Flashbacks

So I got lazy the past two days and failed to blog. As such, I'll try to recount them with the most detail I can muster.

Cheyenne, WY (Saturday):
There really wasn't much to do in this dry, dusty, cowboy town, whose "downtown" area's main attraction was a large visitor's center (closed by the time we got there at 6 pm). At least dinner was good. We happened upon Guadalajara Family Mexican Restaurant, which was located on a long street of chain restaurants, gas stations, Walmart, Target, and a few other big box stores. Even though we arrived at 5:30 (the earliest dinner we'd had in a very long time), there were already a number of people there, and only a few of them were senior citizens. The menu offered many options, but I ended up getting a huge plate with some carne asada, a chicken enchilada smothered with black mole, refried beans, salad, and tortillas. I wolfed it all down. And had a glass of horchata, too.

Afterwards, we walked around the aforementioned downtown. Apparently, we just missed "Cheyenne Frontier Days," a festival of some sort that took place in July. Here are some pictures of the most interesting things we saw: big boots painted by various artists (same idea as the "Cows on Parade" in Chicago)and a huge Wrangler store (with a humongous selection of cowboy boots inside).


Salt Lake City, Utah:
Like Ivan has already said, dinner in SLC was fantastic. Chanon Thai is somewhat hidden in the middle of a residential area, one of four storefronts in a tiny strip mall. While the pad thai and pork really hit the spot, my favorite parts of the meal were the appetizer and dessert. The starter: a crunchy green papaya salad with perfectly balanced sweet, salty, spicy flavors. The sweet ending: a homemade coconut ice cream whose slightly icy texture and rich, intensely coconut-y flavor made me think it was made with little more than coconut milk and sugar. Even better, it was served with two crisply fried banana-filled egg rolls. Who knew great Thai food could be found in Salt Lake City!

The drive away from the city this morning was picturesque in an eerie way. On first glance, the landscape seemed like it could've made for a great winter postcard, what with the blanket of white stretching along for miles on the ground. Except that, if you looked closer, the mountains were covered in brown rather than white and the "snow" was actually salt. At a quick stop at the gas station next to the Bonneville Speedway, we saw quite a few salt(and rust)-encrusted salt buggies. Seems like it would be fun to drive one of those, but also pretty dirty. The gas station (a pretty small one) had a shower and laundry machines inside. Pretty efficient, if you ask me!

Now we're in Reno and it's nearly time for dinner. More on that, later.