Oh the day we had

We had an easy day planned yesterday with Mass then brunch then our home away from home - Wal-Mart. But then it turned into quite a day.

After cereal we headed for the Cathedral in downtown SLC. We left early because we knew downtown parking would be fun, and it was. We were early enough for a small lot behind the Cathedral and the 'oh the day we had' begins. There were two 'legal' spots left in a U shaped lot. At the far end there was a car illegally parked which made turning the U interesting in a 1 ton dually. When we got to the spot we realized it was too short for the truck so we headed out. In the meantime someone illegally parked at the entrance almost blocking our way out of the parking lot. Bob thought a couple of things like just heading into church and sorting things out later but we decided to try and get out. We said 'almost' blocking us in, what it took was collapsing the side mirrors and Jo guiding from the front since Bob was totally blind as to how close the duallys were. Jo did a great job but you probably could have only fit 1 sheet of paper on one side whilst 10 sheets could have fit on the other.

The next stop on the 'oh what a day' parade was an industrial lot near the Cathedral. We saw a sign with Weekday parking rules and a few cars in the lot so we thought we were safe. Only as we were leaving did we see that Saturday and Sunday were Clinic parking only. We saw some 2 hour visitor parking sites so we decided to move to one of the three maybe four open sites. Others had he same idea, one of which was another bad parking award winner who parked diagonally taking up two spaces and a car just pulled into the third while Bob was moving the truck. Bob pulled into the maybe a fourth site that had a visitor parking sign overlapping on the right side of the site and a Staff parking only sign overlapping the left side. By now we were almost late for Mass, glad that we left early but we were now chugging up a steep hill with the temperature rising with each step. Did we mention that SLC is setting record highs while we are here? About 25 degrees above normal. We were huffing and puffing as we entered the Cathedral but we got there just before the procession.

Here is the Cathedral from the outside



Here is the inside of the Cathedral



When we left the church about and hour and a half later we weren't entirely certain the truck would be there, or might be booted if still there. But the truck was there and not booted, but wait there is more to the 'oh what a day' parade. Bob had seen Ruth's Diner on DDD (Diners, Drive Inns, and Dives) and wanted to eat there. Now the diner is on Emigration Canyon Blvd about 10 minutes from the Church. Our gps took us right there but when we arrived the parking lot was full, the street parking on both sides of the road was full, and there were a lot of people waiting outside so we decided to punt and just head for Wal-Mart figuring we could stop and eat at someplace along the way. Not knowing the area that well we let the gps take us the same direction we were heading instead of back the way we came and in 10 minutes we would have at least been down town. The other direction took us through Emigration Canyon, miles and miles through the Canyon. A beautiful drive, at least that is what we kept telling each other. Finally we get to I-80 and take it towards SLC, miles away at this point.

Here is a picture of Emigration Canyon towards SLC.



We are so remote there are no food or lodging info signs at the exits. We get to the Wal-Mart exit and we see an IHOP and we head there. There is parking for about a dozen cars at IHOP and they all are full, or one that was too small for our truck. We spot a Carl's Jr with parking and maybe because we were so hungry at this time but the green burrito and taco salad sure were good.

Fully charged we head to Wal-Mart and turn where the gps tells us and all we see is a parking garage so we figure just another gps issue so we go around the block and lo and hehold this is the only Wal-Mart we have ever seen with a parking garage and we have been in a lot of Wal-Mart stores. A parking garage should tell you how bad the parking is in this area. The ramp up said no large trucks and after the fun with the Cathedral parking we decided to try the ground level which was full so we just decided to punt and hit Costco which we saw on the way to Wal-Mart. We stopped and got a a couple of things and then just head back to the park. Now we know why we don't usually venture out on a Sunday.

Finally the 'oh what a day' parade ends with a note about record high temperatures. Not only will the daily record highs be shattered but there is a possibility that the all time high for April could be set while we are here. We don't think there is global warming we just think that it is our travels and our bad luck with record high temperatures like in the Upper Peninsula last year and now Salt Lake City is why people think there is global warming :-)

We plan to visit the Mormon Temple Square on Monday and do a genealogy check after we get our call back on the satellite dish and maybe tour the Cathedral on Tuesday. We borrowed the photos of the Cathedral and the Canyon from the internet and will have our own if we go on the tour. We also would have liked to take pictures of our canyon adventure but the phone was being used for gps.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo