Speed Week 2014 that never was and the vacation that almost wasn't

Welcome to Strosser Vacation 101.
First lesson: Nothing will go as planned.
Lesson 2: see lesson 1.
Congratulations-you've officially graduated from Strosser Vacation 101!

For years, Clinton has followed the story of Mickey and Danny Thompson. Mickey built a car that set land speed records on the salt flats of Bonneville, but was gunned down over a business dispute before he could compete again with his son, Danny. Danny has since returned to the racing scene with the same car to try to revive his father's legacy and set some more records. We wanted to be part of that rebuilding. At first, we deliberated whether we would go at all. Then we decided that, yes, we will go, and then the weather was iffy. Finally, on Wednesday, the SCTA posted they would delay racing, but it would still be held. We bought our plane tickets and paid for our hotel reservation We were going now, no matter what.

Friday, I dropped off the kids and the dog at Nana's and Poppy's at 6pm and returned home to finish packing my own suitcase and readying the house to be gone for 5 days. 4:00am Saturday came awfully early. We left by 4:40, only 10 minutes behind schedule. About 10 minutes into the drive, I realized we didn't have a copy of our insurance card for the car rental. We turned around to retrieve it, and then we were REALLY late All this is not a surprise to the Strosser clan, who is perpetually, by definition, late. So, we screeched to a halt in long-term parking and boarded a miraculously present shuttle at 5:31am. I checked in online, so we just had to go thru security. I whipped off my shoes, emptied my pockets, and pulled out my baggie of liquids, tossed them in the bins, and stood on the little yellow feet with my arms stretched overhead. Behind me, I heard, 'What's that on your pants, sir?" Clinton replied, "I spilled water on my lap in the car." "I'm sorry, but I have to touch it." the security guard replied. I thought we were going to miss our flight right then and there, to the tune of a $200 change fee per ticket. Turns out, that took all of a couple seconds and we were speeding through the airport. On the way, we dodged sleepy travelers and wandering toddlers, all at breakneck speed while pulling a suitcase and trying to finish tying my shoes. We skidded to a stop in front of our gate at 5:50am for a 6am flight and heard, "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Strosser! We've been waiting for you!" That's flight attendant speak for "Get your a** on the plane-You're late!" The flight attendants rebuke was nothing compared to the icy stares of our fellow passengers as we boarded the plane. I'd like to note, we arrived 10 minutes ahead of schedule in Phoenix. The layover and the rest of the flight were uneventful, thankfully! As I settled into my seat, I turned my phone off and tried to lower my heart rate and relax.

We touched down in Salt Lake City about 10am and went in search of our rental car. Our attendant had a bum foot and asked if we wanted a free upgrade to a minivan, since the compacts were parked so far away. We declined, on the basis of gas mileage and ease of parking. We settled on a black VW Jetta, just one step up from the compact we reserved, but a nice car, nonetheless They didn't even ask for my insurance card.

As we pulled out of the airport in search of Coachman's, a cash-only dive recommended by the Enterprise attendant for breakfast for their Swedish pancakes, I checked my phone. There, on the screen, was a text that changed our whole trip: "Hey, I saw the races were canceled for good. Is that true?" or something like that. We spent the rest of our time at breakfast (FANTASTIC food and atmosphere, btw) searching the SCTA website for confirmation, and yes, it was true. So now what?

I texted Clinton's cousin Lance and his brother and sister-in-law, Garrett and Charla, both of whom live in Utah, and told them we had a much freer schedule than we'd originally anticipated. I sat back and waited for a reply. While I waited, I idly perused the Utah visitors website for ideas of how to spend our 5 days, now that we wouldn't be at the track for most of them.

Danny Thompson's car in front of Montego Bay Casino

The rest of that first day was spent in a haze of disappointment and more than a little frustration. We checked into our hotel, The Crystal Inn & Suites in downtown SLC (a boon, considering it was really well appointed, the staff was nice, and I picked it sight unseen). Then we decided we'd go out to Wendover and the salt flats anyway, just to see if anybody was still hanging out. We pulled into Montego Bay casino (we stayed there 2 nights last year with the kids-gorgeous hotel!), and there in all its glory, stood Danny Thompson's car in front of the main entrance. We'd hoped to get a tshirt and get it signed by him, but it was not to be. We got a few pics of the car and spent the rest of the afternoon stalking the casino floor, but we didn't see Danny. The salt flats were essentially a lake. You couldn't really drive on them, much less set records. You can see in the pics below, where the water is-That's supposed to be dry salt.We saw some interesting people out there, including the World's Fastest Hot Tub, which pulled up next to us as we parked and asked, "Excuse me, is this carpool parking?" Clever.

"Excuse me-Is this carpool parking?"

After that, we returned to the casino, ate a $50 buffet and then headed out to walk it off. We ran across an impromptu car show across the street at another casino. They had all kinds of rat rods, panel trucks, hot rods and a couple of vendors of race swag, Salt Flat history, and more parked outside the hotel and in the parking garage. We took it all in, and then we decided it was time to call it a day.

on the salt flats

a streamliner parked at a hotel in Wendover

Genius decided to play in the wet salt and got stuck

At the salt flats

The next day, we met Lance and Julie at Ruth's Diner, the second oldest restaurant in Utah. They had awesome food, and the portions were HUGE. I regretted stuffing myself later when we found ourselves at Snowbird Ski Resort. We purchased an all day activity pass and rode the Alpine Slide and Coaster on toboggans and the Mountain Flyer (a type of zip line but on a chair instead of a harness), and the tram and chair lifts.
When we reached the top of the mountain, we were pelted with what I first thought was rain, but it turned out to be little ice balls. In August. Crazy.
After the 'rain' let up, we hiked around a bit and rode the chair lift down to ride the rides some more. We ate at a Mexican food restaurant at the resort and wisely chose to abide by the signs which said "Don't feed the animals. They bite!" when the chipmunks, ground squirrels and potguts came begging at our table (see video). Sunburnt, full of good food, and exhilarated from all the activity, we drove back down to SLC. Once there, after waving at all the zombies running around for Comic-con, we found a little gastropub, Gracie's, with a second story patio in downtown and drank a beer, watching the scenery and people with equal interest.

