Some lovely buildings and temples - and some quirky little places we stopped to look at.
View from the car park in Walmart!
Back to mountains.
My burger chain! I wish..😁
Lovely to see this lady again and get reacquainted.
She loved her presents - British bobbies from Siobhan and Man U and other stuff from us.
Wednesday 20 Sept
59 miles
A leisurely get up and then German pancake with syrup cooked by Mandi - totally yummy (bit like Yorkshire pudding but more eggy if that makes sense?) - and Mandi also makes her own syrup!
Meet the boys:
Roscoe - the smallest, oldest, noisiest and the leader of the pack!
Bruce - likes to think he's in charge! The boisterous teenager.
Nacho - Jared's ex police dog, retired with a back injury. Quite happy to be part of the pack - doesn't need to be in charge - been there, done that!
Mike and I went off to Temple Square in Salt Lake City while Mandi went to work and Jared went to an appointment.
At least that's where we set off for! Only about half an hour away but first we went to the wrong place. Then as we set off again Dora (sat nav) firstly went into 2D - just a map - and then stopped talking to us - a bit tricky in the middle of five or six lanes of traffic!
But Mike eventually managed to get us there.
A beautiful place with amazing buildings.
Then a visit to the Cheesecake Factory for a light meal and a slice of divine Key Lime cheesecake.
Meal out (and good beer!) in the evening with Mandi and Jared. Delish!
Thursday 21 Sept
51 miles
Hopefully we now have Dora the sat nav tamed with the voice recognition firmly disabled instead of being switched off only to reactivate at inappropriate times as we were driving!! Certain words in the course of conversation in the car (no idea what!) would trigger Dora either to say 'I'm listening' (spooky!) or to activate commands telling us 'Turning volume to 70%' or 'Activating night colours' and making the screen dark as though you were driving at night.
Occasionally a trigger word would prompt a response of 'Turning voice activation OFF' - as though she was cross with us and sulking - which would have been fine if it hadn't turned the map off as well!
So yesterday we came back from SLC in total silence in order to keep her sweet. Funny in hindsight but not at the time!
A quiet today today - we went back into SLC - the shopping mall has a small stream running through it. Very pretty. There are over trout in the pools and the water comes directly from the river.
There was an organ recital in the auditorium in Temple Square. The acoustics were very impressive as were the coloured lights behind the organ.
We went into the Family history library.
Comic Con was on in the city so it was fun to see all the costumes they were wearing.
Then we got to meet the children in the evening - Zach aged 11, Annabelle aged 8 and Jagger aged 5 (nearly 6!) All delightful and great fun.
Birthday cake for Zach's 11th birthday earlier in the week.
Annabelle's 'well done' notes from school.
My new hair dresser.
Playing.
Bruce and I hanging out.
Meals out and tipping:
The idea of tipping for everything (seems to be!) in the range of 15 - 20% is a strange one for us. But when you know that a waitress only receives $2.15 per hour and is totally reliant on her tips to make a living wage then that is an eye opener!
Actually working out the percentage to the last cent can be a pain in the bum but rounding up to the nearest dollar just doesn't always work.
Friday 22 Sept
161 miles
Off to Antelope Island today - on the edge of the Great Salt Lake. It rained a lot during the night and there was snow on the mountains this morning. It stayed very cold at 47°F (8°C) with a nippy wind chill.
The weather stayed quite overcast all day.
Breakfast at Sill's - a local and obviously popular café at Syracuse en route. We couldn't translate half the menu which was quite funny to say it's in the same language!! Decided against several things which sounded good but were served with S.O.S. - which turned out to be some sort of gravy again!!
In the end I had a small breakfast which was delicious but still too big for me to finish! Mike had a 'post office' breakfast which he couldn't finish either.
The couple next to us (a very slight young girl and her bigger boyfriend) ordered some sort of omelette/pancake thing smothered in a sort of butter that they shared. How nice, I thought, it's plenty big enough for two. Then another two plates arrived - large plates of biscuits and gravy (recognised them!) which they proceeded to make short work of. Very impressed with their huge appetites!
