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July 22, 2011 10 Comments

Be-Utah-ful

I flew to Utah knowing next to nothing about Utah. It looks like flat, purple, six-sided blob on the map, so I was surprised by how beautiful and not purple it was. Did you know they have mountains in Utah? Lots and lots of mountains? As I have proven in the past, I have no clue where mountains are. I would never have made it as a pioneer.

I flew to Utah to visit my friend Jen and meet two other blogger friends/clients, Rachel and Kalyn. Utah is evidently blogger central. Some highlights:

Shooting Star Saloon

Money on the ceiling

This is the oldest saloon in Utah, yet it didn’t feel like a tourist spot, just a neighborhood bar. A neighborhood bar with the stuffed head of a moose head and the stuffed head of the owner’s Saint Bernard on the wall, as well as a couple hundred dollars stapled to the ceiling.

According to the bartender, whose daughter has the exact same birthday as me down to the year (They check ID!), the first dollar on the ceiling was from a regular going off to war. He gave it to them so he could still drink if he was ever broke. A dollar was a lot of money back then. Anyway, the soldier came back from the war shell-shocked and eventually they put the dollar up in honor of him. After that they started putting more dollars up to memorialize other people, and now the ceiling has a zillion of George Washington’s eyes staring down at you. At least they don’t blink. That would be creepy.

Mormons!

I couldn’t go to Salt Lake City without checking out the Mormons. My Mormon friend took me to the official visitor’s center next to the temple, which is where I encountered this dude praying to a big Jesus statue in an atrium:

Space Jesus

My Mormon friend was careful to take me aside and whisper, “He’s not one of us!” I think she was rather embarrassed. Mormons don’t pray to statues, so we don’t know what this guy’s deal was.

The Great Salt Lake

Salt Lake

We had to crawl over a pile of rocks that I nicknamed “The Ankle-Breakers” to get to the salt lake. Then on the way back we saw a much more convenient and less treacherous dirt path that was only a few yards away. While I’m glad I got to see the salt lake, it’s not a place I want to visit ever, ever again. It stank and it was rank. Oh, and there are brine flies. Hundreds and hundreds of brine flies.

Brine flies

You see all those dark spots in the photo above? They look like they’re just dark sand particles, but no, they’re swarms of brine flies. I’d never heard of a brine fly until I looked down and saw them swarming around my feet and I FREAKED THE FUCK OUT. I looked exactly like Pig Pen in the Peanuts cartoons. I went tearing away from the lake immediately, peeling off more and more flies as I fast-walked the other way.

We also drove down to the marina to get a better look at the lake. It didn’t have brine flies, but the rocks around the edge of the marina were the home to dozens and dozens of spiders. Nasty looking spiders. Big spiders. I’m pretty sure they were evil. They probably eat the brine flies, which was the only good thing I could say about them.

Mountain hike

Mountain woman

So, after the terror of the salt lake, I went on a hike with Jen and her dogs. However, I was not used to the altitude and I haven’t been able to walk as much lately because of my tendonitis, so I ended up panting as much as the dogs. If I hadn’t brought a bottle of water, I probably would have lapped at the stream with them too. On the bright side, my foot didn’t hurt afterward so I think those orthotics are really working.

Jamboree

Jamboree

Jen also took me to a Jamboree which was supposed to start at 5, but didn’t actually start until 6, so we got really good seats. No wait, we didn’t. We were obviously newbies to the jamboree scene since we were the only people without big tents or umbrellas to block the sun. Nor did we have coolers of water or sunscreen. Fortunately we sat in the one halfway shaded area of the stands next to a family of people who had attended jamborees before and explained what was going on to us city folk.

The jamboree was a competition between eight horse-riding groups of adolescents. They got to show off their horsemanship skills in various ways. This included balancing golf balls on spoons, fetching water back and forth across the girls, and making tight turns in a keyhole pattern chalked out on the ground. There was presumably something involving barrels too, but we left before that because we were hungry and didn’t want to buy three-dollar hot dogs. During the entire event they played patriotic music and country songs, until one moment when “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga came on. She really is everywhere, isn’t she?

Fireworks

This had nothing at all to do with Salt Lake City and everything to do with my friends’ desire to play with explosives. Every year they have a fireworks party where you have to build a centerpiece based on a theme, which you blow up. This year’s theme was “The World.” Here was my creation:

It depicts a troll trying to conquer the world. The green army men are doing a valiant job trying to protect the earth, but the only way to truly eliminate this pink-haired menace is by lighting the fireworks strapped to his back. I’m so fancy, my centerpiece had a narrative! There were several other cool creations, some of which involved creepy clown heads. This made me wonder what you’re actually supposed to do with creepy clown heads and why anyone was selling them in the first place.

