Since I updated this blog. Well, no travel yet, though I did go around the world once in a while, but didn't have the same energy to blog that.
I may visit the US again in a few months (can't promise when) and then this blog may get updated again.
At this point, I am pretty much swamped with works and stuffs going on in Indonesia, so I don't really pay much attention to this blog anymore. In fact, I made another blog which is on my writings. It is mixed in Indonesian and English and you may also want to check my facebook page. For those who are interested in international affairs, I also contribute to this site and write my analysis in this blog. I am also a weekly contributor to the Jakarta Globe and you may want to poke around and read that good newspaper.
Anyhow, thank you very much for looking around, and I hope you have as much fun as I did when I wrote this.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Recap of the last day: Alone
Like I mentioned in my previous post, I arrived in San Francisco on June 30, 2008 at around 11 PM. My original plan was to drive until Austin, or, at most, Carson City, before driving to San Francisco. However, after I arrived at Carson City, it was still quite early (around 7 PM), so I decided to continue straight to San Francisco. So the journey lasted for around 14 hours (including side-trips) from around 10 AM MST to 11 PM PST.
When I started this trip on June 9, I could only drive for around 3 hours before I started to get tired and sleepy, though, after a brief break on the road, I was ready for another few hours. I guess I had built my tolerance after this trip, as I could drive for at least 5 hours before I did feel the need to take a break. I even no longer "nod" during travel. I guess, I got used to travel such a long distance that even this 14 hour drive was no longer that frightening. I simply got used to drive long hours.
In any case, the last leg of the trip also brought me to interesting stops, where many of these stops have one common theme: being alone. Anyway, bring in the map:
If you look at the map, you will notice that I did not take route 80. Actually, had I taken I-80 to San Francisco, it would have taken me only 10 hours to get to San Francisco from Salt Lake City. However, I wanted to try "The Loneliest Road in the United States" a.k.a Route 50. Why? Because it is there and I think it is also an interesting diversion from the common route.
Sadly though, I should have checked this website before taking this road. I could have gotten this packet of "a survival certificate signed by the Governor, a Route 50 lapel pin, and a bumper sticker announcing that you survived this "uninteresting and empty" road." I did see a sign in Austin telling that I could get something stamped there, but I thought it was just for kids.
Before I went to this road, of course I had to leave Salt Lake City and during my departure, I decided to visit... what else... the Salt Lake itself. Suprisingly, Salt Lake City is not that close to the Salt Lake. I guess it is understandable: the lake stinks horribly (literally!). It smells like a fish caning factory, basically, part rotten, part salty... well, just put it simply... overwhelming.
The only way for you to get to the beach is by first visiting this "Salt Palace," a dancing club or something, located quite far from the city (probably due to the Church's influence? Who knows).
They still had performance every Friday, but as you can see, the place really looks run-down.
From this place, it takes quite a while walking to the beach of the Salt Lake itself.
Trust me, it was not a pretty sight walking from this place to the lake: the beach was full of bird carcasses. Big annoying flies.... Plus, maggots... lots of them. Even when you arrive on the shore of the lake, if you really pay attention, you actually can see TONS of really small insects, which look like cockroaches (though really small ones, their size probably less than 0.5 cm) scattered before you. I am not sure what kind of insects they are, but they really gave me goosebumps.
When I was standing there, I could not help but to think that ths area used to be ocean thousands of years ago. With the movements of the earth, the ocean dried out and what left was this salt lake and salt plain (which I would pass later). I would guess that this salt lake probably was what attracted Brigham Young to build his "Mormon Kingdom," with the Salt Lake became a replica of the Dead Sea in Israel and not to mention, a good profit from selling salt.
Aside of that, however, I also thought, maybe that is what the earth will be like milleniums from now, when the sun goes dark and most of the life cease to exist. It was pretty eerie standing alone on the shore of this lake. There was no waves, but only ripples from wind. It was a very silent shore, you actually could not hear anything, not even the traffic from the highway I-80. It was pretty unsettling and yet somehow magnificent. This probably what H.G. Wells imagined when he wrote his "Time Machine," when the traveller arrived at the end of time, where he found only giant crab-like creatures. The sea was red blood with huge red sun on the sky. Yeah, I know, the lake is still blue and the sun is very damn bright, but change the color, and that probably what H.G. Wells' future world will look like.