So off we went to bison spot!
Lots of birds on the causeway first.
There are 700 bison which roam free on the island and it was quite a surprise to see one walk across the road in front of us!
They are beautiful beasts!
We also went to look at the Garr Ranch, the oldest Anglo building still on its original foundation in Utah. In 1848 Fielding Garr was sent by the Mormon church to establish a ranch on the island as a place to manage the church tithing herds (when people gave cattle instead of cash as tithes).
Beautiful location and now part of the state park.
We also very briefly saw a mule deer which leapt out of the tall grass when we disturbed it whilst walking nearby. Its head appeared about 4 times as it jumped up to see what was happening then it bounded of into the trees. Mike went one way and I went the other - only to see it disappearing over the fields.
Good camouflage though in all the tall grass - Mike could see where it has been lying before we disturbed it.
Saturday 23 Sept
100 miles
Drive to Big Cottonwood Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon. There was an Oktoberfest on but was too cold without the sunshine to stay out for long!
29°F so below freezing point. Bit of a change from last week when the temperature was well over 40°C!
There was a tiny shaft of sunlight before we started climbing into the mountains proper.
A sprinkle of snow on the trees and the (non) view from the top.
We eventually gave up and came back down.
It was nice to spend some time in the evening with Mandi and Jared eating pizza and chatting.
Their work schedules have had to change as Mandi has to be office based whilst pregnant and at the mo Mandi works days whilst Jared works nights. So here they are together with Jared getting ready for work and the rest of us getting ready for bed!
And here are the lovely boys looking super cute.
Bruce and I having a selfie.
It has been quite funny at times to find that we are speaking the same language but in quite different ways - the biscuits and gravy was a case in point.
Graham (Gram) crackers are not savoury but sweet like UK biscuits. They crush them and add butter to make the base of a dessert as we would do with digestives or rich tea.
Americans also use them to make smores (s'mores?) - melted marshmallows sandwiched between chocolate covered Graham crackers. A campfire treat which sounds good!
Sunday 24 Sept
22 miles
Another petrol station, another coffee!
I love the fact that you can get so many hot and cold drinks when you go for gas (petrol). Coffees, teas, juices, soft drinks (sodas), milk shakes (you can make your own milkshake!) - and so many flavours to add to the coffees. As it is nearing Halloween all of America seems to be going pumpkin crazy and it seems to be a very popular flavour to add as a creamer in your coffee. My favourite is French Vanilla - I LOVE it! I'm sure it can't be good for you though...
It rained heavily overnight and some of the mountains had snow on their peaks in the morning.
The rain continued so we decided it was a shopping day. But first we needed breakfast.
Mike had corned beef hash with eggs and I had California omelette. Both came with 'heavenly hot cakes' which were delicious light pancakes with fruit syrup and maple syrup. Too much for us to finish but we tried our best!
Off we went to the shops. The concrete roads seemed to throw up loads of spray making visibility quite bad. They have thin grooves across them so that salt water and chemical solutions can be sprayed when snow is imminent to stop it sticking.
Newspapers in the driveway!
We weren't quite sure what they were when we saw them on our way out so we left them. Good job they were in plastic bags as it was raining heavily.
The house is large by our standards and very spacious. Plenty of room for dogs and children! Two floors but the bottom floor is sort of below ground so it looks like a bungalow.
... and the washing machine!! A HUGE drum which makes our British ones look tiny! A top loader too.
We went out for a Chinese meal in the evening. Very nice!
The weather is set to improve here - just as we are leaving! The cold weather has been very unusual.
It has been a lovely (nearly) week meeting all the family and being able to relax. It has also been great to see a part of the country which we wouldn't have visited otherwise.
The r and r has certainly set us up well and prepared us for our next adventures!
Staying 6 nights in Riverton, Utah with Mandi and Jared
263 miles
A long drive today but no rush to do it so we decided to take our time and follow the scenic back roads rather than rush along the freeways. Dora (the sat nav) had other ideas though and kept trying to send us in different directions!
