Day 8- I binged watched Cobra Kai! I love the series. I won’t get too deep into it, but feel free to comment, if you want to talk about Cobra Kai. After watching some Cobra Kai, we went to Antelope Island State Park. This park is in the Great Salt Lake. Upon arriving, I noticed how dry the lake was. My dad confirmed when he said he visited a year or so ago and there was much more water. Regardless of the drought, it was still a beautiful place, much different from the south of Utah. My dad and I had to walk probably a half mile just to reach the water, where we were greeted with cool reflections via the lake for our photos.
After walking to the water we proceeded to drive around until we reached a maintenance area. We realized there wasn’t much here, but I spotted a pronghorn antelope in the distance, and quickly saw a female sitting nearby. I managed to get some videos and shots as these two majestic animals posed for a bit then retreated, but they didn’t really retreat, it seemed more of a dance they were doing to another area nearby. We followed them again, and got more footage while they danced to and fro before vanishing beyond the horizon.
Next we drove around to the other side. The water on this side looked to be like a mile away from where we parked, so we decided not to make the journey. We saw a few buffalo in the distance and made our way to a farm area which also acted as a museum. It was interesting to see old tools and places used in the past. We then took a drive further up and got some shots from higher ground before returning to the exit. Before reaching the exit we got some close ups of buffalo crossing the road. I did not realize how massive these animals are. They were imposing and we were probably no more than 30 ft away. I’m a fool, but not foolish enough to get too close to most animals. It was an amazing experience. With several successful close encounters with the denizens of the park, we left, but not before taking some more landscape and bird shots.
Day 9- Running out of things to do around us, my dad and I decided to go to Salt Lake City. I liked the downtown area! It was clean, and not very crowded. My sister recommended an area that had lots of shops, like a mall but was also outdoors. It was near a Dave and Busters. It was kinda crazy, because my dad had to use the restroom. When he found one he encountered a man who was pissed off about something. I wasn’t there, I was nearby, but apparently my dad opened the bathroom door and some dude was exiting as he entered but he was talking all sorts of shit. My dad just turned his back and walked right out. When my dad reached me, he didn’t really make sense. He mentioned some guy acting crazy in the bathroom, talking shit, and being paranoid. I saw the dude come after him and we exited the building. We headed right, and I turned around to see what the dude was going to do. He walked off in the other direction.
Feeling more relieved, my dad walked back into the bathroom and this time I accompanied him. It went all good but there was another dude in there and I have no idea what he was doing. He appeared homeless, or maybe he was taking the Taiwanese girl style of ripped pants to another level, kinda like what I did when I lived in Taiwan. The man didn’t do anything but it was just a weird scenario.
Without further exploration we headed back to the car and then noticed what probably were homeless people. It seemed we were in a very light weight TL (Tenderloin) for those who don’t know, so my assumption was many people around probably have mental and physical issues and possibly are drug addicts as well.
We then went to the capitol building and explored both inside and outside. There was a section of the building which showed photos and captions of how the Japanese were put into camps during WW2. It was interesting to me because all the Japanese people were from the Bay Area, where I grew up, so while I was not born and it wouldn’t affect me anyway as I am not Japanese, they are still Bay Area folks, which means they are like me, and it hits home.
After the capitol, we went to a park nearby and it began raining soon after. On the one hand, this was great! There is a drought here. On the other hand, it did put a damper on our exploration. I decided to propose we go to the Red Iguana. This restaurant is maybe the most popular Mexican restaurant in Salt Lake City, with labeled gluten free options to my surprise, or actually happiness. I just love restaurants that are hip to issues that affect me in a serious way. It has been very nice coming back to the USA after 7 years to find it so easy to eat out. The Red Iguana was legit. Food hit the spot and my father and I were content.
By this time the rain had stopped. My plan worked and we headed to check out some more downtown mall stuff. I personally don’t like malls. I think they are lame, but when in new locations, I tend to be pretty open minded, even with things I have no interest in. The malls were whatever to me, but I sometimes find things to capture with the camera regardless of where I go.
