Road trip update 2: Utah!

It seems like everyone's excited about Utah here. Every time I see the state's name it's Utah! with an exclamation point.

After a long drive of nothing from Ely to Salt Lake City, I settled into my hotel, which happened to be literally next to the Mormon Tabernacle. I didn't stop for lunch anywhere (because there was nowhere to stop...), so I went to explore the Gateway Mall down the street, which was pretty nice. It's an odd testament to Utah culture that there's an outdoor strip mall that's actually enclosed in a way. Sort of like Santana Row, only without a road driving through the middle.

One thing I noticed about Salt Lake City is that land must be cheap there, because they have ridiculously wide roads downtown, and parking lot sizes that would make city planners in the Bay Area groan. Another thing I felt strange about in SLC is that the Mormons really did influence a lot of things in the city. I felt a weird twinge when I learned they sponsor pretty much everything touristy in the city. Is this how other people feel when they see that Christians sponsored some sort of event? Is it bad when we tack our names onto things? I think maybe we should work on being a bit more transparent if the reason we tack our names onto things is to show how generous we are.

I wasn't feeling terribly well so I took a nap and had dinner at the hotel. Kind of sad for a day of exploring for an adventurous road trip. But I have to admit, Salt Lake City didn't interest me a ton.

The next day I took a drive through the Wasatch national forest to go for a hike, but it was next to freezing where the trails were (at ski resorts...go figure) and I wasn't prepared/dressed for that, so I just drove around admiring the beauty. Then I took a trip to Park City and hung out downtown for a bit. It's a pretty cool downtown area, with a real focus on art. I'd highly suggest it as a tourist destination. It looked like you could take a ski lift to some trails or something, but my meter was running and if I had done that I wouldn't have been back in time for dinner.

I had dinner at the Red Rock Brewing Company which I am now a huge fan of. They had a very unique amber ale.

I took off at around 9 for Moab, which was a very beautiful drive through the countryside, although there was some construction going on that frustrated my drive a bit. When I got to Moab I immediately got lunch at the Moab Brewery, which has fantastic burgers and beer. I hope to have another lunch there tomorrow. I then got myself on a Hummer off-roading tour, which was pretty bumpy but fun. I took some pictures of the beautiful Moab desert. Tomorrow morning I'm going river rafting on the Colorado River. Awesome. I tried to book a rappelling trip, but they require two people or more to go on the trip, and the season is dying down a bit.

Tomorrow I'm off to Denver!

P.S.
I apologize for not being more reflective in my updates. Other than the physical location updates, I'm mostly throwing forward random thoughts that pop into my head, rather than the deep, personal stuff I'm thinking of. Rest assured, I'm writing a lot, trying to think about my life and where God's taking it, but that's very personal to me right now and I'm just going to keep it to myself until I have more time to mull over it. One thing I will say is that I'm really enjoying the book "Finding the Will of God: A Pagan Notion?" by Bruce Waltke. It's really helping me desire a closer relationship with God.