Chapter 11: Salt Lake City and the Canyon
Sid and Cassie's arrival in Salt Lake City was expected, but the manager of the hotel was quite surprised to see them so early in the afternoon. They had had good fortune in getting a ride down from Pocatello, and the journey had taken just over two hours. Even with a break for lunch, it was still only mid-afternoon when they arrived at the hotel. As on previous occasions, they were asked about their previous hotel and restaurant experience around the country, and were asked to give references from some of the places they had worked before Casper. When he heard from the managers in Orlando and Houston, they were taken on without any further questions. They were settled for the next few weeks. They were given their rotas and could now plan their leisure activities for the period they would be working in Salt Lake City.
Since it was late Summer, the weather was hot, and for the most part, sunny. Their accommodation, as before was in the basement, but fortunately, the air conditioning was working. The down side to this was that they would be totally unaware of the weather outside until they emerged onto the ground floor. The good thing was that there was little to disturb their sleep.
Sid and Cassie spent the first afternoon and evening checking how much co-incident time off they were going to have during their stay there. Although each of them had days off, not many of them coincided. Obviously, once they had bedded in after the first few days, they could arrange to, swap shifts with other members of staff. The other factor governing their planning was that there didn't, at least on the surface, seem quite so much to see as on some of their earlier work stays. Obviously, one of the buildings to be seen was the Mormon tabernacle, and they would, if possible, try to hear a concert by the World-famous choir associated with it.
While they were there, they did manage to see the Bonneville Salt Flats on which many land speed records were achieved. On one evening out, they engaged another British couple in conversation. This couple said they were going to spend a day at a German style beer festival held at a nearby ski resort. Sid showed some interest, but Cassie was slightly less than enthusiastic. The other British couple asked them if they would like to come. Somewhat reluctantly, Cassie agreed, because she realised that Sid was all for it. So, on their one occasion when they had two days free, they travelled to Snowbird Canyon with the other couple. Sid was surprised at the title of the festival: 'Snowbird Oktoberfest', since it was still only late August. He noted that the similarly titled festival in Germany didn't begin until late September, and only lasted two weeks. However, this one did go on for two months, from mid-August to mid-October, and provided the ski resort with some much-needed custom after the main Summer peak, and before the snow started falling. Also, Sid felt, it was a chance to enjoy the atmosphere of a German beer festival in a place where everyone, well almost everyone, spoke English. Despite her doubts, Cassie did enjoy the afternoon she spent at Snowbird, and neither of them got too drunk. While they were working at Salt Lake City, Sid and Cassie managed to attend a concert by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and two organ recitals.
They also had to think about their next move, which was intended to include a visit to both sides of the Grand Canyon. On the way there, Sid noted that Bryce Canyon was not too far out of the way. Once they had decided on their date of departure from Salt Lake City, Sid could reserve rooms in the National Park hotels at Bryce Canyon and on both rims of the Grand Canyon. Sid checked his map. He assessed that, once they got a ride, it would take four hours to reach Cedar City, their most likely point for changing rides. They would probably have to spend a night there, while they found someone willing to take them the relatively short distance to Bryce Canyon. In reserving the hotel rooms, he had taken into account that the journey from Salt Lake City to Bryce Canyon would probably take two days.
The journey to Cedar City was pleasant and reasonably uneventful. Their driver, who was taking some building materials from somewhere up North to, ultimately, Los Angeles was a bit more talkative than some of the drivers on their previous rides. He was also full of questions about England, and how a lovely young couple from there found themselves roaming around America. Like the earlier drivers, he found the story of Sid crossing the ocean to find his Cassie very touching.
"You two must really be in love." he commented.
In the evening the couple arrived at Cedar City and found a room for the night. After they had made themselves at home, they went out for a meal and an evening drink. As they walked across the parking lot to the adjacent diner, Sid noticed something familiar about one of the cars parked there.
"Haven't we seen that car somewhere before?" he asked.
"I think we have." said Cassie, "Isn't that the one we were in through Yellowstone?"
Their question was soon answered. As they entered the diner, the other British couple they'd met in Casper had also just arrived and were just ahead of them in the queue for a table.
"Could you make that a table for four?" asked David as one of the waiters approached.
"Okay! That's fine." said the waiter, I'll see what I can do."
He returned almost immediately, and showed all four of them to a table. They settled down and perused the menus. They discussed their adventures during the previous few weeks over a meal and the drinks afterwards.
"Hello you two." said Sid, "Where have you been travelling while we've been working?"
"We did make it to the West Coast." said David, "We saw a couple more old volcanoes, Crater Lake and Mount Lassen, before going to Yosemite National Park and Los Angeles."
David filled in a few more details about their travels in Oregon and California including their days riding the coasters in four of the theme parks in the Los Angeles area. Cassie was fascinated by David's description of the big redwood trees in Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks. Sid reminded her that there was a cross section from one of these trees in the Natural History Museum in London.
David and Caroline were spending one night at Cedar City before visiting Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon on their way back to Denver. They had visited Zion National Park the previous day after spending a short time, and losing some money, in Las Vegas.
Sid and Cassie told the other couple about their ideas for the next few days. David offered them a ride as far as the Grand Canyon Village on the South rim.
"That's so kind of you." said Cassie, "We'd love to come, if you can put up with us for the next few days."
"Of course we can!" said David, "We'd welcome some company. Anyway, what did you two get up to in 'Mormon Central'?"