You know, this place also really reminded me of Pinnacles Desert, Australia. While it has no Salt Lake, basically, just one big desert with interesting rock formation, there was one very trivial experience, yet I could never get rid of from my mind. Back then, as I looked at the harsh environment of the desert, I saw one plant, one single tiny green plant. I don't know why, I decided to pull it. To my surprise, I could pull it very easily and I realized why: inside the plant was a small white worm or maggot, eating the insides of the plant. I threw it away in disgust.
From this place, I passed through the Salt Plain or Salt Flats or whatever its name is. It is just plain white, all salt. This ara used to give such a trouble for first settlers that went to California. While salt is essential for your body, too much salt is not good.... The air is practically dry and the terrain is very demanding.
Finally, arrived at Nevada: first thing you see when you arrive just across the border is a casino....
Even before I arrived at the "Loneliest Road in the United States," the road going there is already very empty. You basically have to drive many miles to find another car.... Most of the towns I passed were clearly struggling to survive. Many boarded windows and you could see the run-down feeling.
Back on the lonely road... (is it me or that really sounds like a song?)
Entering a town:
It seems that most of the towns I passed relied so much on tourism. I am not sure though if it really works: all the tourists flock to regular tacky tourist traps like Reno or Las Vegas. Very few people associate Nevada with historic tourism.
How do you make unsuspecting travellers stop by your town? Easy: slap the sign of "Historical something" on your doorstep, like what they did to this "Historic Courthouse."
I have to say though, that the people inside the courthouse/chamber of commerce/DMV (yeah, the building has many functions) are pretty nice. One of the ladies there offered me a slice of watermelon out of the blue.
Moving on, I started to move to desert area... lots of sand in this place and I happened to arrive at this former "Pony Express" station, which met its demise after the advent of telegraph: by this time, people found out that it was much easier sending messages through telegraphs than using riders. Still, the Pony Express retained its aura of romanticism.
The ruin of Pony Express station. Buried under the sand and excavated in around 1970s.
Sand mountain.
After this, my next stop was the Grimes Point Archaelogical Area. This area is full of ancient writings, by long gone people, written back when this area was a seashore, not a desert in the middle of nowhere like today. It is fascinating, looking at these writings and you can't help but to ponder, what kind of people they were back then, and what happened to them. Were they all migrated as the climate changes? Were they all simply died out, leaving no descendants? With mortality rate as high as back then, the second possibility is not impossible.
In any case, it felt strange, standing there alone, watching the remnants of the memory of ancient people. Did the carver realize that he was leaving his marks to the eternity when he wrote those symbols? I actually wonder, what is being human all about? Why are we accomplishing something? Simply to survive? Career? Or, simply the fact that we wanted to leave something, showing that there used to be somebody named "X" who had done this and that? Like Stalin once quoted to say, "A death of one is a tragedy but deaths of millions is statistics," is that what life all about? Trying to be this "one" than just simply a number in the annual death report?
Either I am starting to become a philosopher or this entire solo-journey has started to crack me up. Of course, PhD itself does not really help: doesn't PhD mean "Permanent Head Damage?"
Well, back to the symbols. Archaelogists believed that these symbols were carved as some sort of sacred ceremony, in preparing for the hunting. Up until now, nobody can decipher these signs. Of course, it would be very silly if actually these carvings were done simply by bored warriors, waiting for their preys. Basically, a prehistoric graffiti.... Then we may be wasting time trying to find the significance of this place - aside of the hunting grounds, of course.
Hidden cave, where these hunters used to dwell. (I did not go inside, because it was getting late and I wanted to reach San Francisco)
Virginia City, old silver mining town, currently a tourist trap. My visit there almost became my worst mistake in this trip. The road uphill was very steep, so I had no choice but to keep pushing the gas pedal. At one point however, it became flat and I did not really pay much attention, as I started to explore the city. Thus, I did not notice my speed. As, I drove around 40s at 25 MPH, there was a speed trap, a cop stopped me. Luckily though, since I have a perfect record, he let me go with only a warning. Still, just to warn everyone visiting this town: speed trap right after the steep hill. Otherwise, simply ignore this town, nothing here but tourist trap and a speed trap.
