Night 6 - Salt Lake City

It was snowing when we got into SLC, which was apparently as much of a surprise to the local weatherman as it was to us. Day six was about the drive, so night 6 would be about the sleep. We would stay in, catch up on the blogs, and watch a little TV. Seeing Salt Lake city would have to wait for another trip.

Then, at 9pm it happened. We got hungry, having not eaten since the McDonald's in Rock Springs, Wyoming that afternoon. We found a Chinese place listed as being nearby the hotel, but our iPhones failed us yet again, as no such place existed. We found more chinese places a bit further East and headed that way- toward downtown SLC. We should have probably stayed in and eaten at the hotel restaurant, but we all of a sudden had a hankering for chinese.

The main street in northern SLC, 600 street, is eight lanes wide inbound - one way. This bizarrely wide street was also bizarrely empty for a major city street at 9:30pm, and the place only got more desolate after a turn down state street, where the lights got low, and the buildings got more run down. The only thing open at this time on this street were far too many tattoo parlors. There were a few chinese places in this area, and after finding the first few closed, we resigned to go back to the hotel for a late late dinner. Again, probably what we should have done.

It sat on the corner, glowing a faint yellow, most of its interior lights out, with just two cars parked out front. The Panda had one very important light still lit- the "Open" sign. We quickly parked, checked the hours, and saw that it was in fact open. We went in to find one woman inside cleaning up, who said she would even serve us! We ordered some wonton soup, dumplings, lo mein, and a dish that appeared to be "General-Tso's Chicken"-like. The food came out in reverse order, and was largely disappointing. we finished up and paid the check as Leno started interviewing his first guest, about 10:45 in the mountain time zone.

So our experience in Salt Lake City involved nothing Mormon, nothing, Salt Lake, and nothing you're actually supposed to do there. We will still have to hit it on another trip to give it its due.

A short drive back to the hotel, we booked our hotel in Tahoe, and hit the hay. Tomorrow we had a land speed record to break.