We drove along by the side of a river past a point on the map called Beaver Dam - we were looking for a reservoir until we realised that the river was full of little lodges built by beavers!
But there was nowhere to stop as we saw them so Mike says that the pictures I managed to take are just of piles of driftwood. Shame as some of the lodges were quite tidily done and large.
A varied route with lots of interesting bits and pieces and a landscape that changed from rocky mountains to slopes covered in grass and flowers.
Lots of agriculture - nice to see cows and sheep in fields instead of scrubby desert. And tractors. And crops.
Wondered why there had been lots of references to Butch Cassidy along part of the route!
Some lovely buildings and temples - and some quirky little places we stopped to look at.
View from the car park in Walmart!
Back to mountains.
My burger chain! I wish..😁
Lovely to see this lady again and get reacquainted.
She loved her presents - British bobbies from Siobhan and Man U and other stuff from us.
Wednesday 20 Sept
59 miles
A leisurely get up and then German pancake with syrup cooked by Mandi - totally yummy (bit like Yorkshire pudding but more eggy if that makes sense?) - and Mandi also makes her own syrup!
Meet the boys:
Bruce - likes to think he's in charge! The boisterous teenager.
Nacho - Jared's ex police dog, retired with a back injury. Quite happy to be part of the pack - doesn't need to be in charge - been there, done that!
Mike and I went off to Temple Square in Salt Lake City while Mandi went to work and Jared went to an appointment.
At least that's where we set off for! Only about half an hour away but first we went to the wrong place. Then as we set off again Dora (sat nav) firstly went into 2D - just a map - and then stopped talking to us - a bit tricky in the middle of five or six lanes of traffic!
But Mike eventually managed to get us there.
There had been a wedding in the temple and all the guest were assembled on the side steps for a photo - along with a life sized cardboard cutout of a teenager who was probably a family member away on his mission.
A beautiful place with amazing buildings.
Then a visit to the Cheesecake Factory for a light meal and a slice of divine Key Lime cheesecake.
Meal out (and good beer!) in the evening with Mandi and Jared. Delish!
Thursday 21 Sept
51 miles
Hopefully we now have Dora the sat nav tamed with the voice recognition firmly disabled instead of being switched off only to reactivate at inappropriate times as we were driving!! Certain words in the course of conversation in the car (no idea what!) would trigger Dora either to say 'I'm listening' (spooky!) or to activate commands telling us 'Turning volume to 70%' or 'Activating night colours' and making the screen dark as though you were driving at night.
Occasionally a trigger word would prompt a response of 'Turning voice activation OFF' - as though she was cross with us and sulking - which would have been fine if it hadn't turned the map off as well!
So yesterday we came back from SLC in total silence in order to keep her sweet. Funny in hindsight but not at the time!
A quiet today today - we went back into SLC - the shopping mall has a small stream running through it. Very pretty. There are over trout in the pools and the water comes directly from the river.
There was an organ recital in the auditorium in Temple Square. The acoustics were very impressive as were the coloured lights behind the organ.
We went into the Family history library.
More culture and statues.
Comic Con was on in the city so it was fun to see all the costumes they were wearing.
Then we got to meet the children in the evening - Zach aged 11, Annabelle aged 8 and Jagger aged 5 (nearly 6!) All delightful and great fun.
Birthday cake for Zach's 11th birthday earlier in the week.
Annabelle's 'well done' notes from school.
My new hair dresser.
Playing.
The idea of tipping for everything (seems to be!) in the range of 15 - 20% is a strange one for us. But when you know that a waitress only receives $2.15 per hour and is totally reliant on her tips to make a living wage then that is an eye opener!
Actually working out the percentage to the last cent can be a pain in the bum but rounding up to the nearest dollar just doesn't always work.
Friday 22 Sept
161 miles
Off to Antelope Island today - on the edge of the Great Salt Lake. It rained a lot during the night and there was snow on the mountains this morning. It stayed very cold at 47°F (8°C) with a nippy wind chill.
