Salt Lake City

Good day from Salt Lake City!









This is the Grand America Hotel. I'm staying in the penthouse suite.



Just kidding. We're in a hostel down the street.



This is the Delta Center, an indoor multi-sports stadium in downtown SLC. At the recommendation of several Utahns, Sarah and I are going to a basketball game between the Utah Jazz and the Memphis somethings (i can't remember) tomorrow night. I'm not much of a sports fan, but I figured its a cultural experience i should do at least once! And tickets are only $10.



This is a 'Trax' light rail train. In the subburbs they work just like the TranzMetro trains in Wellington, and one of the lines goes quite far out into the 'burbs. When the trains reach the downtown area they become like trams, with the tracks in the middle of the street and stopping at traffic lights with all the other traffic.
The system works really well and the trains run every 5 - 10 minutes, so you're never waiting long. Need more tracks to go in more directions though, becuase this city is hard to explore on foot! And i have sore legs from walking so far!


The Union Pacific station. When I was walking miles away trying to find the Greyhound terminal (which took me 2 hours!) i saw a Union Pacific freight train. It was HUGE! It must have been about 10 city blocks long and double stacked with freight carriages.




Well only two more nights in SLC. Might go to a movie tonight, and have the basketball tomorrow. I was thinking about renting a car because my legs are so sore (i think i strained my knee! is that possible?) But it was gonna cost like $100 and i would have had to return it before 4pm tomorrow... Earlier in the Salt Lake City leg of the trip I had ideas to drive either to the Canyonlands National Park in south Utah, or to Las Vegas. Both of these ideas were shot down when i looked at a map and realized how big this country is, and how long it would take me to drive there (about 9 hours to Vegas) - i thought it was just down the road!

Email: cjbeggs@hotmail.com