Day 43 - 18th June 2012

                                        Photograph 1 – The 80mph I-15 near Fillmore, Utah.

                             Photograph 2 – An actual Wells Fargo coach – Salt Lake City, Utah.

                                           Photograph 3 – Main Street, Salt Lake City, Utah.

                       Photograph 4 – The Mormon Temple, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah.

                   Photograph 5 – The Tabernacle Building, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah.

                 Photograph 6 – Salt Lake City is the state capitol of Utah – looking towards State Hall.

                            Photograph 7 – Anne loves shopping at Macy’s. Salt Lake City, Utah.

We had some exciting experiences today with one annoying incidence. But first the journey from Ruby’s Inn started at 8:15am and we travelled directly north to Salt Lake City, Utah. The scenery was very similar to Australian countryside as we drove along the I-15. We arrived at our accommodation at 12:15pm and the Little American Hotel had a room for us. After we settled in and had lunch in our room and hence walked into the main centre and admired the Mormon Temple and the Tabernacle Building. We further walked around Downtown, did some shopping and returned by tram to our accommodation. Had dinner there and that’s it. Now for the bits and pieces that we experienced today:

1.       Upon checking out at Best Western Ruby’s Inn the reception lady wanted us to pay for the one night’s stay. “Hah” we said, “we pre-paid back in Oz in January”. She called us a liar (not in those words but generally speaking she did). We further added that we had the voucher and showed the girl yesterday at check-in (that girl was in ear shot of us). “We do not accept pre-paid hotel costs” was the emphatic statement from the lady who was looking after us. “Well” we said “we will show you the voucher” ….but wait…it was in the bin back in our room – Anne leaves to retrieve the important document. “Will you look at the pdf file I have on a USB” Neil asked? “You can’t come behind the counter at all” ….bugger-it, here comes a log jam! The supervisor comes out and re-asserts that the hotel does not take pre-arranged payments. “But we have a voucher” Neil said. The supervisor disappears and returns with an apology and said we are now okay to leave. Now the incident has an about face. It looked as thou young lassie who was in earshot was the girl yesterday who did not place our details on the computer that one night’s stay had been paid. Her remark “I don’t remember me serving you yesterday. Well Anne returns with the ripped voucher and hands it to them and they all looked dumbfounded. “So you don’t take pre-arranged payment heh” said Neil to the lady receptionist. Silence was the answer. All this in front of other hotel guests too. We left fuming. When we reached Salt Lake City we have emailed the management of the hotel explaining our predicament – we wonder if we will get a written apology?

2.      Now for some good stories today. We calculated that the journey today will take seven hours – it only took 4 hours. The speed limit on the I-15 was 80MPH (130klms) wow. About 50 klms out from Salt Lake City the  road became 6 lane, then 8 lane, then 12 lane and gee everybody is passing us doing more than the speed limit. Nevertheless, when our GPS told us to leave the I-15 we were in wonderland in Salt Lake City Downtown with an afternoon to tour - great. Poor Connie was put to bed on our arrival and we self toured the city. Now what can we say about Salt Lake City – it’s a fabulous place. Extremely clean, people are extremely friendly, the tram system is free within downtown, there were no religious zealots (Mormon type people) at all, no poverty (no beggars) and overall it is a great place to visit. We saw the Mormon stuff and it is a great credit to those people who built the temple and tabernacle. Once we had done the terry-tourist thing Anne wanted to shop at her Macy’s. What we discovered that clothes we chose that originally were priced at $431USD in total were discounted down to $190USD – that was between Anne and Neil’s selection. Neil bought Greg Norman shirts at $14USD each!!!! And one of Anne’s designer tops reduced down from $109USD to $17USD – what a bargain. Boy we were happy.

Tomorrow we travel to a place called Gardiner in Montana. This is on the northern aspect of Yellowstone National Park. So no more canyons but we will be on the lookout for bears and Old Faithful. If we don’t see a bear during this leg, Neil will sit in the Yellowstone campsite with a picnic basket. We will be there for two nights. Cheers.