Then we went to check out the Mormons. I don’t know much about them. Nor do I care. We went to some churches and centers that were free and allowed me to photograph and video record. The Mormons mainly consisted of sisters. Mostly young cute girls who talk to you about God? They were very nice and as talkative as me, but I kept religion out of my mouth and talked about other things. They were nice but I found a lot of things odd. Why are young cute girls and not men engaging with us? I met Mormons from France, USA, and Mexico and it was interesting hearing their stories and their service here. The conference center was like a museum which was interesting and I loved looking at the art and reading the captions. My dad also mentioned Mormons could have multiple wives. Again, I don’t see Mormons on the regular, so I know nothing about them. They were nice enough folks though.
Day 10- My dad and I decided to check out where my brother in law grew up in Eden, so we went through the mountain pass to check out the farm country out there and we drove around the reservoir and took some photos. There was a ski area called Snow Basin, I believe, which was closed at the moment. My sister’s neighbor is a Vietnamese family who own three Vietnamese restaurants. One of them was in Ogden, the other town we would explore, so we went there to eat. I don’t know how to order Vietnamese food in English, because I am used to Vietnamese names. With a white teen at the register, I didn’t expect him to know any Vietnamese, plus the menu was all in English. I wanted Bun Cha Gio, and I think I picked the right meal. It was pretty good!
We then proceeded down to Ogden downtown which was a clean little area. There wasn’t that much there but they had shops there of some interest. We got some yogurt which was really tasty, from a store that allowed you to add whatever you wanted based on the flavors and things they had. Cost was determined by weight, and the store was very health conscious with labels of various types for people with issues to discern the best flavors to select.
We also went to Union Station which had a railroad museum. Most of the exhibits were free. This was super cool! We got to see the Golden Spike which signified the completion of the transcontinental railroad across the United States. There was also a mini motorized train exhibit which I thought was really cool, among old school trains outside. I’m not an expert in our history regarding trains, but I would check it out if you’re in the area.
Day 11- My brother in law, his dog Foxy, my niece, and dad went to the Formula Drift event at the Utah MotorSports Park. My brother in law is a drifter and heavily into this. I have no opinion, but like I mentioned before, I am curious and am willing to see or try things I never did before. I had a good time. I loved photographing and recording parts of the event, on and off the track. I am not going to go in depth about the event, because I don’t know any of the drivers, I don’t know anything about cars, or the skill itself of drifting. All I will say is I’d love to be a passenger while drifting, and I’d go to a similar event again if it's free or cheap. My brother in law paid for me, which is another reason why I would not decline. On the way back we ordered Asian food from Zhaos, which was another blessing for me. You get to make your own bowl and everything is labeled. You want to be a gluten free vegan, go for it! I am sure loving this!
Day 12- Today I saw my 4 ½ year old niece play soccer. Apparently she was mopping fools last week but this week she sucked. I enjoyed watching 4 year olds run around kicking a ball so much, and the fact that my niece was total garbage was the icing on the cake. The photos I took of her picking her nose, farting, talking to the coach, basically doing anything but playing the game was priceless. I did not want to go to the game, but I was glad I did. It was so good in fact, I wish it was still going on!
Day 13- Nothing really going on today, though we did have a nice BBQ at the brother-in laws parents house and watched some drift racing.
Day 14- My dad and mom are leaving tomorrow, so my dad decided to take me to Park City. We took a scenic route which was not as impressive as southern Utah, but still good. Reaching Park City was easy, but there was some sort of beer fest happening so streets were closed off and there was no parking. I am gluten free, so I can't drink much beer so it was no loss for me. I’m not trying to waste hours looking for parking or paying excessive for parking. We decided to look for the pass and cross it, which we did. We did a little hike but got bored of it and went back to the car. Before we knew it, we were in a very clean looking town called Midway. The houses here were amazing and did I mention how clean it was? It reminded me of Slovenia in terms of cleanliness, but the houses here were much bigger and cooler looking.
We drove around a bit, got some gas, flew my drone, before we decided to head back. I broke my gluten free diet by eating Carl’s Jr. Carl’s Jr was my favorite fast food while living in Saigon, Vietnam. I haven’t eaten it in years! We then went to the Winter Olympic museum. I don’t know shit about winter sports, though curling is my favorite by far. There were ski jumps where kids were practicing their skiing and landing in a huge swimming pool. That was actually pretty awesome, seeing them busting flips and all that. Again, I don’t know anything about skiing but it was fun watching.
We then entered the museum which was heavily influenced by all things winter sports related. Photos were cool! It was nice to see the evolution of the snow board and I was feeling the old school ones most! Oh, it was all free too! After the museum we headed to the outlets. I had no intention of buying anything, but I’m usually always down to check things out. We didn’t buy anything, but hit a few stores and I swear every Mexican was at the outlets! Everyone in Utah is pretty much white. I did see a few people of color, but the outlets were pretty much all Spanish going on. Again, it’s quite possible that they weren’t all Mexican. They could have been Latinos from elsewhere, or US American born, but it was surprising! There were even some taco trucks!
Riding back was again nice due to the scenery but today was an average day in comparison to most of the other days.
Day 15- I got up early to hike the Adams Canyon Trail. It is what I would consider a moderate trail. First of all I highly recommend it, if you're in Layton, Utah. It’s a beautiful trail no more than 3 miles there and back. It begins with zig zags up and then you begin to enter the mountains. Most of the time you follow a small river upstream that leads to a pretty nice waterfall. Endurance wise, it's easy. I barely broke a sweat. Why I consider this a moderate trail is because of the terrain. There are lots of rocks, loose rocks, and dirt, perfect for slipping. I love level ground the most, but I prefer uphill than downhill, especially on hikes like this. Navigating where to step and what I mentioned above is a perfect formula for me to eat it, but it was highly worth it due to the beauty of the hike which most of it was.
After the hike I had a relaxing day with the family and started on Umbrella Academy season 3, which I am a fan of.
Day 16- It rained today. Ran some errands with my sister and finished Umbrella Academy. Looking forward to season 4. Started my exercise routine again. I was planning on doing a simple hike with my sister, her husband, and my niece, but the rain ruined that plan. Oh well.
Day 17- Today I was very busy. I started the day driving about 15 minutes to do the Farmington Creek Trail: Lagoon Section. This was the worst hike I did, not because it sucked, but because every other hike I did was literally pretty epic! This trail was near an amusement park like 6 Flags. It meandered in and out of nature. It was a paved path that was hella easy and it was almost 4 miles there and back. What I didn’t like about it was the constant fences and barbed wire I would see while walking. I have an app called All Trails. If you don’t have it, you should get it. While reading this walk, it mentioned I would cross 4 “picturesque” bridges. Maybe my standards are high, but those were some generic ass bridges. Even still, I enjoyed the peace, quiet, and ease of the walk. I didn’t film anything, but I did shoot macro shots of bees, flowers, and grasshoppers. Near the beginning you can see some horses, elk, and buffalo, though they were fenced off. At the end of the walk is a pond with geese and ducks.
Upon returning home, I convinced my sister and her family to do another trail, even easier than the one above. This was in the opposite direction and called Beus Pond Trail. This was a short .8 km loop around a pond and I really liked this one, though short. You were close to civilization but it felt pretty deep in the wilderness. Ducks dotted the pond, and I spotted an occasional turtle posed for its afternoon sun bath. The path was shaded and as I mentioned above, extremely easy. We saw some kids playing tag or something on the other side of the pond and later 3 teens smoking some doesha on a bench, trying to be discreet, if they only knew. Teens are funny.
After this walk, we went to a park where my niece could play on the structure and I could walk down a nice river in Ogden. I met some kids who found some garter snakes and hung out with them for a bit, because, well, I like snakes. This was a busy day of walking, as I probably racked 6 miles, which helps with my goal of reaching 180lbs, which I have successfully achieved in 2 months. 20 pounds in 2 months, not too shabby.
Day 18- This would be an interesting day. First of all, my niece's soccer game. She sucks! I love going to her games! More about that soon. There was a gluten free expo at the exhibition center in Salt Lake City, which cost 15 dollars. A must for me. Finally, there was a Hispanic Heritage Month event that my sister and I wanted to attend.
Let's start with the soccer game. She played exactly as I hoped, just like the week before. If the ball is right in front of her, she'll dribble and kick, but the minute something doesn’t go her way she quits. She spent most of the time talking to the refs and coaches while balls flew by her, or she wandered on the opposite side of where the action was. Hilarious to me! If I lived here I would attend all her games.
After an awesome game of my niece getting her ass kicked, we headed over to the expo center. The gluten free event had some people. I wasn’t too happy about it, because chances are if you’re at this event, you’re seriously sick, or supporting someone who's sick, or one of those irritating people who are gluten free because it's trendy. Fuck those people! I wish I could eat gluten. My sister said I was definitely the leader there as she felt I was the most excited, animated, and talkative person at the event. I hit pretty much every stand, talked to pretty much everyone at the stands, and tried all the free samples I could. Gluten free has come A LONG WAY! I remember trying my first gluten free diet! It lasted about a week. This was around 20 years ago. I remember going to Rainbow Groceries in San Francisco. This was equivalent to say Trader Sams, or Whole Foods, but before them, or at least before they came to Frisco. It was the only place that probably had gluten free items. Anyways, I hit the spot, bought some gluten free bread, went home, and prepared a salami sandwich. Everything was going fine. Dipped the knife in mustard, spread it on the bread, added lettuce and salami. DONE! I took a bite and the bread fell apart, completely destroying my sandwich. That diet ended immediately.
Well, bread doesn’t crack like an earthquake, cookies and other sweets are great! I bought this jalapeno teriyaki sauce that is HELLA BOMB! I actually started buying a bunch of stuff. I spent about 200 bucks there. It makes me feel real good that there are people out there improving the food for gluten free people. I was happy I went!
Now it was time to head to downtown Salt Lake City for the Frida event! I was happy to see a decent turn out of Latinos here. I honestly thought everyone would be white in Utah. There is some diversity. However, the event was small and aside from the dances, kinda lame to be honest. There were 2 trucks that sold wings and Mexican hot dogs. I don’t even know what those are. I was hungry so I wanted to eat some Mexican food, not wings or hot dogs. There were activities for children which was nice for my niece. There was a DJ but I was hoping for a Mariachi band which I didn’t see while I was there. The dances were good and there was a nice little turn out, but overall, pales in comparison to any Latino event in the Mission, back home in the Sko. Even still, a good day over all, and I am glad I went to all the events. Oh, I almost forgot! The highlight! Remember day 9, when my dad went to the bathroom and freaked out because there was some crazy dude coming out? Don’t worry about him, but remember the guy with the current Taiwanese style ripped jeans who was in the bathroom? Well, we saw him twice STILL rocking that style hardcore! I even got footage of him!
Day 19- It was time to go to the Bonneville Salt Flats. I got a FB link to like the 40 coolest places in the US. Utah had two of them: Bryce Canyon National Park and the Bonneville Salt Flats. I was already going to go to the flats, but now it was even more pressing! The flats are a bit under two hours from Layton. Easy straight drive pushing 80 to 100 mph. The flats were at a rest area close to the town Wendover in Nevada. I’m going to be honest. I wasn’t that impressed. It looked like a thin layer of snow, but it was salt. There were no reflections and barely any water. (Utah is in a drought now, like Cali.) I flew my drone, I took videos, photos, and walked around the salt covered ground. I didn’t drive on the flats, because my dad and brother in law went out there and got stuck. Their car sank somewhat, and it would cost thousands to get them out, but my sister did her research and found a group or a man who volunteered for the sole purpose of digging people out of situations like that…FOR FREE! Of course it still took a few hours to get out there and time to get the car out. While other cars were roaming the flats, I was too much of a coward to do it. I later found out that my dad and brother in law went off in the cuts and that's why they got in that situation. If I roamed around the flats where the other cars were, I would have been gold. There is always a next time.
What's interesting about the salt flats is it's a place where racers go to test how fast they can go, and records for the highest speeds in the world are set there. Just because I felt it didn’t shine the way I wanted the flats to, doesn’t mean you should miss it. If you are in the area, it is a must see! I then drove to Wendover to eat and plan the rest of my day.
I looked at my Google Maps, and looked for alternate roads back to my sister's house. I decided to go a longer way back home. This way would be a 3 hour drive rather than a 2 hour drive. I chose highway 30, what would be known as a desolate desert trail with 1 lane for each side with no services for 93 miles. Let’s begin!
The first interesting thing I noticed was the “Pacific Time Zone” sign as I drove into Nevada. I was now in my normal Frisco time. I never knew there were signs for time zones until now. Breaking off into highway 30, the landscape became dotted with trailers in the distance. There were lots of no trespassing signs and fences. These places scare me as I picture racist white people armed to the teeth in these areas or just people who don't want to be found or bothered. Of course this is an ignorant thought, as I never met any of these people and my only knowledge of people who live in these areas are from movies.
Have you ever driven down a desolate road in the desert? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to go off onto one of those gravel roads only to go off on even more less traveled roads? I have a lot, for years and today, I finally did it. I drove about an hour in on 30, and took a right on a gravel road. Then I took a right on an even more gravel road, then I took a left on an even less traveled road and then there was no road and I was in an open area in the desert. There was nothing. No sign of civilization. A perfect place to take someone to never be found.
I was actually hoping to find something, but then it hit me. Fear. I wasn’t really sure where I was and there is no wifi here, no people, nothing. If I have a flat tire or some car trouble, OR my car sinks into the desert, I am assed out. It was time to go. I found the road and instead of going back to the main road, I decided to go down another road which continued on but also had a stop at some weird farm. I didn’t check out the farm for the above reasons, and decided to head back to the road.
This is how I like to travel. It was great to be with my parents and have everything planned out. We had our hotels and parks all lined up with little flexibility to do anything else. Then my parents left and my sister had places for me to explore, so I did that. Now I was in my element! Random driving to random places with no set goal, just excitement of what could happen. I love having little to no plan and just going. Even if I end up in a barren desolate desert to myself, its the excitement of what I might find that makes this type of travel exciting to me. I feel like a real life explorer even though all these places have been explored before me.
The rest of the drive had some interesting broken down barns and such, but nothing mind blowing, and before I knew it, I was back at my sisters.
Day 20- This is my last day in Utah. I am hoping to go on one more closer adventure, but I am currently washing clothes and waiting for them to dry. I have not figured out what to do yet but I’ll see if I can do something. Well, let's just say I had a pretty productive day! First I went to Hidden Falls about 1 hour from my home base. This was literally parking, crossing the highway, and walking about 20 yards to the fall. I presume it's called hidden because you would drive right past it. This was a bit less than decent waterfall, but due to the ease of it all, it was worth a stop!
I then drove 8 minutes to a parking lot that gave way to a trail called Donut Falls. This was another easy trail that is 1.5 miles long, so round trip 3 miles. People were on this hike and everyone was pretty friendly. I talked to a lot of people on the trail, shared some stories and tips as well. The end of this trail brings you to Donut Falls. From the base its pretty generic. Lots of rocks and water trickling down in various areas, but nothing remotely interesting for photos, at least not of the falls. The magic here is braving the climb to the top. You all know by now that I don’t like climbing, but I decided to make an exception. I took my time climbing up wet boulders and going into the water. I made it to the top and pulled out my phone. The water goes into a circle shaped hole. I thought that was interesting. I noticed a couple explore an area before me, and I asked them what was there. They said it was a cave! I had to check that out fa show! I slid down on my butt because it was hella smooth where I was at and I was far too scared to walk down. When I reached the cave, the name started to really make sense. There is literally a small cave this waterfall dips into. You walk in and that donut shaped hole I told you about above, allows the water to fall into the cave and then proceed outside. I haven’t seen a waterfall like this yet, so it was a bonus for me!
The drive from here was a little over an hour back home. I got my brother in law some Mountain Dew for eating all my sisters' gluten free chips. I put gas in the car and washed it. Now I am at my sister’s home writing this last entry. I will take my niece out for ice cream later, then I will cook my burger and try out my gluten free buns I bought at the gluten free fair, and get ready to head to the City of Fog, tomorrow morning! Peace!
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