Saturday 19 May, Wasatch View Estate, Ogden UT

A brisk 14C this morning - had the furnace on while we watched the royal wedding.  We didn’t get up at 3am to watch it as apparently a lot of Americans did.  Surveys say 49% of respondents over 18 were planning to watch it, compared with only 39% who watched William and Kate’s wedding.  One would have to assume there is more interest because Megan is American.  Anyway we missed most of it real time but did see the rerun on a Mexican channel.  The only words we could understand were George Clooney, Serena Williams and of course the members of the Royal Family.  But that didn’t detract from all the lovely wedding outfits and fascinators galore.

Before we set off I tried phoning a couple of state parks and a city park for our next stay but they are all full over the weekend so we booked into Wasatch View Estates, just 86 miles away for two days.

We drive through Salt Lake City, Utah’s capital. It  nestles between the snow capped Wasatch Ranges (the edge of the Rocky Mountains) to the east and Great Salt Lake to the west and it sprawls. It looks modern and the CBD is dotted with high rises.  The pretty part of the metropolis is to the south, the north is mainly industrial. Just 30 minutes from downtown are four world-renowned ski areas.  SLC is also the home of the Mormon Temple, apparently it took 40 years to build.  The 2002 Olympics were held here too. 

Salt Lake City high rises with Wasatch Ranges backdrop

Mormom Tabernacle

The beehive is the state symbol of Utah and it appears on all the road signs. The early Mormon settlers used the symbol of the honeybee to represent hard work and industriousness.

Road signs feature the beehive state symbol

Coming into the city we pass a couple of huge motorhome sales yards, they are enormous!

How would you pick one?

The left lane along the I15 through SLC is for high occupancy vehicles, next to that is an Express Lane which can be used by carpoolers, buses, motorcycles, emergency vehicles and clean vehicles for free. Solo drivers need an Express Pass.  There are 7 zones and fees range from $0.25 to $1.00 per zone. Violators of the HOV or Express lane rules can be fined $337.  We are travelling on a Saturday so traffic is pretty light but I guess these express lanes get a good workout on a work day.

HOV and Express Lanes

We arrive at Wasatch View around 12.30, we have FHU and a large concrete slab/patio area.  The climate is perfect, the day warmed up considerably from its frigid start and we enjoyed our afternoon outside in the dry heat.  This is the first chance Kim has had to potter with his stuff in the compartments below so he was in his element and he wasn’t sweating so a happy camper.

He even went for a bike ride around the complex.  There are trailer homes here and they look pretty well cared for.  The grounds could do with a bit of a weed but otherwise fine.  We are within walking distance to some restaurants etc. so will go for a wander tomorrow and check them out.