Monday, August 1, 2011

Salt Lake City - Park City, Utah

Leaving Reno, we headed east on Hwy 80 to Salt Lake City.  I have never been on this road to SLC and there's not much as you cross the boarder into Utah, but the Bonneville Salt Flats where they test drive fast cars, was visible from the highway so I took a picture as we drove by.  Very cool.

We really enjoyed our stay with Linda and Neil.  We taught them a new domino game, Mexican Train, and we all had a blast playing it together in the evenings.

Don wanted to play golf - surprise - so we went to Mountain Dell golf course.  He played with another couple and I drove our cart.  I looked at the brochure and it described the wildlife we might see while we played.  Among the group was "moose."  I said, "There's no moose in Utah!"  Yeah?  Look at the young buck who we met on the first green!  He followed us to hole two before disappearing into the trees.  Amazing!





The best part of our trip to Salt Lake City was seeing Yvonne, Don's mom.  She's in assisted living and Linda checks up on her daily.  She is comfortable and her ability to remember is limited, however, when she saw Don, she began "talking" and in the second picture you see her reach out and take his hand - beautiful!  She'd just had her hair and nails done and the staff loves her.  We are so grateful.




We ended our three day stay in SLC with a trip up the mountain to Park City.  We had never been before and we loved it!  Signs of the Olympics that were held here several years ago are everywhere.  On this particular day they were hosting a street fair - look at all the people!  We had a great day exploring boutiques, art galleries, and craft tables.  We enjoyed a delightful lunch and warm, warm weather.  This town has it all!   I can see why its such a popular place to come skiing!






Day Three - Gambling in Tahoe and Reno

Okay, we've been home now for several days and I wasn't able to blog - or didn't want to - while on the road.  My intent is to now reconstruct our vacation using pictures, notes and my limited memories - very limited :)

We left Bridgeport, CA on the third day and started our drive to Reno, our next stop for the night. On the way, we detoured to spend some time in my favorite place on earth, Lake Tahoe.  We stopped by one of the raging rivers - due to large snowfalls this year - and just outside Carson City, Don washed our car.  It needed it!
Lake Tahoe was beautiful and the weather was warm - finally.



While in Tahoe we stopped to gamble at Harvey's Casino.  When we walked out several hours later, we had added $100.00 to our vacation stash and paid all of our expenses up until that time! All-in-all a great trip to the casino!

After Tahoe, we drove to Reno, staying a LaQuinta Hotel.  Loved this place because it was clean and they were truly "dog friendly".  No extra charges and a regular room - wow!  Our previous experience with "dog friendly" hotels is we pay a fee and get the crappiest room in the inn!  Thanks LaQuinta!

After we checked in, we went to The Peppermill Casino for a great dinner and more gambling.  Not much success, but we were still ahead when we left.  I love slots and Don enjoys the poker room.

Tomorrow we head east on Hwy 80 to Linda (Don's sister) and Neil's house in Salt Lake City!