Looking forward to proper beds

Today the RV goes back to Cruise America, so there was much wailing as vain attempts were made to stuff personal kit into bags. Some of us had multiple bags within bags, which may have helped or hindered. Of course, the accumulation of cuddly toys at national parks has created a challenge. Somehow everything seemed to disappear, meaning either that it has been packed or has been lost.

The last items of excessive food purchases (eg catering packs of rice, multiple cans of tomatoes), were left at campground reception for the poor and needy, although judging by the size of the other RVs (and some of their occupants) poverty is a scarce commodity round here. The journey to Salt Lake City was taken at modest speed to avoid refuelling before reaching the RV depot. The actual journey was mostly dull, with the only entertainment being the numerous large advertising boards, promoting such things as ER departments and all-natural breast augmentation (and possible resulting buttock reduction?). About 10 miles out from the depot, however, came the comment from Les "I think I am getting a migraine". Groan. We thought he might make it, as we were so close, but this was not to be. Unfortunately, this meant trying to find a service station quickly. These did indeed come quickly but without any warning, so we missed them. This coupled with roadworks on the hard shoulder meant we were a bit stuck and with Les saying "this is becoming dangerous now because I can't see" the panic set in. Thankfully, the hard shoulder miraculously reappeared, and Les screeched to a halt, trying to avoid the large amount of debris (burst tyres etc) and the wall of the freeway as it was so narrow. It was a bit hair-raising as large trucks thundered passed inches from the mirrors, but with a change of drivers (thank heavens Charlotte had been putting in the hours) we were soon on our way once again, joining the freeway somehow, and reaching the depot to dispose of the hideous van, very thankful of the satnav.

Then began a diatribe of complaints to the Cruise America rep, regarding the shabby condition of the vehicle when issued to us. He seemed remarkably blasé about this, and immediately agreed to a 10% refund of the hire fee - we should have asked for more. Another customer had no better opinion than we did.

A suspiciously unmarked taxi, recommended by the Cruise America chap and lurking on the street, took us to our hotel, no doubt at an inflated fare (although we did check that before the journey). Fortunately our room was ready so we could check in at 11:00 am. We are on the 10th floor and have a city view ("I expect a view"). Our bags pretty quickly exploded into the room, as a minor panic ensued regarding various stashes of cash. The problem was that one party member had forgotten that he had originally carried some of it, and another member had forgotten that she had actually packed it this time. The result was the spreading of bag contents across both beds, until the loot was located in the bag of the person who had squirrelled it away and then very quickly erased the relevant memory.

Much relieved, and with the cash secured in the hotel safe (after a minor incident involving lack of comprehensive instructions provided to the party member wanting to lock it, and lack of patience from that party member in following the instructions - this nearly resulted in a call to reception to unlock the safe, but luckily the party member, having not followed the instructions, had not in fact locked the safe...), we set off into the town for lunch. We found the City Creek shopping mall to be delightful, with the eponymous artificial creek flowing languidly through it, bordered with lush vegetation and containing numerous trout. Salad and sandwiches purchased from a bakery were excellent, as we sat in the shade outside. We then popped into Harmons grocery (very nice indeed) for fruit and went back to the hotel to eat it.

The city centre is of course dominated by huge buildings associated with the Mormons. If nothing else, they seem to be very good gardeners, as Temple Square is beautiful with well designed and maintained flower beds.

The rest of the afternoon was largely spent on toiling uphill in the hot sun to the State Capitol, a very impressive building faced inside with grey marble. Not much going on though - no politicians to be seen, perhaps they are all on holiday.

The bags are mostly repacked now and we are getting ready to go out for dinner, most likely at an Italian place we spotted earlier. It's a very nice city and well worth the visit.

ADDENDUM: We had a lovely meal in City Creek again (also featuring cocktails!), and admired the lights and gushing fountains, which had been designed by the designer of the Bellagio Fountain in Vegas - a lovely end to the day.