Arriving at Carson City, the state capital and Reno/Las Vegas wannabe.
Last picture in this journey: Lake Tahoe
Well, it had been a really long journey, even without counting the days I spent stuck in Minneapolis. It was fun, but I guess the fun itself had worn out too. After a whle, like I mentioned, this vacation became more of a chore than vacation, getting in the rat-race running to every single destination.
I won't say that this is the end of the blog. I will still put some updates, especially after I re-sort all my pictures and I may also put a day or two devoted on memories of Columbus, OH. I took lots of pictures before I left.
Therefore, see you around and have fun.
When I started this trip on June 9, I could only drive for around 3 hours before I started to get tired and sleepy, though, after a brief break on the road, I was ready for another few hours. I guess I had built my tolerance after this trip, as I could drive for at least 5 hours before I did feel the need to take a break. I even no longer "nod" during travel. I guess, I got used to travel such a long distance that even this 14 hour drive was no longer that frightening. I simply got used to drive long hours.
In any case, the last leg of the trip also brought me to interesting stops, where many of these stops have one common theme: being alone. Anyway, bring in the map:
If you look at the map, you will notice that I did not take route 80. Actually, had I taken I-80 to San Francisco, it would have taken me only 10 hours to get to San Francisco from Salt Lake City. However, I wanted to try "The Loneliest Road in the United States" a.k.a Route 50. Why? Because it is there and I think it is also an interesting diversion from the common route.
Sadly though, I should have checked this website before taking this road. I could have gotten this packet of "a survival certificate signed by the Governor, a Route 50 lapel pin, and a bumper sticker announcing that you survived this "uninteresting and empty" road." I did see a sign in Austin telling that I could get something stamped there, but I thought it was just for kids.
Before I went to this road, of course I had to leave Salt Lake City and during my departure, I decided to visit... what else... the Salt Lake itself. Suprisingly, Salt Lake City is not that close to the Salt Lake. I guess it is understandable: the lake stinks horribly (literally!). It smells like a fish caning factory, basically, part rotten, part salty... well, just put it simply... overwhelming.
The only way for you to get to the beach is by first visiting this "Salt Palace," a dancing club or something, located quite far from the city (probably due to the Church's influence? Who knows).
They still had performance every Friday, but as you can see, the place really looks run-down.
From this place, it takes quite a while walking to the beach of the Salt Lake itself.
Trust me, it was not a pretty sight walking from this place to the lake: the beach was full of bird carcasses. Big annoying flies.... Plus, maggots... lots of them. Even when you arrive on the shore of the lake, if you really pay attention, you actually can see TONS of really small insects, which look like cockroaches (though really small ones, their size probably less than 0.5 cm) scattered before you. I am not sure what kind of insects they are, but they really gave me goosebumps.
When I was standing there, I could not help but to think that ths area used to be ocean thousands of years ago. With the movements of the earth, the ocean dried out and what left was this salt lake and salt plain (which I would pass later). I would guess that this salt lake probably was what attracted Brigham Young to build his "Mormon Kingdom," with the Salt Lake became a replica of the Dead Sea in Israel and not to mention, a good profit from selling salt.
Aside of that, however, I also thought, maybe that is what the earth will be like milleniums from now, when the sun goes dark and most of the life cease to exist. It was pretty eerie standing alone on the shore of this lake. There was no waves, but only ripples from wind. It was a very silent shore, you actually could not hear anything, not even the traffic from the highway I-80. It was pretty unsettling and yet somehow magnificent. This probably what H.G. Wells imagined when he wrote his "Time Machine," when the traveller arrived at the end of time, where he found only giant crab-like creatures. The sea was red blood with huge red sun on the sky. Yeah, I know, the lake is still blue and the sun is very damn bright, but change the color, and that probably what H.G. Wells' future world will look like.
You know, this place also really reminded me of Pinnacles Desert, Australia. While it has no Salt Lake, basically, just one big desert with interesting rock formation, there was one very trivial experience, yet I could never get rid of from my mind. Back then, as I looked at the harsh environment of the desert, I saw one plant, one single tiny green plant. I don't know why, I decided to pull it. To my surprise, I could pull it very easily and I realized why: inside the plant was a small white worm or maggot, eating the insides of the plant. I threw it away in disgust.
