Salt Lake City - A weird but special week

As we got the tip "Antelope Island" from our Dutch friends from Rotterdam we drove all the way up to Antelope Island to go hiking and spot more wildlife. We booked 2 nights at a wild camping and were full of enthusiasm until we drove through the park gate.

Antelope Island

We have been told that it is beautiful there and that the views and nature are just spectacular. Well, when we arrived the weather was a bit misty so you could not see very far and everything looked so dry!

After finding our camping spot in "the desert" we drove around on the island (not too sure whether to leave immediately or give it a try and stay at least one night). We did not see that much wildlife except for bisons and some deer.

What was fascinating were the thousands flies that live on the surface of the salt lake. They attract all kinds of birds so if you are bird lover this would be heaven for you...When you walk down to the shore on the beach all those flies move away from you in sworms. It is a bit groce but fascinating.

We decided to stay one night and walked up to the shower place to get some potable water where we met an elderly man. He explained something about the drinking water to us (he was a worker there) and as soon as he heard that we did not really know what to do the next days he asked us to accompany him to his truck to show us a map. He spent half an hour explaining to us what the nicest spots are in Utah and where we should head next: Alta.

This conversation was one of the weirdest I have ever had, as I had the feeling that I know that guy from the past. I knew his eyes from somewhere. I know it sounds crazy but I even got emotional afterwards. Someone is watching us.

We spent the night at the camping almost all by ourselves which we loved. There was a special atmosphere at that place.

How Amy broke down

As that guy told us to go up the mountain Alta by Salt Lake City, we did. We drove all the way up the mountain and enjoyed the rocks, rivers, trees and flowers that we saw on our long way up.

As soon as we arrived on the camping right on the top of the mountain (where the last parking spaces are), I was even able to arrange one spot for the night (even though the campground was full)...when we saw that Amy was leaking something. And it was not water but looked brown: Oil, we thought!

The campground owner obviously was not very happy with the car leaking but neither were we, so we stepped back into Amy and drove downhill again. I was desperatly looking for the closest garage (long live Google) as there was a chance that we might blow up the engine or something. On our way down, the breaks suddenly failed as well! There was a short moment of panic in the car ;). While using the handbrakes Rick could finally stop Amy along the road. Pfffiuuuu.

A friendly bypassing pedestrian, whom we quickly asked if he knew something about cars, explained that we should not be too concerned about the breaks. They just got to hot from coming down that mountain. So we waited a bit and continued slowly to a garage that I had found in the neighbourhood: The Cottonwood Garage (it is not actually on the picture but around the corner of that crossing).

The garage owner Scott quickly took a look under the car and stated that the liquid Amy was leaking was not oil but transmission liquid. "Amy is very pissed at you. Maybe you should not have called her Amy in first place" was his remark. LOL. He promised us to check her in the afternoon and let us know what was wrong. Worst case scenario for us: A new transmission + replacing it which could cost us a couple of thousands of dollars. F@#!&**!!

The Highlander Club

We left the car by the garage and looked for a place where we could wait for a couple of hours and where we could have a drink. We needed a drink.

As we were still in Utah we did not really expect to find a bar but there it was: The Highlander Club.

When we arrived at the bar it was still pretty early and we knew that we would sit there at least 4 hours.

The bar manager Debbie was very welcoming and it was the first time we could answer the common question: "How are you today?" with "Well, actually not that good as our car broke down".

She wanted to lend us her car but thought that would be a bit crazy as she did not know us. So sweet.

After nerve wracking 4 hours of waiting, the garage called us back, letting us know that there was nothing serious wrong with Amy. We just pushed her to hard (and maybe it was her time of the month..very funny mister). It was wise though to pick her up and bring her back the next morning for another check up and to replace some sensors.

In the meantime the whole bar knew our story and we had gotten to know the greeter Deaun, her friend Michael and some other funny people. We decided to sleep in the parking lot of the Highlander Club and had a hilarious night there with karaoke & fireballs.

The next morning we brought Amy back to the garage where we brushed our teeth (we could have taken a shower there, too, but that would have been too weird) and went back for breakfast to the Highlander Club. It was Taco Tuesday so we got some Taco for 1,25 Dollar per Taco. We spent the rest of the early afternoon talking to lovely Debbie and got to know Joe who gave us 20 Dollar for our travels. How generous of him!

Around 16:00 we picked up Amy and after 10 minutes getting driving lessons from Scott (how to drive an automatic car) we said good bye to Cottonwood Heights and the Highlander.

Hoytsville

While we were waiting for Amy my cousins put me in contact with a friend of hers that coincidently lives not far away from Cottonwood Heights and that could help us out in case of emergency. I apped her friend Monica and even though she did not know us she invited us to her house in Hoytsville and she and her daughter welcomed us with a great salad & a BBQ! We loved their house, their 3 dogs Tank, Ice and Lucy, their horses, their shower and the guestbed ;) immediately. The next morning we got to know her husband Jefferson. He is a firefighter (respect). Monica and him were so nice to us and had so many cool recommendations of what to do here...and we were allowed to stay as long as we wanted (...we would love to stay until winter but let's not push that..)!

Unfortunately Rick hurt his back on our first day in Hoytsville and after a visit to the chiropractor we knew we were not able to do any big hikes here. After our lunch in Park City we still drove up to Sundance (Robert Redfort bought this ski resort 1968) to camp there and to do a little hike up the Mount Timpanagos the next day as we already had bought the park tickets.

We were lucky again at the campground as it was fully booked when we arrived but the old camp host had one spot free for one night and guess what? We would not have to pay the fee. "You know what sweetheart. This one is on us". I picked some sunflowers to thank this sweet guy and before dawn he showed us how to make a decent campfire and we could take as much firewood as we wanted (I was not allowed to give him any money). We had a lovely night by the campfire talking about how lucky we were the last week. It felt like not only being lucky but as if everything had happened for a reason. Told you we had a weird week...

The next day we went on a 3,5 hours hike (Lame horse trail and a bit of Mt. Timpanagos Trial). It was pretty hard, especially for Ricks back, but we saw gorgeous flowers, a waterfall and a Moose!! It was huge which scared me a bit as they are more dangerous than bears.

In the evening we went to our second Rodeo. We loved the bull riding. The guys doing that are some serious bad asses. We finished our day with a great firework at the fairground.

On our last day at Monica's and Jefferson's place they took us first to the annual parade and after that on a tiki tour through the mountains. We did a short walk along Silver lake and drove all the way through Big Cottonwood Canyon. Great day!

During this last week we met so many nice people that determined our route/destination and as soon as we got there, we ran into someone new helping us out to find a better way. It has been a very special, weird and cool week.

Thank you Monica, Jefferson and Melanie. We are so grateful to have met you. You gave us a place to sleep, shower and food and you taught us a lot about Mormon history and believe. You opened your home and hearts for us, not knowing us. Amazing!

Next destination: Las Vegas but who knows how we will get there.