Richard's Travels: Salt Lake City

6-2-2015

We left Eureka at 7:00 AM and arrived at the Thunderbird motel in Elko, Nevada at 7:00 PM.

This was a long driving day. We drove almost 700 miles.

Doris wanted her traditional Basque dinner at the Star Hotel in Elko. I would prefer to stop earlier, but you cannot change tradition.

The dinner is very good and the portions are very large. They bring out a large bowl of soup and a basket of bread, then comes a large bowl of salad. It is impossible to eat all of it.

The main dish consists of meat, in my case backed lamb, and Doris had her favorite steak. The steak covered the whole plate. The side dishes are spaghetti with a sauce, a large bowl of French fries, baked beans and green beans.

We took back to the motel three containers with food.

6-3-2015

We arrived at the Little America Hotel in Down Town Salt Lake City, Utah at 3:30 PM. It is a large hotel with motel accommodations.

Since we have a car we are staying in one of the smaller buildings.

The room is very large but at the desk is only one chair. There are two large, fancy chairs in the room but they are not suitable for using at a desk.

Since we have a lot of leftovers we needed a microwave oven.

Doris called to get a chair and microwave oven. She had no luck. Later we got a call from the hotel welcoming us and asking how we enjoy the hotel. I told them about our shortcomings. The lady told me she would call the house keeping department and have them bring us the items.

A few minutes later the house keeping department called and told me that they have no chairs. They sold their extra chairs and since they are filled up they cannot bring us a chair from another room.

They brought us a microwave oven which cost us $ 15.00 for our five day stay.

This is a very expensive hotel. We had better Internet service and a microwave oven and a refrigerator at the Thunderbird Motel in Elko and for about half the price.

After getting our belongings set up in the room we went for a small walk to Washington Square where the Gay Pride Fest will start tomorrow. Workmen were setting up small shelters.

The old Courthouse is a beautiful building.

Doris called her sister Helen who lives in Salt Lake City. She arranged to bring our leftover food to her house and heat it up there. It was enough food for the four of us. Now we have a microwave oven we do not need.

We spent the evening with Helen and her husband Bill. Bill was a woodworking instructor at a junior college and he made some beautiful furniture. I was impressed.

6-4-2015

This morning we walked to a neighborhood restaurant for breakfast. After breakfast we walked for several blocks. Doris lived in Salt Lake City and wanted to check out things. She was also looking for a Starbucks restaurant to get a latte. She had no luck.

Early afternoon we went to the swimming pool where I swam laps and Doris got some sun.
There is not much sun. The temperature is perfect.

When we came back to the room I meet the housekeeping supervisor who was checking rooms. I told her about the chair. Fifteen minutes later we had a chair.

We spent some time looking for Doris’s watch. She had taken it off before we went to the swimming pool and forgot where she put it. We could not find it.

Later in the afternoon Doris’s daughter, husband and eight year old son arrived. They came from Brooklyn, New York.

They are here to visit their daughter who goes to school here. Doris timed our Utah trip so we can spend some time with them. Their room is next to ours.

The six of us went to Himalayan Kitchen, a Nepali and Indian restaurant. The food was very good and the service outstanding. I had Dal Chicken, it cleared out my sinuses. Next time I will order it less spicy.

6-5-2015

The five of us had breakfast at the hotel and then walked to the large theater where Lola’s school had a meeting with the parents of the girls who attend the school. Doris and I were invited to participate. Parents came from all parts of the country.

Lucca joined his sister for counseling.

First we listened to parents telling how much progress their daughters made since attending this Institution. Some of the girls had been so depressed that they refused leaving the house. They stayed in a dark room and refused to come out. We listened to some heartbreaking stories.

Then we attended a lecture about depression and anxiety. This was eye opening. I am very fortunate that we had very few problems raising Claudia. I can see now the mistakes we made but everything turned out fine.

One mother mentioned that one of her twins is at the school. The other girl is at home and has no problems. The mother wanted to know why. She treats both girls the same way. The psychologist asked her whether she recognizes the girls apart. She answered with yes. He told her that there are differences in twins.

After the meeting we went for lunch and then Lucca came home with us and Lola and her parents went to meetings with counselors.

In the afternoon we took Lucca to Doris’s sister and Lucca and I went swimming in the swimming pool. Actually Lucca and Helen’s granddaughter were shooting at each other with water guns Doris had bought at the Dollar Store.

In the evening the six of us went to a fancy Italian restaurant. Lola was allowed to stay with the family for the night.

From the restaurant we went to an Italian ice cream store. I had eaten too much of the delicious bread and the dessert and was smart enough to pass up the ice cream. Doris let me taste hers.
Those three cuties were inside the ice cream store. Looking at the little boy's mouth he had his sweets already. We were sitting outside.

6-6-2015

Lana and Jay and their daughter Lola left after breakfast for more sessions at Lola’s school. Lucca spent the day with us.

We went to Utah’s Hogle Zoo. There we met Doris’s sister Helen and her grandchildren Claire and Will.

Helen has a yearly pass and was able to get us free admission.

We started with a train ride through part of the zoo.

We came by an old village and a tipi.

Throughout the zoo are noise making and moving dinosaurs. Even their eyes move.

At the elephant exhibit is a large metal elephant. Children seem to enjoy climbing on the trunk.

Lucca enjoyed being sprayed with water by one of the dinosaurs.

After we left the gorilla house, Will, Claire and Lucca compare their body size with that of a gorilla.

There was a big bird show. We could see part of it from top of the hill.

The dinosaurs are a large attraction for children.

The rhinos, like so many large animals were sleeping.

We all rode on the carousel.

Eating ice cream seems to be part of the zoo experience.

I like this beautiful red bird.

There were four monkeys sitting together and three of them had their tails braided together.

This animal looked like a big rat.

Claire and Lucca are in front of a giant dinosaur again.

It looked like it would rain any minute, but we were lucky and it stayed dry.

When we came back to the hotel, Lola, Lana and Jay were back too. They came to our room and Lola and Lucca tried to find out who is the strongest.

We had dinner at Ruth’s Dinner, up Emigration Canyon Road. The setting was beautiful. Our table was next to a rushing creek.

The food came and so came the first drops of water. I was able to finish my meal.

When it got worse we moved inside to the railroad car. The rain could not hamper our wonderful experience.

6-7-2015

This was a big family reunion day. Doris dropped me off at Liberty Park at 10:30 AM and went to buy chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and coleslaw. Liberty Park is a giant park with playgrounds, tennis courts and other recreational facilities.

I put up the table cloths on three big tables. Then I made sure nobody else claimed the tables. Doris, Helen and Bill came back later and we set up the tables with the food. Helen brought all the drinks, desserts, chips and salsa.

At 1:00 PM the first family members arrived.