Do People Actually Live in Utah?

Waking up in Grand Junction, CO we were surprised that there was still a tiny bit of frost on the windows of the car. To no avail, we cannot escape the cold weather yet but it has helped us sleep peacefully knowing others cannot peak into our windows. Skipping breakfast, we hit the road heading to Utah with the goal of getting to Las Vegas that evening. Crossing the Utah border before the sun peaked over the mountains, we stopped at the first rest stop to survey the area. The terrain looks like the terrain from the cowboy movies, what you picture horseback riding to look like in the west and settings for old western towns. The landscape was so different that Colorado and the ground was instantly dry, sandy and hardly holds vegetation. Yes, personal hygiene is important and you can see Chad brushing his teeth as the sun peaks over the distant mountains from Colorado. Chad keeps reminding me that snakes are everywhere, especially in the west. Can you tell he is not a big fan of snakes? We did see a rabbit but other than that, no wildlife to be seen. If we had a spotting scope, we could see for miles. Chad is still pretty salty about not having this device. This day was filled with traveling through rock formations that have been sliced to allow a highway to pass through them and viewing the endless terrain that seems inhabitable from my perspective. Why would anyone want to live in Utah? We never saw any houses or small towns until we were more than half way across the state. Even then the towns were small, sketchy and were places we didn’t want to stay long. Whoever owned the gas stations out here were for sure making a ton of money because their stops would be the only ones for hundreds of miles. We stopped occasionally at rest stops to get out and explore the terrain. In one particular location we stopped right before a large range of rock. We later found out it used to be a reef back when there was a large lake covering the west half of the U.S. millions of years ago. We wondered around and I was able to spot fossils everywhere of where used to be coral, cracked mud and a few rocks that had the ribs of fish imprinted on them. We used this time to stretch our legs, wander and hike on our own. There is never alone time when traveling in a car or sleeping in the same area and it was nice to have the peace. We met each other on a rock ledge where I found a rock shaped like a heart. I gave this to Chad and laughed. He frowned, looked around and presented me with a rock that looked like a slice of pie. Apparently Chad has given me a symbol of his stomach and we laughed, chucking the rocks down the steep hill we rested on. Hours later, we started to see more small towns proving that people do actually live in Utah. The west side of the state was heavily populated with small (I mean super small) towns dotted along the highway. We headed south toward Zion Nation Park and meant to catch a glimpse of the rock formations before the sun went down. Chad finally killed the car inside the national park and I sure made a big deal about it. Jimmy Johns also makes for great comfort food for Chad. We went for a hike at the very top of a large rock formation that over looked a part of the large red mountain range to the east. The trail was only a mile long to the point but we had chosen the wrong kinds of shoes to climb the mudding red hiking trail. I in the cowgirl boots and Chad is his worn hiking boots had as much traction as a slippery seal. Let’s not fall off the rocky hill, ok? The sun went down quickly and we departed to St. George for dinner. We found a more authentic restaurant and ate the first real large meal of the day. Did you know that Utah doesn’t allow drinks to be made in front of the guests and they need to be prepared in a back room out of sight? They also have to get special licenses for dancing at large gatherings (depending on the location). Does Footloose ring a bell? Our waiter laughed and told us that not that far away was the town where that story came from. Needing some Wi-Fi, we made our way to a café and I set to work on blogs and Chad to research hotels in Las Vegas. We never planned to hit this city but we found ourselves only a few hours away. Might as well stay in a hotel, see the strip and head out to the Grand Canyon. We made it down into the valley that houses Las Vegas and I made a sarcastic comment about the Trump Tower to our left as we coasted in. Come to find out, our Treasure Island room over looks where we have come in as well as a direct view of the Trump Tower.

The city was alive and buzzing but we were tired. A shower and an actual bed was a warm welcome at the end of the day.