Seconds With Steff

So, plot twist! Last night we were all set to stay at Little America… you know, the place with the penguin. I’d booked it way back in October, and then in February, out of nowhere, I get a message saying my booking’s canceled. Turns out, they’re tearing the whole place down and rebuilding it — except for the RV park. So there went our original plan.

But here’s the fun part: after some frantic Googling and map zooming, we stumbled on something we didn’t even know existed: the Wild Horse Scenic Loop. So instead of a historic hotel, we got a Hampton Inn at the foothill of the loop last night…and as you know did not see any horses…

Normally I do not bother mentioning chain hotels, but this one was special because look at this backdrop… absolutely breathtaking. Unreal. And it was a Hampton Inn. I mean… come on. This was the view from our room. I swear I took pictures from the parking lot, but I think they were on Hunter’s phone, and he will delete photos as soon as humanly possible if I do not transfer them immediately. Ugh. So I am using one of their stock photos. Incredible, right?

We had every intention of starting the day looking for the horses. I set the wrong alarm, so we overslept a little bit, but no big deal. We were about an eighth of a mile up the pathway when Hunter started puking because he shoved his entire muffin in his mouth at once and tried to swallow it. His gag reflex won. We went back to the hotel, and everything except his socks was thrown away… including his clipboard that he has been perseverating on ever since!

We did not stay there, but we did stop… Little America, started in the 1930s as a rest stop, was modeled after Admiral Richard Byrd’s Antarctic base camp and eventually grew into a full-blown roadside resort. In 1939, an actual emperor penguin was shipped from Antarctica to Wyoming as a gift from Byrd’s expedition. He did not survive the journey, but he was preserved and placed in a glass case inside the property, becoming a strange and beloved roadside attraction for decades.

Along the trip I had heard that all the hotel buildings at Little America had not only been torn down but are not going to be rebuilt. I thought that was odd, but at least the travel center was still there. In my mind, it was this amazing travel center where the dollar ice cream conewould make the entire trip. I had promised Hunter ice cream for breakfast before the great muffin moment of the morning.

When I pulled into Little America, a really nice lady helped me got some of the garage guys to come out to remove the oil cap from my engine since I could not do it. They said it wasn’t my fault, that it is almost impossible to remove because it is not threaded, but a twist and click. They made me feel better about myself even though I already knew it was because I am weak and too short to reach it. Did I mention the oil situation? The oil light was reading 5%… I’ve got nothing for ya! This whole car situation has been one thing after another.

After they helped me with my oil situation, we went into the travel center. We found the emperor penguin and took a picture. Then we realized it is potentially the smallest travel center I have ever seen. And the ice cream machine was not working yet, so that was a bust.

Onward we went, making our way back to the Old Lincoln Highway where the road splits and you can either go to Astoria, Oregon (GOONIES) or continue on the Lincoln Highway. Obviously, we continued, bringing us past the original site of Little America that burned down before it was rebuilt where it is now, before they tore it down again. Full circle.

Then we wound up on another dirt gravel road. It is no wonder I have a cracked windshield at this point. We were suddenly in the middle of an oil field. I do not think I realized I would see this in America. I stopped and took a picture.

A few miles later we came upon these beautifully striated hills we had seen the night before in Green River. They reminded me of the Bentonite Hills in Hanksville from last summer, only instead of purple they were green. The main feature was Church Butte, and I made Hunter take about one million pictures. Then we saw pronghorns out in the field, randomly playing in the wild.

Somewhere along this stretch we crossed paths with the Emigrant Trail, also known as the Oregon Trail. There were no markers, no signs, nothing. Just us in the middle of nowhere. I was not getting out of the car to look for wagon ruts. Not happening.

Hunter and I made our way to Fort Bridger, which turned out to be a really great stop. Fort Bridger State Historic Park was originally a supply stop on the Oregon Trail. Today it is a Wyoming Historical Landmark with several buildings restored to look exactly as they did when the fort was a military outpost. There is also a museum inside the stone barracks building that dates back to 1888.

We were there for the Orange and Black Tourist Cabins, the little Lincoln Highway era cabins that were restored in 2009 and featured in the PBS documentary A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway. They are preserved and set up to show what travelers would have brought with them. It was a quick stop, but really cool. You can look right through the windows and see everything staged inside, almost like the people just stepped out for a minute.

In Evanston there is a really cool display in a park with a big map of all the things you could see if you were headed east or should have seen if you were heading west. When Josh and Pops did this, it was on the video, and I remember Josh complaining that they missed a bunch of stuff. I dare say they missed a bunch because they did not follow the 1913 route. We definitely saw the things they missed, especially Church Butte, which was spectacular. We could have pulled the car over and explored it, but time is always of the essence.

After crossing into Utah, we drove Echo Canyon again. It is this long red rock corridor that the pioneers used, the railroad used, and the Lincoln Highway used. The canyon is narrow and dramatic, and the cliffs really do echo every sound, which is how it got its name. During the Utah War, the Mormon militia built stone fortifications high up on the canyon walls, and you can still spot them if you know where to look… we did not. Today it is a quick stretch of road with steep sandstone walls, railroad tracks running beside you, and that classic Utah red rock glowing in the sun.

The Weber Pony Express Station was a total surprise, popping up just as we were about to leave the canyon. The sign marks the original station site and also points out a couple of the nearby rock formations, which was actually really helpful because everything out there looks dramatic and unnamed. It also pays tribute to George Wyman, the first man to cross the Lincoln Highway on a motorcycle.

