slc day 2

a lake, a beach, and a mountain







hi everybody (dr. nick voice)! today i went to visit saltair, the doomed resort, on the shores of the great salt lake. i had heard before the lake was smelley, but it defies explanation - it must be experienced. apparently the brine is the smelley stuff, and theres plenty of that. so that trip wasnt all that impressive, its an enormous lake surrounded by mountains, so its cool, but not super-cool. BUT, after that i went to antelope island, which is inside the lake, after a seven mile causeway, and that was awesome. its very scenic and pretty and has beautiful beaches and cliffs and stuff. i saw some lizards and buffalo and a herd of, well... antelope. they all just hang out on the island. very cool. after that i went to a decent record store in the city and got yet another tom waits cd.

this is one of those cities that thinks pedestrians should take precedence over cars. i hate that. in new york, if you want to cross a street, you had better hurry - or die. in these pedestrian-friendly cities, youre always fucking yielding to them, and they have no incentive to walk fast. they just mosey on by. see, the car is a much faster mode of transport, so it should get to go first. a person will have to wait less time for a car to pass than a car has to wait for a person to pass. makes sense right?

similarly, no one here drives like they have something to do. i realize that driving rudely and fast probably only gets me to my destination thirty seconds sooner, but dammit, i can use those thirty seconds! folks around here are like 'the light just turned yellow and im twenty feet away, ahh, i might as well stop' and 'oh the speed limit is 40, umm, 30 seems much more reasonable'. very frustrating.

so heres the next sitch: i had planned to go to vegas tomorrow, but i hadnt booked a hotel, so i went to do that recently and realized if i wait to go to vegas until sunday the hotel rates are basically cut in half or less. so thats the plan. ill spend tomorrow night in salt lake city again, which is fine cuz its really nice here, and saturday im going a little more than halfway to vegas, to st george, utah, where i will go to zion national park. it was recommended i go to moab and arches national park, but its like 200 miles off my route, where zion is like 30 miles. i hope i made the right choice.