Road Trip Baby!

Life on the road isn’t always on the road. Sometimes you stay for days in one place and other times you hit a town a night and keep moving.

Jesse and I have been “on the road” for a little over a week. We left Missoula on Sunday April 15^th. We got a late start because we wanted to leave the house nice and clean before we left and we were slow in our packing process. Luckily we were not on much of a hurry. We just wanted to get to Salt Lake before it got too late and not during rush hour. Fortunately, we timed it pretty perfectly. We arrived in Salt Lake a little later than expected, but that was all right. We crashed with some of Jesse’s friends from college, Chase and Alli, who were extremely generous and so much fun for me to meet. I will be excited to see them again.

On our first day in Salt Lake after the drive, Jesse and I took a stroll down to the Mormon Temple in downtown and took some photos of whatever caught our eye. There are so many words to describe the temple, the gardens, the new Walking-Mall in downtown Salt Lake, but I think the word that best describes it, for me, is: encompassing. The attention that goes into every detail of the downtown and every part of the cultural experience of Salt Lake is obvious. Mormon and non both assert their presence in bold ways, bringing a distinct taste to the city.

We also drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon and bouldered for a bit that evening. That was my first time bouldering outside this season and, Man, my fingers were pink by the end of our climbing session. Jesse got some fun shots of Chase and his other good friend Jared pulling hard on granite.

That night we had dinner with Jared and his girlfriend Kelsey, who are both finishing up school in Salt Lake. Kelsey made a delicious Thai Peanut Noodle dish made from all gluten free ingredients. They gave us the insider’s scoop on life in Salt Lake in comparison to Missoula.

It was really fun to get the non-Mormon perspective on Salt Lake and then get the Mormon perspective the next day from my cousins in Provo. We had dinner with my cousin Scott and his wife Josie at a new Thai restaurant (Ha! That’s really funny; I didn’t realize until just now that we had Thai two nights in a row!) This was the first time they had met Jesse and Jesse’s first time meeting any of my extended family. Personally, I think it went really well. ;)

Over all, Salt Lake and the surrounding area was great. Jesse and I got to spend time with all generous and kind people who we will definitely see again!