From this place, I passed through the Salt Plain or Salt Flats or whatever its name is. It is just plain white, all salt. This ara used to give such a trouble for first settlers that went to California. While salt is essential for your body, too much salt is not good.... The air is practically dry and the terrain is very demanding.
Finally, arrived at Nevada: first thing you see when you arrive just across the border is a casino....
Even before I arrived at the "Loneliest Road in the United States," the road going there is already very empty. You basically have to drive many miles to find another car.... Most of the towns I passed were clearly struggling to survive. Many boarded windows and you could see the run-down feeling.
Back on the lonely road... (is it me or that really sounds like a song?)
Entering a town:
It seems that most of the towns I passed relied so much on tourism. I am not sure though if it really works: all the tourists flock to regular tacky tourist traps like Reno or Las Vegas. Very few people associate Nevada with historic tourism.
How do you make unsuspecting travellers stop by your town? Easy: slap the sign of "Historical something" on your doorstep, like what they did to this "Historic Courthouse."
I have to say though, that the people inside the courthouse/chamber of commerce/DMV (yeah, the building has many functions) are pretty nice. One of the ladies there offered me a slice of watermelon out of the blue.
Moving on, I started to move to desert area... lots of sand in this place and I happened to arrive at this former "Pony Express" station, which met its demise after the advent of telegraph: by this time, people found out that it was much easier sending messages through telegraphs than using riders. Still, the Pony Express retained its aura of romanticism.
The ruin of Pony Express station. Buried under the sand and excavated in around 1970s.
Sand mountain.
After this, my next stop was the Grimes Point Archaelogical Area. This area is full of ancient writings, by long gone people, written back when this area was a seashore, not a desert in the middle of nowhere like today. It is fascinating, looking at these writings and you can't help but to ponder, what kind of people they were back then, and what happened to them. Were they all migrated as the climate changes? Were they all simply died out, leaving no descendants? With mortality rate as high as back then, the second possibility is not impossible.
In any case, it felt strange, standing there alone, watching the remnants of the memory of ancient people. Did the carver realize that he was leaving his marks to the eternity when he wrote those symbols? I actually wonder, what is being human all about? Why are we accomplishing something? Simply to survive? Career? Or, simply the fact that we wanted to leave something, showing that there used to be somebody named "X" who had done this and that? Like Stalin once quoted to say, "A death of one is a tragedy but deaths of millions is statistics," is that what life all about? Trying to be this "one" than just simply a number in the annual death report?
Either I am starting to become a philosopher or this entire solo-journey has started to crack me up. Of course, PhD itself does not really help: doesn't PhD mean "Permanent Head Damage?"
Well, back to the symbols. Archaelogists believed that these symbols were carved as some sort of sacred ceremony, in preparing for the hunting. Up until now, nobody can decipher these signs. Of course, it would be very silly if actually these carvings were done simply by bored warriors, waiting for their preys. Basically, a prehistoric graffiti.... Then we may be wasting time trying to find the significance of this place - aside of the hunting grounds, of course.
Hidden cave, where these hunters used to dwell. (I did not go inside, because it was getting late and I wanted to reach San Francisco)
Virginia City, old silver mining town, currently a tourist trap. My visit there almost became my worst mistake in this trip. The road uphill was very steep, so I had no choice but to keep pushing the gas pedal. At one point however, it became flat and I did not really pay much attention, as I started to explore the city. Thus, I did not notice my speed. As, I drove around 40s at 25 MPH, there was a speed trap, a cop stopped me. Luckily though, since I have a perfect record, he let me go with only a warning. Still, just to warn everyone visiting this town: speed trap right after the steep hill. Otherwise, simply ignore this town, nothing here but tourist trap and a speed trap.
Arriving at Carson City, the state capital and Reno/Las Vegas wannabe.
Last picture in this journey: Lake Tahoe
Well, it had been a really long journey, even without counting the days I spent stuck in Minneapolis. It was fun, but I guess the fun itself had worn out too. After a whle, like I mentioned, this vacation became more of a chore than vacation, getting in the rat-race running to every single destination.
I won't say that this is the end of the blog. I will still put some updates, especially after I re-sort all my pictures and I may also put a day or two devoted on memories of Columbus, OH. I took lots of pictures before I left.
