Days 7&8: SLC & to Portland

Woke up to the neighbors chickens before dawn and feel back to sleep glad to be in a house and a bed. Really woke and headed to breakfast at Big Ed’s by the U. Interesting pub where the special apparently is a burger with a fried egg on it and if you really want to go for it add some chili. We then headed over to a couple of bookstores downtown…..had fun browsing and checking out the town. I meet up with Anna and Kim in the afternoon and enjoyed some JAMBA JUICE. Man I love that stuff! We then headed over to the radio station where Anna works.(KRCL) Pretty cool place. And then to this store called Black Chandelier (www.blackchandelier.biz/). Really unique stuff. Later we ate at The Pie (www.thepie.com). Seriously you guys have no idea —-seriously. All pizza for the rest of my life will be judged against the Pie. Went back to their place and hung out –had some laughs and crashed, meanwhile Blake spent the night with Tuck.

Next morning EARLY start. Blake took the first shift this morning—I slept through most of Idaho(not much to miss in southern Idaho anyway). We hit a bad accident outside Boise and had to use Maggie to find a back way–still lost an hour in time. Long drive and nothing much to speak of until we hit the Columbia river and followed it all the way to Portland. The river and the road wound it’s way through the mountains and then we saw Mt. Hood and knew we where almost there. This place is just too wonderful. We saw lots of wind surfers and kite boarders…looks like a blast, but hard core. Arrived at Jason’s around six and let ourselves in(Jason and Jenn are taking dance lessons). The family got home–holy crap is Sol grown. Jenn cooked us some tasty dinner and we chatted it up. We are welcoming the huge guest bed…..mmmm sleep.

Day 6: Arches to Salt Lake City

Dear God did we both need a shower!  We woke up after a hot night—-hard to sleep when you are sweating.  Got an early start and did the hike up to Landscape arch.  We took a couple of side trips over to Tunnel arch and Pine Tree arch.  We were both really too tired to do anything so it was harder than it should have been.  Left the Devil’s Garden and headed out of the park–stopped to view Delicate arch on the way out.  Got on the road to Salt Lake  and the day was already heating up.  There is not much to speak of along the drive to SLC, stopped at a truck stop town called Green River and thought of CCR.  Nothing impressive, not the food or the place,  the people all looked stuck and numb from a life probably spent dreaming of something else.  Drove a winding road to SLC and arrived in the late afternoon heat at our friend Tuckers house.  He welcomed us into a cool house with a shower and some great company.   Tuck and Blake spent the rest of our time in SLC doing the music thing,  Telesa cooked us a long awaited home cooked meal and then she and I hung while the guys had pub night. SLC seems like a pretty cool town, wish it were a little cooler.