The canyon’s mouth is home to the Echo Canyon Historic Church and School, a tiny 1876 Gothic Revival building that served frontier families and now sits there like a perfect little time capsule. What I didn’t realize is that it’s still a town where people live. Very tiny. Not only does the church sit hidden in the back with Pulpit Rock rising behind it, but there are ghost-town-esque Route 66 style motel and gas signs sitting right alongside it. It is one of those places where everything old is stacked right next to everything older.

This is the first of two times that we’re intentionally going off the 1913 route. Noah Caldwell Gervais’ seven‑and‑a‑half‑hour video said that taking the original 1913 route into Salt Lake was strip malls and traffic lights. So instead, he took the auxiliary route to Salt Lake City, which is a prettier and shorter drive. And bonus: you go past Park City!

And if you know me, you know I hate sports except for two weeks every other year!!! GO OLYMPICS!

Hunter and I ran around for thirty minutes taking in the town. Not quite Carmel by the Sea, but almost like it was picked up out of a fairytale book. Just really pretty. The pictures I took were so fast, I know they will not do it justice. You could spend five days there and not hit every storefront on Main Street.

We walked into a beautiful bakery that oddly did not have a lot of baked goods. I asked Hunter what he wanted and he said no thank you… Seven Eleven. I love my kids so much. The young ladies working there were very good sports and said at least it is downhill from here. Park City is built on a very steep hill. Going back down was easy. We took lots of pictures, jumped into a store, bought a couple of stickers and a T-shirt.

Onto another Mom stop at the Eccles Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games Museum. GPS tried to send me allllllllll the way up the mountain, but we found the correct museum. It was really cool, and I am glad we went. Now, I want to plan a weekend in Lake Placid.

Then we made the stop of Hunter’s day… the Hogle Zoo. A really nice small zoo, but the highlight was the babies. A baby giraffe, a baby gorilla, and I even saw a baby chimpanzee but did not get a picture. Somewhere there was a baby warthog, but we never saw him. The polar bear was incredible. I have seen polar bears before. The Bronx Zoo has one. But this one was so close and so big. It was insane.

The Olympic Cauldron was a fast stop, but so impressive. It is practically in the parking lot of the Rice–Eccles Stadium on the University of Utah campus. It is surrounded by dedications to the games. It’s been announced that Salt Lake City will host in 2034, I cannot wait to see what they do.

Last summer, we skipped Temple Square when doing the Grand Circle, since I didn’t have a huge interest in going, but I felt like we should this time around. We parked quickly and took a picture of the main temple and a little side church. We did not go into the visitor center, although it looked beautiful.

But we did see the Tabernacle. Forgive me, but I did not know the Tabernacle was a separate building. I guess I do not know what the word Tabernacle means. They had a sign that said come on in, self-guided tours. So we did. I told Hunter to be very quiet. The first thing I saw was the grand organ. I have seen the Tabernacle Choir sing. Their voices are beautiful. I guess I never paid attention to the organ, but it is very simply, ginormous.

I grabbed my phone to take a picture, and a young woman started walking toward me. I thought oh great, here I go again, Broadway jail round two. Yes, Broadway jail is a thing. The usher overreacted. Elizabeth backed me up… Anywayyyyyy, the young woman, Eva, approached and could not have been lovelier. She has been working at the Tabernacle for about a month and explained that it was built in 1863. I told her I have been trying to relate timing to 1913 Lincoln Highway. and we continued. She said she couldn’t imagine how they built something so grand. I said, “well, the same way they built the pyramids… the aliens.” She laughed out loud and said she was going to add that to her tours. I told her the the New Yorker would get her fired. We had a good laugh. She not only let me keep my phone and take pictures. She asked if I’d like a picture with Hunter. And then the organist started practicing, and she told me to take video. She was as sweet as could be. And we got the hear the organ! It was amazing!

Hunter and I had planned to go to a diner for dinner that had been here during the Lincoln Highway era. It was up near Donner Pass. But I really wanted to go to a place called Red Iguana because I have heard amazing things about their mole. They have two locations in Salt Lake City within two miles of each other. It gets rave reviews. I negotiated with Hunter and he agreed.

We pulled up and I thought oh no, what did I get myself into. It looked shady. Then we walked in and it was amazing. It almost looked like a speakeasy inside. We were seated in a separate room in the back. People joined us later. I told the man who seated us that I had negotiated with Hunter because I needed to be there. He loved that. He said they have mole. I said that is why I need to be here. He said he would have a mole sampler sent out. Before we even had water, I had a beautiful flower shaped sampler of all their different moles. One was better than the next. I cannot even begin to explain. I had to choose one, so I went with the mango mole. I will never have anything like that again. It tasted nothing like traditional mole, but there are no words for the deliciousness.

Then Hunter and I made our way to the Great Salt Lake. We paid ten dollars to get into the state park so I could take pictures. We missed the visitor center by one minute. It was open when we got there, but I thought let us take pictures first and hit it on the way out. Silly me. All I could think was this looks like the Long Island Sound only with mountains instead of Connecticut. It is huge. It is not a lake. It is an inland ocean and that is my story.

Oh not to fear… there were still random pictures…

There was rain today, so if you know my plan for tomorrow, it has been altered. We will not be taking Skull Valley. I will explain tomorrow. Tomorrow will be much easier than planned and yes, I am greatly disappointed.

Unreliable Summary~ Canyon, Mormons, & Mole