Sid outlined the activities they had enjoyed in Salt Lake City, not forgetting the cultural events and the German style beer festival.
"That's something we wouldn't have expected there, of all places." said David, when told about the beer festival. "Perhaps we'll go to the real thing in Munich sometime."
After a convivial evening spent comparing notes on their recent activities, the two couples took to their bedrooms. When they had walked across the parking lot, they realised they were in adjacent rooms. They agreed on a waking time, and that whoever was up and dressed first would wake the other couple if necessary. Now that their travel plans for the next five days were settled, Sid could relax and not think about the immediate future too much.
The following morning, it was Cassie who was up and about first. She knocked on the adjacent bedroom door, and got a "We're almost ready." In reply. In the bright morning sunshine, they strolled across to the diner for breakfast. Since, for Sid and Cassie, the previous morning's breakfast had been, to say the least, a sketchy affair, they both indulged in hearty American meals, with pancakes and maple syrup with omelettes. David and Caroline had similar meals as their breakfast immediately before their visit to Zion National Park had also been a light one. Fully satisfied, all four stowed their luggage, climbed into the car and started out on the morning's drive to Bryce Canyon National Park. On the way there, they encountered a hill which caused David to wish he'd chosen a manual car. The auto transmission hunted a couple of times between two of its ratios before he forced it into the lower one.
They arrived at the hotel at lunchtime, and were able to check in. Once their bags were in the bedrooms, they could have a light lunch, and set out to see the park. Cassie was amazed by all the sharp pinnacles, some of which had chunks of hard, dark grey rock on top of them. Once they were satisfied with this view, they set out for the Southern end of the park, where they were able to look down the 'staircase'; three enormous shelves of rock, leading to the North rim of the Grand Canyon. Their lungs were, by this time completely accustomed to the reduced amount of oxygen in the air at this high altitude.
Having made the most of Bryce Canyon during the afternoon, they returned to the hotel and its associated diner for the evening. Over drinks after dinner, they discussed what they had seen during the day, and their separate future plans.
"Where are you two going after the Grand Canyon?" asked David.
"We plan to spend a couple of days in Flagstaff." said Sid, "After that we're quite flexible."
"What is there to detain you in Flagstaff?" asked David.
"In short, two astronomical features." said Sid. "There's the Lowell observatory, and the Barringer meteor crater. We might even try to look for work in Flagstaff."
"I've heard about the meteor crater," said David, "But I was never sure where it was."
"It's about thirty-seven miles outside Flagstaff." said Sid, "It's where a large meteorite hit the earth about fifty thousand years ago. It's about three quarters of a mile wide and over a thousand feet deep. It's been preserved because the area has been either covered in ice or desert for most of the time since the impact."
"What's special about the Lowell Observatory?" asked Caroline.
"It's the place where the planet Neptune was discovered." said Sid, "The telescope used in that discovery is still there, and there is a scale model of the solar system in the grounds."
David and Caroline had a brief discussion about their plans after the Grand Canyon, and decided that they had a couple of days spare before their flight home, which would otherwise have been spent revisiting some of the attractions in metropolitan Denver.
"Would you like it if we tagged along with you to Flagstaff?" asked David.
"We would." said Cassie, "Because that works to both our benefits. You'd get to see these additional attractions, and we would get transport too the crater."
"That's settled then," said David, "We'll all book two nights in Flagstaff. After that, we'll set off towards Southern Utah and the various parks there, and you two can either look for work or set off towards the West Coast."
"That seems fair." said Sid, "We haven't decided finally where we're going afterwards. We'll either go West to Las Vegas and Los Angeles, or South to Phoenix, and San Diego."
"If it helps you to decide," said David, "I'm told that San Diego Zoo is well worth a visit. There's also a 'Sea World' there. It's also a major US naval base."
"I think that decides it." said Sid, "After Flagstaff, we'll be going to Phoenix. Is that okay with you, Cass?"
"If that's what you want, Sidney." said Cassie, with a slight hint of ennui in her voice, "I think it's time we found our beds,"
With this, the two couples headed for bed, and looked forward to a relaxing night, before taking one last, early morning, look at Bryce. Then they would then embark on the long drive to the North rim of the Grand Canyon.
The next day dawned cloudless, with one of the deepest blue skies Cassie had ever seen. They drove to the point where all the stone pillars so characteristic of Bryce Canyon could be seen, photographed the morning view, then set out Southwards. As they headed West out of the National Park towards the main highway, a small white cloud materialised in the Western sky. At the time, they didn't think a lot about it, but it presaged a day of less settled weather than they had enjoyed for the last few days. As they drove towards their next overnight stop, it was clear that cloud was building up and rain was possible. As they were driving along the highway towards the North Rim hotel, they were trying to outpace a thunderstorm. They were just able to check in and get to their rooms when the rain and hail started.
Fortunately, the storm only lasted about three quarters of an hour. It was still early afternoon when they were able to drive round to one or two of the viewpoints on the North Rim. As they looked across the canyon, they could see 'their' storm, and its associated cumulonimbus cloud retreating Southwards on the light Northerly wind. Now that the storm had passed, it appeared that the weather was going to be set fair for the rest of the day.
The four people spent some time appreciating the view, before driving to another viewpoint, where there was a triangular hole through a rock promontory. By this time, the sun was sinking lower in the Western sky, so they returned to the North Rim hotel for dinner, and a few drinks. Later in the evening, they found a spot where there were no lights and looked up at the now clear night sky. It was now time for bed.