Therefore, see you around and have fun.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
End of Journey
Finally I arrived in San Francisco last night at around 11 PM PST. Today is the day of unpacking, clean-up, dealing with paperworks, grocery, etc. So many things to do.
Anyway, I will upload my pictures tonight or tomorrow morning with some comments on the last day, which was pretty interesting.
Anyway, I will upload my pictures tonight or tomorrow morning with some comments on the last day, which was pretty interesting.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Stuck in Salt Lake City for Today
Okay, I somehow screwed up today. After I noted earlier today that I have not reserved a hotel, I decided to try to find one. Considering the fact that I left Pocatello at around noon and it took two hours drive to Salt Lake City, I decided to find a hotel near Salt Lake City, just in case it took me a whole day looking at everything.
Then, I found out three mistakes, fortunately one of them did not really that bad. The first was after I booked the hotel, I decided to check other travellers' comments about this hotel and it was really bad.
I never discuss about hotels in this blog, since I rarely have problems with them. Most of the hotels that I took in this trip are "Best Western." The price is pretty good with good room and quite comfortable environment. In short, pretty reliable. The only problem with Best Western I had was back in Livingston, where, as I noted several days ago, the internet sucks and I had to write my blog in the swimming pool area. Plus the room is musty due to age and with the hotel is attached to a bar, sometimes cigarette smoke wafts to the lobby and the common area.
(Memo: avoid room 202 or whatever the number is, which is at the end of the hallway, that area is where all the bad rooms located. You know that you are messed up when your connection number is like something40s. Working connection numbers are 20s. Not surprisingly, I found people on the hallway near the lobby trying to connect to the internet).
Still, it was not as bad as it sounds, since I actually returned to the same hotel after my trip to the Glacier Park. This time, they assigned me a room with working internet connection and no smell at all, located on the second floor and close to the lobby. Plus, the receptionists are all nice, so frankly, should I have the opportunity to return to that area, I may even take the same hotel. So, like I said, I am not particularly picky with hotels.
So, imagine my horror when I read on the reviews that this hotel that I just booked was pretty horrible, with rude male manager and one reviewer even found blood and hair in his (or her) bed - even though this is a "Best Western" hotel. Well, since I can't cancel that, I decided to go to the hotel anyway. Yea, the male manager is very brusque, though, his receptionist (a black female) is actually pretty nice and polite. When I asked about wireless connection, the female receptionist remembered that it was not working well, and he suddenly said that he would lend me a cable, but if I took it away, he would charge me $10. Well, for some people, it might be a turn off, though for me, he is actually pretty tolerable - I have met worse students with horrible behaviors. Still he really reminds me of that Soup Nazi from Seinfeld, though without moustache. I think this guy is from India or that area, though I may be wrong.
Of course, the first thing I did in this room is to open the bedsheet. Luckily, no blood, though, the white cover seems to have some wrinkle. I hazard to guess that the quality of the cleaning lady is not that great in this hotel. But, well, compared of sleeping under the star, this is fine, I guess. So, the first "mistake" is not that bad afterall.
The second "mistake" is actually I forgot to charge my camera battery, so right after I took around 100+ pictures, the camera stopped working. Considering the fact that it would be a waste of time if I continue travelling without camera, I went to the hotel straight away. So, I entered my hotel at 5 PM, which was too early for my taste, since I prefer to use all the time I got. Once I went to hotel, I fell asleep and now it is pretty late to look around.
The third mistake is the location. I booked a hotel too close to Salt Lake City, which will make tomorrow's journey to be pretty painful if I want to reach San Francisco by Monday evening. So, I think I will stay somewhere halfway between of San Francisco and Salt Lake city and arrive in San Francisco on Tuesday evening. Well, considering I went into hotel pretty early, I guess I should wake up early tomorrow and try to catch up with things I miss here. I may want to visit the Salt Lake area before I leave Salt Lake.
Anyway, let's move on. Today's map:
I am not sure why, but Idaho does not really appeal to me as other states. Probably due to the effect of yesterday's traffic mess. Still, I just don't feel the need or the desire to explore this state, unlike other states that I had visited in this entire journey. So, here are some of the last pictures I took on Idaho then come the border between Idaho and Utah.
Salt Lake City
The State Capitol
Of course, if you visit Salt Lake City, you have to visit the Mormon Church Headquarter. I find the Church to be interesting and nicely built. Still, somehow, I couldn't help smiling there. There were so many missionaries, which I used to avoid like plague back in Columbus. Now, they are the tour guides and unlike our regular toor guides, they peppered the tour with quotations from the Book of Mormon. God, it sounds more like prostelizing than guiding.... To be honest, you can actually skip the tours in the main area, but you really should take tour of the Conference Center. I will get back on this point in a bit.
Personally, aside of their missionaries, I don't have problem with Mormons in general. I used to have several Mormon students and all I care about them was whether they performed well in class, and they did. They also never cause problem, though I find it curious that they believe that coffee, tea, alcohol, and several other things are bad for your health. Dunno, as a tea drinker, this may not be the religion for me.... I may want to check the local McD though, see if they actually serve coffee.... (Actually, there is coffee maker in my room).
Anyway, some pictures:
Model of Jerusalem in their North Visitor Center. This may give some ideas to those people back in Jakarta who want to build church-disguised-as-cultural center or the "Tower of Prayer" or whatever other nonsense. I would suggest them to visit the Mormon temple for some great inspirations.
Though the missionaries are talking about their Book of Mormon, they also stress the Biblical prophets, with addition that their prophet, Joseph Smith, is the last of the Great Prophets. Apparently this guy first questioned many things about the Bible back when he was 14 year old. I want to add something funny here, about the danger of overactive imagination combined with Bible, but I am afraid that Mormons may read it and find it offensive.... Oops....
This may give that guy who wants to build a planetarium in church an idea....
Ideas for the "Tower of Prayer"
Main temple: you can't get in there unless you are prepared, because God is there. I guess, everyone will reject me for sure, considering the fact that I visited there with my hair uncombed, T-Shirt, shorts, and sandals. This reminds me of a girl lacrosse team from Chicago who visited the White House in sandals. The brother of one of these girls wrote in his e-mail to her after he received her picture with President Bush: "YOU WORE FLIP-FLOPS TO THE WHITE HOUSE?!!!" I guess that what my brother will say if he saw me in that temple in sandals, though come to think about it, didn't Jesus wear sandals?
Jokes aside, they said that the Mormons go to their regular church on Sunday and only the prepared few are allowed to go to the main temple. Well, at least they are not as freaky as those Scientologists. If they believe that those aliens from planet whatever reside in that church, it will be far more disturbing.
I forgot what building this is, but it is used to be chapel I think.
Nowadays this building is used by the choir some of the time to practice. Interestingly, all the pillars and seats are made from white pine, but they painted and drew lines on it, making them looked like made from oak back in the 19th century. So these stuffs were made back when the Mormon first settled the area.
Seagull monument: symbol of God's grace on Mormons. Apparently in their second year in Salt Lake City, their harvest was threatened by locusts. After they fasted and prayed, God sent seagulls to eat all the locusts, so they built the statue to commemorate that event.
The calling of the new apostles or whatever.
Family matters: another thing to hijack for those people in Jakarta
The main temple. With me writing like this in my blog, I think the possibility of me getting admitted is very slim now.
The famous Tabernacle Choir practices here. Frankly, I consider this choir as one of the best in the United States.
Mormon Convention Center. You can only see these things through guided tour, so that's why I recommend you to take guided tour here. Try not to take it with a rowdy bunch of hyper teenage girls, who love to jump inside elevator, and when they were asked not to jump, they said "who's jumping?" They should apply for Darwin Award as soon as possible. Try to jump like that in the OSU dormitory elevators, they would love several stories fall.... Hopefully they fixed it already. I believe two years ago someone died because of it. Okay, back to business:
My camera showed the sign of "low battery" at this point, and refused to shoot. Though I was able to coax it to operate once in a while, this unfortunately meant that I could not get as many pictures as I wanted.
The conference room. Apparently they could move the organ pipes, which would give a huge space behind it for any use. Plus, the podium could be lowered and raised depending on the need. This room is the largest of its type in the United States.
Garden and fountain on the roof of the convention center. The size of the garden is two acre, filled with desert wild plants. When I asked the guide why they put garden on top, she replied that it was due to the vision of Brigham Young, the Second Prophet and the leader of the Salt Lake community. Basically, God told him to do it. You can't miss this garden. It is beautiful.
