USA, Pt. 2 - In The Middle (UT & NV)
USA Part 2: Salt Lake City (UT) to Las Vegas (NV).
Flickr Album - USA, Pt. 2
After an amazing start to our US trip, the second part of it had us, again, surrounded by friends and loved ones as we ventured west. Before making our way to the West Coast, we made a quick stop to explore a bit of Utah and Nevada.
Salt Lake City, UT
Our hosts in Salt Lake City: Layla and Preston
Once again our trip took us to a part of the world that was very much not on our radar: Salt Lake City. Thanks to a flexible itinerary and the hospitality of Fernando's long time friend Layla and her partner, Preston, we got to see a completely new side of the US.
We were invited to crash on their couch and had a fun-packed experience during our visit there: we went up to the local mountains where the Oktoberfest was on, went on a few hikes, explored the city, drove to nearby towns like Park City, and visited the Utah Olympic Oval (an amazing sport complex that hosted the 2002 Winter Olympic Games). It was Fernando's first go at ice skating and it wasn't as bad as he initially thought, having only 2x hard falls.
The mountains around Salt Lake City
The mountains around Salt Lake City
The nearby town of Park City
Ice skating at Utah Olympic Oval
When we were not out there exploring, we were busy at home enjoying the amazing facilities of Layla and Preston's building (such as gym and hot tub) or having a real American Halloween experience, carving pumpkins while watching Hotel Transylvania.
Beers in the hot tub
Pumpkin carving
Pumpkin carving
Welcome to Salt Lake City, Home of the Mormons
Mormon Temple, Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City is also home to the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (let's just say Mormons for simplicity's sake). Those who don't know much about Mormons, I'd recommend watching the South Park episode on it. It's a very good summary of what we experienced there.
I'm sure I'm about to oversimplify it, but Mormonism was founded around the 1830's in New York, by the Prophet Joseph Smith. Mormons believe that Joseph Smith experienced a series of visions involving God and Jesus Christ, and that one of these visions led him to a pair of buried golden plates. Joseph Smith then translated the content of these golden plates from Egyptian-style hieroglyphs to English, and this became what is now The Book of Mormon. Now, the part that gets to me is that no one else seems to have seen these plates other than Joseph Smith. In fact, there doesn't seem to be any hard evidence that they ever existed. They also believe that Jesus Christ, after resurrection, made his way to America. Mormons were also adept to polygamy in the early years of the religion, until the US Government banned this practice in late 1800's and, coincidently, the president of the Mormons by that time said to have had a "revelation" from God who said that polygamy was not acceptable anymore.
Anyway, Alex and I visited the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City and spent a fair amount of time at the museum and talking to one of the sisters there, to see what we could get out of that religion. We were very impressed at how strong the Mormon influence is there (about 50% of Salt Lake City's population and 62% of Utah's population is Mormon). They are present in the culture (resulting in more controlled alcohol laws), workforce, family structure and economy. Compared to other cities we visited in the US, SLC was comparatively a lot cleaner with evidently less homelessness and a better quality of living on average.
Our final take on it was that neither of us could really get behind of what the Mormons believe in, but we did appreciate the positive effects the religion had in the area, with strong family values, thriving economy and a competitive but solicitous work philosophy.
With that covered, it was time to hit the road. Lala and Preston kindly offered to drive down to Las Vegas with us, from where we could fly to Seattle much cheaper, and also check out the Zion National Park along the way. Did you say road trip, hikes and gambling?! We're in!
Zion National Park, UT
Zion National Park, UT
Zion National Park sits near the state border of Utah, Arizona and Nevada. Even though its history spans for millennia, with the first people having passed through there around 12,000 years ago, the main focus of the park is post 1860's, when the Mormons first settled there, hence the name: Zion is the utopian place where the people 'pure in heart' live, according to Mormonism.
The park is gorgeous. With its huge pink-and-red sandstone cliffs, it is quite an experience to go up the canyon and onto the many hikes it offers. We were both very surprised with the infrastructure it offers: once your park you car outside the park, you jump onto different shuttle buses that run up and down the canyon, picking you up and dropping you off at various trail heads. Following Lala and Preston's recommendation, we chose to hike the Observation Point Trail, a fairly challenging 8-mile return hike, which took us about 3h30 to complete. The good thing about it is that it takes you all the way up the canyon, offering you views above other hikes such as the famous Angel's Landing, and it's also less busy. It did not disappoint!
Zion National Park, UT
Zion National Park, UT
Zion National Park by sunset, UT
After a long day of hike and a few well-deserved beers at the local pub, it was time to go back to our hotel in Hurricane before hitting the road the next day, en route to Las Vegas.
Las Vegas, Nevada
Inside The Venetian Casino, Las Vegas
What a novelty of a place for first-timers like me (Fernando)! It's such a weird feeling to be driving down the highway, literally in the middle of the desert, and see the shiny, flashy lights of Las Vegas in the distance. Looking back now, getting there by car (as opposed to flying) was an experience in itself, as we could see the "sin oasis" slowly rise in front of our eyes.
One night in Vegas was quite enough for us. We're not much into gambling (especially living on a budget as we are), so being around to see and live the city for the night was just the right amount of time (and money draining) we could afford. Our friend Lala managed to get a decent deal, and we lived it up at the Ceasar's Palace Hotel. It is no exaggeration to say that the place is a maze. We could literally wander around the rows of hotel rooms, restaurants, casinos, sports bars, shops and food courts for hours, if we wanted - without ever going outside. It is quite simply the epitome of money and lush.
Some sections of the casinos also have a fake sky - in which is always "daylight" and sunny - so you lose sense of time altogether. It reminded me so much of that final scene of The Truman Show.
Inside The Ceasars Palace Hotel, Las Vegas
The Truman Show, for comparison purposes. Source: Mental Floss
Having said that, we did have a fun night having drinks in our room before heading out and checking out The Strip at night.
Wandering around some of the many casinos
The morning after we caught a flight to Seattle, where we'd finally settle down and spend a good chunk of time with Alex's brother John, and his girlfriend Sofia. Once again, it was time to take a break of the up-and-go pace we've been having and unpack our bags for a while.
Let's get our comfy clothes on and Netflix on TV - it's time to chill for a bit.