on the drive to Park City

abandoned mine building

Water tanks for abandoned mine

view of Park City from the lift

Monday, we decided to drive out to Park City, after a second breakfast at Ruth's. The drive was beautiful! Mountains, lakes, canyons, oh my! When we arrived and parked, we visited the shops and galleries on Main Street for a couple of hours and ended up at High West Whiskey Distillery for our distillery tour. We topped off the informative tour with a tasting flight of 4 whiskeys, all of which were amazing!, and then took a ride on the Town Lift up to the mountain. We hiked around, looking at all the abandoned mine buildings. As soon as we boarded the lift to come down, it started lightening and thundering. We managed to make it to the bottom, only slightly rained on. We left Park City about 5pm and headed into Provo for a dinner of Indian food with Lance, Lance's daughter Tarin, Clinton's brother Garrett, and his wife Charla and son Miles. The restaurant, Bombay House, was SO GOOD! We decided to share our entrees family style, and I didn't try one thing I didn't like! If the food was good, the conversation was great! We all had a wonderful time catching up and visiting with one another. Afterward, Clinton and I strolled up and down the street and looked in on a couple of wine bars and music venues before we called it a night.

Tuesday broke with renewed heat. For Utah folks, that means over 85 degrees in August. Phew! We had a full day ahead of us, and after a McDonald's breakfast, we drove to Ogden, Utah to Hill Air Force Base Aerospace Museum. They had SO MANY planes there. The in-depth exhibits were informative and interesting. I'd say, of all the air museums we've been to (and there have been MANY) Hill AFB is second only to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

One of the many planes we saw at Hill AFB

   

For our final destination of the trip, we chose Timpanogos Cave in American Fork Canyon-an aggressive venture, to be sure. There, we met Lance and his 3 sons, Brayden, Isaiah, and Carter. I knew right then I was out-manned and would probably fall behind. There were signs warning, "This hike is strenuous. Please rest often" or something like that. When we left Snowbird, there were signs on the exit doors stating, "Outside these doors, hazards exist. Please use caution." so I didn't take those warnings in Timpanogos quite as seriously as I probably should have. The hike to the cave is about a mile and a half. But it's almost straight up. You gain 1100 feet of altitude in that mile and a half, to end at the mouth of the cave at over 6700 feet. For a sea-level dweller, it might as well have been climbing into outer space. After about the 4th switchback, I have never been so glad to see a bench. I was already out of breath, and was ready for a break.

Seriously? You're taking my picture right now?! At least the boys look like they're having fun.

We sat down and rested until our heart rate went back down to somewhere near normal before we set out again. Before we reached the next switchback, I was seriously winded and considered going back down to the bench. Then we passed a sign that read "1/4 way". WTF?! About halfway up, you couldn't hear any sounds of civilization, only the rushing river below. And our panting. We finally managed to make it up the mountain. I SWEAR I heard "Eye of the Tiger" playing as we crested the cave entrance. It could have just been the blood rushing in my ears.

When we entered the cave, the sweat on my clothes made the 45 degree chill even colder, but after a few minutes, I didn't even notice anymore. The cave is actually 3 caves joined together by man-made tunnels. Each room or cave had flowstone formations that looked like flowing rivers in the rock and so much more. To say the cave was beautiful is an understatement! I especially enjoyed the story of how they were found and subsequently opened to the public. Some of the passages were quite narrow and required acrobatics to get through them without touching the formations-no small feat with a backpack and after the exertion of climbing the mountain. Our general consensus: What do you mean, they were playing around and found the entrance? Why would they be climbing up this far without a reason, and how would they have the energy afterward to 'play around'??

View of the canyon and mountains and the city beyond  from the mouth of the cave

Once out of the cave, it was time to descend. Even going down, the walk was quite taxing. We stopped several times to rest our knees. Once, when we were snacking on some trail mix, a waiting squirrel approached and looked expectantly at us, not unlike a predator stalking its prey. After that, it wouldn't leave us alone, threatening to climb up our legs and take what he wanted, so we decided it was time to move on. I guess that warning about feeding the wildlife on Snowbird was based on fact and also applies at Timpanogos. Shortly after that, it started raining-hard! By the time we reached the bottom, we were soaked. We stopped at a pizza buffet place on the way out of the canyon and gorged ourselves on pizza, salad, pasta and a genius culinary invention of "cookie dough pizza". SO GOOD! I wanted to take a whole one home! It was well after dark when we arrived back at our hotel, and we crashed out almost immediately.

The next morning was spent taking care of a little business on the computer-emails and such, and another breakfast at McDonald's. We packed up our things, read for a while and checked out of the hotel. After exploring North Salt Lake City, driving around, we headed to the airport and checked into our flight. We did the usual airport pastimes-reading, eating, people watching, etc.-and boarded our plane. This time, there was no rushing, no running, no icy stares, and despite a little turbulence, the flight home was uneventful. We retrieved our car and left the Austin airport about 930pm, picked up Taco Bell on the way and afterward, slept soundly in our own bed.

This was taken at the hotel, but it's what I felt like when we finally arrived home!

Even though our trip was nothing like we envisioned it when we set out, we had a terrific time! It's good to be home!