SADLY, YOU CAN'T OUTRUN YOUR PAST

When we left Delaware in October of 2017, our goal was to always stay in 70° weather. We were done with cold weather. Done with shoveling snow. Our travels would take us south when temps began to dip, and north when they became too hot. It was a fairly simple plan. This is why our travel map looks something like this:

But when we got to Utah, our plan fell to pieces! But more on this in a minute..

THIS LEG OF OUR JOURNEY:

Our next three stops took us from southern Utah, north into Idaho.

Our travel map for this leg of our journey

WE DISCOVERED THAT UTAH CAN BE A FUNNY PLACE:

It has some "unique" laws surrounding the sale of alcohol.

Here's a sign we saw on a grocery store shelf

At the time of our visit in 2019, you could only buy beer that is 3.2% or less alcohol by volume.

Up until 2002, bars were called “private clubs” and anyone who wanted to enter had to buy a membership.

Lastly, at restaurants, if you are sitting at the bar, you are required to order food with your alcoholic beverages. There is no set requirement on how much food a patron must order, so the chips and salsa always seemed quite popular.

Some of the laws may have changed since our initial visit, but we did quite a bit of "head-scratching" while there!

THE VIEWS WERE INCREDIBLE:

Wow! Such beauty. We never tired of seeing the mountains! Our first campground on this leg of our journey, was at Canyon View RV Park in Spanish Fork (about 9 miles south of Provo). It is a county park and very reasonably priced. Just don't expect much, it is just a large parking lot with FHU:

I'm not complaining. It served our purpose. We also were blessed with a friendly group of neighborly-travelers.

THE TOWN OF SPANISH FORK:

Of course we had to go exploring the nearby town. This area was originally explored by missionaries in the 1770s, but the town itself was established in 1851, by Latter-Day Saints pioneers. The name came from the nearby Spanish Fork River. We found it to be a fairly generic, mid-sized city of about 40,000 people. It was clean, easy to get around, and once again, had terrific views!

Photo courtesy of Google

If you'd like to know more about Spanish Fork check out this video.

IT ALSO HAD HOT SPRINGS!

About 30 minutes outside of town are the Fifth Water Hot Springs (so named because it is the fifth largest tributary of water along the Diamond Fork River). The trail getting to it is 2.5 miles long and was considered a moderate hike. These hot pools of water have attracted bathers for centuries.

From what I've read, it has become quite the party spot and visitors have carelessly left a disturbing amount of trash in their wake. I hope this isn't true because we found the spot lovely. Although we didn't fully immerse ourselves, it was refreshing to soak our tired feet.

ONTO SALT LAKE CITY:

Forty-five minutes north of our campground was Utah's capital. I remember reading somewhere that when the Mormon's were plotting their towns, Brigham Young required that the streets be wide enough for a horse-drawn cargo wagon to make a u-turn. This would make it more efficient for the flow of commerce. And, it was also a wonderful idea for the flow of traffic. As you can see from the picture below, the main roads are very easy to traverse.

Photo courtesy of Goodfreephotos.com

WEDDINGS GALORE??

Our first stop was at the Salt Lake City Mormon Temple. The largest (by square footage) temple in the world. This is located in the heart of the city. There are tours of the public areas of the building where very friendly tour-guides eagerly walk you through the history of the building and their faith. But most of the building is off-limits to those not "in good standing with the Church". They had an elaborate cut-away model of the temple on display.

When we first arrived at the building on a Saturday afternoon, we were puzzled to see about a dozen or so couples dressed in wedding attire.

From what we learned, the church believes that if a couple wants to be "sealed for eternity", they must marry in an official Mormon temple. At the base of this building are multiple chapels and each couple has a short amount of time to use a chapel for their official "sealing" ceremony. As one couple exits, another enters. The wedding parties are limited to a very small number of family members (as long as they are in "good-standing"). After the temple ceremony, most of the couples usually go to a much larger wedding hall, and perhaps even another secular wedding ceremony, where family and friends of any faith (or lack thereof) can attend. It was a fascinating experience.

THE CITY:

The city itself is pretty nondescript. Clean, wide streets, unexciting architecture.. almost exactly what you would expect from an industrious "nothing but the facts" type of people. Since the Mormon faith has a health code prohibiting "hot drinks", which church leaders have defined as coffee and tea, we had a heck of a time finding a coffee shop! 

If you've come this far, you might as well visit the capital of the Beehive State.

Utah was admitted to the Union in 1896 as the 45th state. It has a population of just over three million, is the 13th largest by area, the 30th most populous, and the 11th least densely populated (about half of the citizens are of the Mormon faith). There you have it, just the facts.

NORTH TO PARK CITY, UTAH:

UGH!! SNOW!! After almost two years of being winter-free, it descended on us at Park City. We spent 5 nights at Park City RV Resort and were quite pleased with the accommodations. This is the 87th campground at which we have stayed since we started this journey.

Photo courtesy of parkcity.gov

We stopped here in order to visit with the sister of our son-in-law, Ali. She moved here from New Jersey a few years ago and gave us a great tour of the city. She was a wonderful host and we had a fun time with her.

But we awoke the following day to find that Jack Frost had reared its wintry head. Something we had hoped to never see again (except on a distant mountain top) had descended upon us without warning. What a horrible sight!! After spending the morning wailing, crying and rending our garments [which ironically only made us colder], we were forced to dig out our cold weather clothing.

Like many of the towns and cities in this area, Park City was founded by Mormon pioneers. In the 1860's gold was discovered in the surrounding mountains and the mining boom attracted large crowds of prospectors. When the mines eventually closed 90 years later, the town decided to reinvent itself and took advantage of the surrounding terrain. Ski resorts began to open and outdoor enthusiasts flocked to the area. Park City is one of the few places in the country that can boast three year-round resorts within five miles of each other.

This was the major location for ski and snowboarding events at the 2002 Winter Olympics, and are expected to reprise these roles for the 2034 Winter Olympics.

If skiing or snow boarding are your thing, put Park City on your bucket list!

On a side note: we saw a funny site as we were walking around the city. We happened upon a tree with very unusual hanging fruit:

We have no idea why someone had gone through the trouble of hanging shoes from these branches, but it made for a very memorable (and puzzling) walk.

WHAT'S IT LIKE TO LIVE IN AN RV IN FRIGID TEMPERATURES?

It's COLD! Even though our rig is promoted as being built for four-seasons, we have come to discover, that means four "mild" seasons! Yes, most RV's are drafty. You can be in one spot and be toasty warm then move two feet over and and become instantly cold. We try to conserve our propane by using our electric fireplace and a few space heaters, but I must admit, there have been many nights where I have worn a hoodie to bed, with the hood pulled tightly over my head. Yeah, life is good!

If you do plan on traveling in cold weather, I would recommend purchasing two of these small 7" space heaters from Walmart. I keep one running in my basement storage area all night to keep the pipes warm and one in our bedroom. They have been lifesavers! You can click here for more information on the heater.

YOUNG LIVING LAVENDER FARM:

If you enjoy essential oils, then consider a stop here. We were out driving some of the back roads when we came across this farm. Although the manufacturing area was not open, we were allowed to tour the farm where we saw bison (or "By-sawn" as some of our friends like to call them), camels, prong horn sheep, and donkeys. It was a thrill to see bison and camels up close. Such amazing and mysterious creatures.

This concludes our time in Utah and we found it a place of unsurpassed beauty along with a very friendly population guided by an invisible hand that casts its influence into all four corners. If the Mormon lifestyle of "clean living" does not bother you, and you enjoy skiing, then orderly Utah might be a very nice place to live.

We will see you on down the road!