Yellowstone 8/8/18 (Denver to Salt Lake City)
Due to a travel gods’ conspiracy, we did not make it to Dinosaur National Monument as planned. Amtrak arrived 1.5 hours late into Denver’s Union station which has lots of great looking restaurants, but very poor signage. This caused us to wander for another 30 minutes looking for the car rental counter. A couple of calls to Hertz had us waiting for them to pick us up and then shuttle us to the rental office.
We queued up behind several other renters and waited our turn. The process took a while, as two groups were from outside the US, had multiple drivers and one needed two different types of car seats. We completed the rental process and headed out of the parking lot around 10:15, a good two hours behind the planned schedule. This late start, followed by a backup on the interstate due to construction lane restrictions, would have resulted in getting the Dinosaur without enough time to visit the quarry. It’s back on the list for a future visit to the area.
The drive to Salt Lake City was for the most part uneventful...too uneventful. If you have ever made the drive, you fully understand. If not, be forewarned - there are 160 miles of nothingness. No gas stations, no fast food restaurants, not even any billboards...oh - and little to no cell service. We were very glad we spent the $4 for the Satellite Radio.
After turning off I-70 onto US-6, we began to notice a haze in the air. After a few miles it began to get thicker and we noticed a burning smell. It turns out that Utah, like California, is having a significant number of forest fires and most, unfortunately, appear to have been started by humans. About 100 miles south of Salt Lake City, a sign warned of a fire about 45 miles ahead and advised motorists not to report.
As we got closer to the fire, you could see the smoke rising from specific spots on the backside of the mountains. Around the next curve, we could see actual flames on the mountainside. We pulled over to get out our cameras and noticed a helicopter. As we re-entered the flow of traffic, we noticed a second helicopter. We passed a field that held several large inflatable holding tanks and observed the helicopters hover and fill their large water buckets and then head back up the mountain. Soon after, several airplanes approached the burn area and dropped what appeared to be flame retardant. A nearby parking lot was being used to stage firefighters and other equipment. Just before reaching the fire area, the car thermometer registered 103 degrees; can’t imagine working outside, let alone fighting a forest fire.
Hoping the traffic heading into downtown Salt Lake City would clear, we stopped for dinner at Strap Tank Brewing Company in Springville, UT. Utah has very strange liquor laws. They can only serve 3.2% (4% by volume) beer on draft and you can only have two beers in front of you at a time...so if you order a 4 beer sampler, they bring them two at a time. The dinner stop had the desired effect on traffic and we sailed into downtown and our hotel, arriving around 8pm. Fifteen minutes later we were in our room and changed into our PJs!
Pictures 8/8/18
We queued up behind several other renters and waited our turn. The process took a while, as two groups were from outside the US, had multiple drivers and one needed two different types of car seats. We completed the rental process and headed out of the parking lot around 10:15, a good two hours behind the planned schedule. This late start, followed by a backup on the interstate due to construction lane restrictions, would have resulted in getting the Dinosaur without enough time to visit the quarry. It’s back on the list for a future visit to the area.
The drive to Salt Lake City was for the most part uneventful...too uneventful. If you have ever made the drive, you fully understand. If not, be forewarned - there are 160 miles of nothingness. No gas stations, no fast food restaurants, not even any billboards...oh - and little to no cell service. We were very glad we spent the $4 for the Satellite Radio.
After turning off I-70 onto US-6, we began to notice a haze in the air. After a few miles it began to get thicker and we noticed a burning smell. It turns out that Utah, like California, is having a significant number of forest fires and most, unfortunately, appear to have been started by humans. About 100 miles south of Salt Lake City, a sign warned of a fire about 45 miles ahead and advised motorists not to report.
As we got closer to the fire, you could see the smoke rising from specific spots on the backside of the mountains. Around the next curve, we could see actual flames on the mountainside. We pulled over to get out our cameras and noticed a helicopter. As we re-entered the flow of traffic, we noticed a second helicopter. We passed a field that held several large inflatable holding tanks and observed the helicopters hover and fill their large water buckets and then head back up the mountain. Soon after, several airplanes approached the burn area and dropped what appeared to be flame retardant. A nearby parking lot was being used to stage firefighters and other equipment. Just before reaching the fire area, the car thermometer registered 103 degrees; can’t imagine working outside, let alone fighting a forest fire.
Hoping the traffic heading into downtown Salt Lake City would clear, we stopped for dinner at Strap Tank Brewing Company in Springville, UT. Utah has very strange liquor laws. They can only serve 3.2% (4% by volume) beer on draft and you can only have two beers in front of you at a time...so if you order a 4 beer sampler, they bring them two at a time. The dinner stop had the desired effect on traffic and we sailed into downtown and our hotel, arriving around 8pm. Fifteen minutes later we were in our room and changed into our PJs!
Pictures 8/8/18
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