10/16-10/09 Salt Lake City, UT

Well, of course the rain followed me to SLC.  Thankfully, it was misty rain.  Anyway.  The thing that got me excited for the trip was seeing snow on mountains for the first time.

Trust me, Utah.  I do it all the time.  Mini-naps!

I arrived at the Avenues Hostel sometime around 5.  The front desk guy was nice, but I could tell this was going to be a different hostel experience.  I didn't see anyone my age really.  The ladies upstairs were 40+.  It was kind of hard to tell their ages, but they were older.  I started thinking I might actually be at a half-way house.  I decided to take a nap before venturing out for a bit.  I went to a few different stores mainly looking for a warm hat.  While out, I saw this brightly lit building and it was beautiful.  I figured out what it was and went to check it out.

Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Temple 

All I could think about was South Park...dumbdumbdumbdumbdumb.

Model of what the Temple looks like inside.

After walking around Temple Square, I went into the Temple visitor's center.  This girl in her early 20's saw me looking at the Temple model and started talking to me.  She was a really sweet girl and very passionate about her beliefs but I couldn't help but think she might be a little extreme.  We ended up talking for what seemed like nearly an hour and me leaving so that I could go buy The Book of Mormon, which I ended up not getting.  I went back to the hostel and one of the ladies that lives/works there got me a blanket so I wouldn't have to pay for one.  I was glad because it was COLD!

Saturday I got up and made a list of the things I wanted to do for the day and one of the men there saw it and started telling me all about the list.  I ended up going to Bingham Canyon Copper Mine.  It is the deepest open-pit mine and can be seen from space.  Honestly, I was slightly disappointed I went all the way out there and had to scrounge around for money (change!) to enter since they didn't take credit cards.  I think it would have been cool to take a kid (my boy, Ayden) so they could see all the dump trucks and hauling equipment.

So deep that it has a little lake

The tire went on an actual truck.

I left there pretty quick and started on my journey to Snowbird.  I was a nervous wreck driving up that curvy, snow covered mountain.  I drove 35 MPH max and *this* close to throwing up.  I was too scared to park for a while, but finally found somewhere that looked clear enough.  Much to my surprise, when I stepped on the snow on the parking lot it just....squished!  Arkansas doesn't get snow as much as it gets ice during the winter months, so obviously I have very little experience with it!  I would've liked to do some kind of outdoor activity in the snow, but after tracking around for a bit my shoes started to get wet. I don't mind being cold, but went and cold?  No, thanks.

My first snowball...kinda weak huh?

See?  The parking lot wasn't that bad.

I went back to the hostel for a little bit to eat then I headed to the Capitol.  The sun was setting and the sky was beautiful.

The left one is creepy looking and the right one is looking cool with sunglasses.

Pretty right? 

I went back to Temple Square to see Christus.

Sunday I went out to Salt Lake before heading to Moab.  It was pretty and I got to see real, live bison!

I nearly lost it when I saw the bison! 

This was taken through a telescope.

I wanted to see horses, so...I just followed the smell.  You know what I'm sayin. 

Record player with my name on it ;)

This is where I slept for the night...jokes.

This one was closer! 

Look at his cute freakin' face!  :D

Well...here it is.  The Salt Lake.  By the way, it's smelly.

I LOVE windmills!

Salt Lake City would've been a bit more fun if I had been in a better hostel or met some people to hang out with.  It is a very well laid out city, but the street names are confusing!  Anyway, would I go back?  Maybe, but I wouldn't say it's on the top of my list of places to revisit.

Moab, here I come!  :)