Back to the temple.
Brigham Young's house
Finally, for NBA fans out there, the Utah Jazz's stadium (hopefully, I am not wrong)
Check out the names of the streets, though the second one may be hard to read
That's it for now. Tomorrow, I may go around the Salt Lake before going to Nevada.
Then, I found out three mistakes, fortunately one of them did not really that bad. The first was after I booked the hotel, I decided to check other travellers' comments about this hotel and it was really bad.
I never discuss about hotels in this blog, since I rarely have problems with them. Most of the hotels that I took in this trip are "Best Western." The price is pretty good with good room and quite comfortable environment. In short, pretty reliable. The only problem with Best Western I had was back in Livingston, where, as I noted several days ago, the internet sucks and I had to write my blog in the swimming pool area. Plus the room is musty due to age and with the hotel is attached to a bar, sometimes cigarette smoke wafts to the lobby and the common area.
(Memo: avoid room 202 or whatever the number is, which is at the end of the hallway, that area is where all the bad rooms located. You know that you are messed up when your connection number is like something40s. Working connection numbers are 20s. Not surprisingly, I found people on the hallway near the lobby trying to connect to the internet).
Still, it was not as bad as it sounds, since I actually returned to the same hotel after my trip to the Glacier Park. This time, they assigned me a room with working internet connection and no smell at all, located on the second floor and close to the lobby. Plus, the receptionists are all nice, so frankly, should I have the opportunity to return to that area, I may even take the same hotel. So, like I said, I am not particularly picky with hotels.
So, imagine my horror when I read on the reviews that this hotel that I just booked was pretty horrible, with rude male manager and one reviewer even found blood and hair in his (or her) bed - even though this is a "Best Western" hotel. Well, since I can't cancel that, I decided to go to the hotel anyway. Yea, the male manager is very brusque, though, his receptionist (a black female) is actually pretty nice and polite. When I asked about wireless connection, the female receptionist remembered that it was not working well, and he suddenly said that he would lend me a cable, but if I took it away, he would charge me $10. Well, for some people, it might be a turn off, though for me, he is actually pretty tolerable - I have met worse students with horrible behaviors. Still he really reminds me of that Soup Nazi from Seinfeld, though without moustache. I think this guy is from India or that area, though I may be wrong.
Of course, the first thing I did in this room is to open the bedsheet. Luckily, no blood, though, the white cover seems to have some wrinkle. I hazard to guess that the quality of the cleaning lady is not that great in this hotel. But, well, compared of sleeping under the star, this is fine, I guess. So, the first "mistake" is not that bad afterall.
The second "mistake" is actually I forgot to charge my camera battery, so right after I took around 100+ pictures, the camera stopped working. Considering the fact that it would be a waste of time if I continue travelling without camera, I went to the hotel straight away. So, I entered my hotel at 5 PM, which was too early for my taste, since I prefer to use all the time I got. Once I went to hotel, I fell asleep and now it is pretty late to look around.
The third mistake is the location. I booked a hotel too close to Salt Lake City, which will make tomorrow's journey to be pretty painful if I want to reach San Francisco by Monday evening. So, I think I will stay somewhere halfway between of San Francisco and Salt Lake city and arrive in San Francisco on Tuesday evening. Well, considering I went into hotel pretty early, I guess I should wake up early tomorrow and try to catch up with things I miss here. I may want to visit the Salt Lake area before I leave Salt Lake.
Anyway, let's move on. Today's map:
I am not sure why, but Idaho does not really appeal to me as other states. Probably due to the effect of yesterday's traffic mess. Still, I just don't feel the need or the desire to explore this state, unlike other states that I had visited in this entire journey. So, here are some of the last pictures I took on Idaho then come the border between Idaho and Utah.
Salt Lake City
The State Capitol
Of course, if you visit Salt Lake City, you have to visit the Mormon Church Headquarter. I find the Church to be interesting and nicely built. Still, somehow, I couldn't help smiling there. There were so many missionaries, which I used to avoid like plague back in Columbus. Now, they are the tour guides and unlike our regular toor guides, they peppered the tour with quotations from the Book of Mormon. God, it sounds more like prostelizing than guiding.... To be honest, you can actually skip the tours in the main area, but you really should take tour of the Conference Center. I will get back on this point in a bit.
