Salt Lake City

A pretty cool city.

Drive to SLC

We set off quite earlier in the morning since we had a 6-hour drive ahead of us. To our surprise, we had pumped up the tire a couple of days ago due to a low tire pressure warning, and it unexpectedly became a problem when we drove from a high elevation to a low elevation area. When we arrived in Salt Lake City, the tire pressure was extremely high, around 45 psi, which I believe could have been dangerous. Fortunately, we pulled over and released the pressure. Anyway, it was a fun lesson learned about cars.

Antelope Island State Park

We had one stop before actually getting into the city: Antelope Island State Park, which is located at the famous Great Salt Lake. I was really looking forward to seeing the lake because I had never seen a salt lake before. However, it wasn’t as special as I expected. To be honest, the lake smelled somewhat like a toilet, which was rather off-putting. With the high summer temperatures, the lake evaporated, emitting a distinctive smell that kept people away from the shore. Despite this, I saw a few brave souls swimming.

But we also got a chance to see a lot of bison on the island. It was interesting that bison are abundant in this greater area and you would never find them in such numbers in any other parts of the world.

Unfortunately, the weather was not perfect. It kept fluctuating between sunny and cloudy, with bouts of heavy rain. We managed to hike a little bit and made it to the peak of the island. Compared to the rest of our trip, the view was average, but still worth the visit. One thing I learned from this experience is that there’s not a significant difference between normal lakes and salt lakes.

Salt Lake City

The city, founded by Mormon pioneers, was quite interesting. I’ve always been intrigued by this somewhat mysterious religion. I only just realized that the full name is ‘The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,’ which seemed odd to me. As a Christian, I found it quite confusing to understand their practices and beliefs, which seem somewhat aligned with, but not quite the same as, traditional Christianity.

Ensign Peak

Regardless, the city was quite pleasant, though much smaller than I anticipated, especially the skyline. We visited Ensign Peak, which was a short climbing trail leading to an overlook of the entire Salt Lake City area. Once again, we weren’t blessed with the best weather, but it was still quite amazing to watch the clouds continually shift and the sunlight pierce through them.

First time seeing a double rainbow!

Utah State Capitol

This is a beautiful building with a lot of resemblance of the US capitol. It provided free inside tour by 3pm but unfortunately we were too late for that.

Departure

After dropping my friend off at the airport first, I just realized we forgot to refuel the car. So I started turning around the airport desparately trying siri to navigate me to a closest gas station. On the way, it started raining again and I see a lot of more rainbows again, which was very delightful for me.

Summary

The city, steeped in a rich history and fascinating religious heritage, is nestled amidst an abundance of national parks and natural wonders. However, when considering the city in isolation, I don’t envision myself returning for another visit.