The weather stayed quite overcast all day.
Breakfast at Sill's - a local and obviously popular café at Syracuse en route. We couldn't translate half the menu which was quite funny to say it's in the same language!! Decided against several things which sounded good but were served with S.O.S. - which turned out to be some sort of gravy again!!
In the end I had a small breakfast which was delicious but still too big for me to finish! Mike had a 'post office' breakfast which he couldn't finish either.
The couple next to us (a very slight young girl and her bigger boyfriend) ordered some sort of omelette/pancake thing smothered in a sort of butter that they shared. How nice, I thought, it's plenty big enough for two. Then another two plates arrived - large plates of biscuits and gravy (recognised them!) which they proceeded to make short work of. Very impressed with their huge appetites!
So off we went to bison spot!
Lots of birds on the causeway first.
There are 700 bison which roam free on the island and it was quite a surprise to see one walk across the road in front of us!
We also went to look at the Garr Ranch, the oldest Anglo building still on its original foundation in Utah. In 1848 Fielding Garr was sent by the Mormon church to establish a ranch on the island as a place to manage the church tithing herds (when people gave cattle instead of cash as tithes).
Beautiful location and now part of the state park.
Good camouflage though in all the tall grass - Mike could see where it has been lying before we disturbed it.
Saturday 23 Sept
100 miles
Drive to Big Cottonwood Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon. There was an Oktoberfest on but was too cold without the sunshine to stay out for long!
29°F so below freezing point. Bit of a change from last week when the temperature was well over 40°C!
A sprinkle of snow on the trees and the (non) view from the top.
We eventually gave up and came back down.
It was nice to spend some time in the evening with Mandi and Jared eating pizza and chatting.
Their work schedules have had to change as Mandi has to be office based whilst pregnant and at the mo Mandi works days whilst Jared works nights. So here they are together with Jared getting ready for work and the rest of us getting ready for bed!
And here are the lovely boys looking super cute.
Bruce and I having a selfie.
It has been quite funny at times to find that we are speaking the same language but in quite different ways - the biscuits and gravy was a case in point.
Graham (Gram) crackers are not savoury but sweet like UK biscuits. They crush them and add butter to make the base of a dessert as we would do with digestives or rich tea.
Americans also use them to make smores (s'mores?) - melted marshmallows sandwiched between chocolate covered Graham crackers. A campfire treat which sounds good!
Sunday 24 Sept
22 miles
Another petrol station, another coffee!
I love the fact that you can get so many hot and cold drinks when you go for gas (petrol). Coffees, teas, juices, soft drinks (sodas), milk shakes (you can make your own milkshake!) - and so many flavours to add to the coffees. As it is nearing Halloween all of America seems to be going pumpkin crazy and it seems to be a very popular flavour to add as a creamer in your coffee. My favourite is French Vanilla - I LOVE it! I'm sure it can't be good for you though...
It rained heavily overnight and some of the mountains had snow on their peaks in the morning.
The rain continued so we decided it was a shopping day. But first we needed breakfast.
Mike had corned beef hash with eggs and I had California omelette. Both came with 'heavenly hot cakes' which were delicious light pancakes with fruit syrup and maple syrup. Too much for us to finish but we tried our best!
Newspapers in the driveway!
We weren't quite sure what they were when we saw them on our way out so we left them. Good job they were in plastic bags as it was raining heavily.
The house is large by our standards and very spacious. Plenty of room for dogs and children! Two floors but the bottom floor is sort of below ground so it looks like a bungalow.
... and the washing machine!! A HUGE drum which makes our British ones look tiny! A top loader too.
We went out for a Chinese meal in the evening. Very nice!
The weather is set to improve here - just as we are leaving! The cold weather has been very unusual.
It has been a lovely (nearly) week meeting all the family and being able to relax. It has also been great to see a part of the country which we wouldn't have visited otherwise.
The r and r has certainly set us up well and prepared us for our next adventures!
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