Personally, aside of their missionaries, I don't have problem with Mormons in general. I used to have several Mormon students and all I care about them was whether they performed well in class, and they did. They also never cause problem, though I find it curious that they believe that coffee, tea, alcohol, and several other things are bad for your health. Dunno, as a tea drinker, this may not be the religion for me.... I may want to check the local McD though, see if they actually serve coffee.... (Actually, there is coffee maker in my room).
Anyway, some pictures:
Model of Jerusalem in their North Visitor Center. This may give some ideas to those people back in Jakarta who want to build church-disguised-as-cultural center or the "Tower of Prayer" or whatever other nonsense. I would suggest them to visit the Mormon temple for some great inspirations.
Though the missionaries are talking about their Book of Mormon, they also stress the Biblical prophets, with addition that their prophet, Joseph Smith, is the last of the Great Prophets. Apparently this guy first questioned many things about the Bible back when he was 14 year old. I want to add something funny here, about the danger of overactive imagination combined with Bible, but I am afraid that Mormons may read it and find it offensive.... Oops....
This may give that guy who wants to build a planetarium in church an idea....
Ideas for the "Tower of Prayer"
Main temple: you can't get in there unless you are prepared, because God is there. I guess, everyone will reject me for sure, considering the fact that I visited there with my hair uncombed, T-Shirt, shorts, and sandals. This reminds me of a girl lacrosse team from Chicago who visited the White House in sandals. The brother of one of these girls wrote in his e-mail to her after he received her picture with President Bush: "YOU WORE FLIP-FLOPS TO THE WHITE HOUSE?!!!" I guess that what my brother will say if he saw me in that temple in sandals, though come to think about it, didn't Jesus wear sandals?
Jokes aside, they said that the Mormons go to their regular church on Sunday and only the prepared few are allowed to go to the main temple. Well, at least they are not as freaky as those Scientologists. If they believe that those aliens from planet whatever reside in that church, it will be far more disturbing.
I forgot what building this is, but it is used to be chapel I think.
Nowadays this building is used by the choir some of the time to practice. Interestingly, all the pillars and seats are made from white pine, but they painted and drew lines on it, making them looked like made from oak back in the 19th century. So these stuffs were made back when the Mormon first settled the area.
Seagull monument: symbol of God's grace on Mormons. Apparently in their second year in Salt Lake City, their harvest was threatened by locusts. After they fasted and prayed, God sent seagulls to eat all the locusts, so they built the statue to commemorate that event.
The calling of the new apostles or whatever.
Family matters: another thing to hijack for those people in Jakarta
The main temple. With me writing like this in my blog, I think the possibility of me getting admitted is very slim now.
The famous Tabernacle Choir practices here. Frankly, I consider this choir as one of the best in the United States.
Mormon Convention Center. You can only see these things through guided tour, so that's why I recommend you to take guided tour here. Try not to take it with a rowdy bunch of hyper teenage girls, who love to jump inside elevator, and when they were asked not to jump, they said "who's jumping?" They should apply for Darwin Award as soon as possible. Try to jump like that in the OSU dormitory elevators, they would love several stories fall.... Hopefully they fixed it already. I believe two years ago someone died because of it. Okay, back to business:
My camera showed the sign of "low battery" at this point, and refused to shoot. Though I was able to coax it to operate once in a while, this unfortunately meant that I could not get as many pictures as I wanted.
The conference room. Apparently they could move the organ pipes, which would give a huge space behind it for any use. Plus, the podium could be lowered and raised depending on the need. This room is the largest of its type in the United States.
Garden and fountain on the roof of the convention center. The size of the garden is two acre, filled with desert wild plants. When I asked the guide why they put garden on top, she replied that it was due to the vision of Brigham Young, the Second Prophet and the leader of the Salt Lake community. Basically, God told him to do it. You can't miss this garden. It is beautiful.
Back to the temple.
Brigham Young's house
Finally, for NBA fans out there, the Utah Jazz's stadium (hopefully, I am not wrong)
Check out the names of the streets, though the second one may be hard to read
That's it for now. Tomorrow, I may go around the Salt Lake before going to Nevada.
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