Tiki hut and scary clown head

Pop Goes the World

The lighting of the fireworks was both thrilling and terrifying. I kept far back from the explosives, but that didn’t stop one from shooting up in the air…and then down onto the patio beside me. I ran away, and though I don’t remember this, I evidently elbowed Jen out of the way as I was fleeing. It was my survival instinct, not my desire to throw my friends under the fallout, I swear.

Flying Barbie

The second most thrilling moment came when Jetpack Barbie made a hairpin turn onto the roof and nearly set the house on fire. Thank goodness the roof wasn’t flammable. Barbie, however, is still up there. As soon as we find Firewoman Barbie and a ladder, someone will fetch her, I’m sure.

The aftermath

So, a good time was had by all! Utah, you were surprisingly fun and gorgeous, like a fantastic blind date. I wouldn’t mind seeing you again.

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Leave a Comment (10) Read more about: great salt lake, jamboree, mormons, mountains, salt lake city, travel, utah, vacation

Jennette Fulda is the author of:

Chocolate & Vicodin: My Quest for Relief from the Headache that Wouldn't Go Away

"Smart, unflinchingly honest, and laugh-out-loud funny."

- Lisa Genova, New York Times best-selling author of Still Alice

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Comments

  1. Kalyn says

    July 22, 2011 at 9:28 am

    It was fun having lunch with you. I’m glad you got to see some of the tourist spots. The Great Salt Lake used to be quite a spot for swimming (when I was a kid; back in the olden days) but now the flies are legendary. Hope you do come back soon!

    Reply
  2. Jaime says

    July 22, 2011 at 12:26 pm

    I was just in Salt Lake City the last week of June! Isn’t it purty? My brother-in-law has a gorgeous view of the mountains from his backyard, and I can’t imagine seeing that every day.

    Reply
  3. Maureen says

    July 22, 2011 at 1:06 pm

    That last picture looks WAY too much like the backyard of the crazy kid from the first Toy Story movie.

    http://thedisneyvault.tumblr.com/post/161076536/flickflickflicker-toy-story-1995-thats

    You better hope Woody doesn’t hear about this! Hee hee hee.

    Glad you had a fun trip!

    Reply
  4. Alison W says

    July 22, 2011 at 1:17 pm

    What a fun vacation! All the cool things you need for a fun trip. But the spiders, the spiders! I’m terrified of spiders- that would give me nightmares for days.

    Reply
  5. Jenni says

    July 26, 2011 at 1:56 pm

    I am glad to hear you had a good time in my state. I think it is nice too : ) But I would have told to avoid going to near the water at the GSL, because those flies are the grossest pieces of shit ever!

    Reply
  6. Kate says

    July 30, 2011 at 8:32 pm

    You are a riot. I love reading your stuff.

    Reply
  7. LauraJayne says

    August 2, 2011 at 8:51 pm

    As a non-Mormon Utahn, I totally cracked up reading this post! Love it and if you come back, you should meet THIS blogger too!

    Reply
  8. Rachel says

    August 5, 2011 at 6:49 pm

    I cracked up at your description of the brine flies. Totally hilarious, even after seeing it happen in real life. I’m glad we got together while you were here! Drop me a line if you’re ever in town again. And yes, I was embarrassed by Sir Prays-A-Lot. I told my parents about that later, and they were like, “Did you tell her he wasn’t a Mormon?” Haha!

    Reply
  9. Caren Nelson says

    August 22, 2011 at 2:31 pm

    Wow, I am a newbie…I just bought and started reading “Vicodin and Chocolate”, but I feel like we should be BFFs. Allow me to quickly explain: I am a chronic pain sufferer (migraines and fibromyalgia), I NEED to lose 100 pounds (that book is next on my list) I just moved TO Utah FROM Fishers, Indiana.

    I swore I was just going to a lurker for a while and not comment, but when I saw you were in Utah and even went to temple square, I had to comment! Can’t wait to finish your book so I will get off the computer now, but I’ll be back! Thanks for the insight and laughs :o)

    Reply
  10. Cindy says

    September 12, 2011 at 6:16 pm

    I am really glad you enjoyed your time in Utah. Those spiders may eat brine flies but that’s what’s the most evil about them. The get their evil from the brine flies. Basically they are God’s punishment for letting us live so close to the mountains. lol.

    Reply

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