Day 3 – 5: Salt Lake City, UT, and Great Basin National Park
Fourth of July is a very big family celebration in Marla’s family. In the 22 years we’ve been together, I would say at least 10 of them have been spent Marla’s sister Kay’s hanging with family and blowing things up. Kay has 18 acres of land in Leavenworth, Kansas, and lives just close enough to the Missouri state line to make it convenient to buy the really good fireworks that aren’t available in Kansas.
Because we weren’t planning to go to Kay’s this Fourth of July, we needed to get our pyro-fix somehow. We figured that Salt Lake City, Utah might put on a decent show and it was on the way to my sister Kelly’s house in Soda Springs, California.
As it turned out, the City of Salt Lake cancelled their show due to air quality concerns (and compassion for pets). However, our AirBnb apartment happened to be in Capitol Hill, and the city capitol was within walking distance. So we packed a picnic and headed to the state capitol to see what we could see from the highest point in the city.
We had a great night! From Capitol Hill, we were able to see fireworks spring up all over the city for at least 2 hours, and the people watching was entertaining as well (who brings a cat to watch fireworks??).
The next day we headed to Great Basin National Park on the eastern side of Nevada. What a treasure this park was! No crowds, dark skies at night for incredible star-gazing, wildflower hikes, and the cleanest vaulted toilets I have ever experienced!
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