Starling Travel

I spent all of last week reminiscing about Lagoon, a Utah amusement park. The old photographs reminded me of how excited I was to go to Lagoon as a child. You can see the series here:

• Pick Me! » Lagoon 1973 (Part 1 of 7)

• Pick Me! » Lagoon 1973 (Part 2 of 7)

• Pick Me! » Lagoon 1973 (Part 3 of 7)

• Pick Me! » Lagoon 1973 (Part 4 of 7)

• Pick Me! » Lagoon 1973 (Part 5 of 7)

• Pick Me! » Lagoon 1973 (Part 6 of 7)

• Pick Me! » Lagoon 1973 (Part 7 of 7)

It’s strange for me to go to Lagoon as an adult and not see the Lagoon of my past. In most respects, the park is far better than it was when I was a child, but my eyes still see the ghosts of the past. I think to myself, “The slides used to be here. The fun house used to be there.” I can’t walk along the pathways without remembering the Lagoon of my youth.

Today is Utah’s Pioneer Day. It’s also called Days of ’47. Really, us locals just call it July 24th. For me, it’s just an excuse to fly a Utah flag and set off some fireworks. Here are some resources if you would like to know more:

• About.com – Utah’s Pioneer Day

• Days of 47 Rodeo

• Events – 2006 — Days of 47

I spent so many summers in Billings, Montana instead of Salt Lake that Pioneer Day feels like a gratuitious holiday. I remember working at K-Mart and listening to the other checkers complaining that they had to work on July 24th. It seemed perfectly logical to me because K-Mart isn’t a Utah-based company. The idea that we would get paid for a local holiday never even crossed my 16-year old mind, yet all those checkers were eager to complain at the injustice.

Next time you’re planning a trip in July, you might want to consider bringing your family to Salt Lake City, Utah for July 24th. There are parades, fireworks, and women dressed up like Laura Ingalls. Afterward, you can take the kids to Lagoon, which is almost as good as Busch Gardens. Okay, the more I talk about this idea the worse it sounds to me. Let’s try again…

If you like setting things on fire, you should move to Salt Lake City, because we allow fireworks TWICE during the month of July. Of course, there’s always Wyoming…

This year, the Snowbird Rock and Blues Festival is on July 28th and 29th. You can see the lineup here:

• Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort – Rock & Blues Festival

This year, the only band I’ve heard of is Los Lobos, but really it’s not about headlining bands. It’s about enjoying the music in the mountains. I’ve found Snowbird to be one of the most relaxing places to be in the summer. For 60 bucks, you can have two days of music, mountains and relaxation.

Check it out…

This time of year, there are lines all day and into the evening at Iceberg Shakes. The hot weather brings us Utahns out to partake of the creamy goodness. At times, people will wait in line for forty-five minutes for their shake. Iceberg is beloved all over town.

When you read the first review of the Iceberg on Citysearch, however, you get another view entirely:

“Oreo? I went to the iceberg ready for a good shake. I ordered an Oreo shake and I think the only Oreo that got in the cup could have been a speck of dirt. There was nothing in my shake. Thinking it was a fluke I went back, and again ordered an Oreo shake. Well much to my suprise this one was poor as well. I don’t think the shakes were good at all. I say keep looking!”

I have to agree. The quality of the shakes is variable. What you get one day will be entirely different than you get the next. I used to order pistachio shakes and got a vanilla shake with some pistachios in it. Then out of the blue, one day, I got a bright green pistachio flavored shake with NO nuts. (?!) I came back a week later and ordered a pistachio shake and got the vanilla and nut variety. It was such a hassle to get something consistent that I have stopped going there entirely.

Yet, the restaurant is BELOVED! The lines form every day with people clamoring for the “famous” shakes. I don’t quite understand it, but that doesn’t make it any less of a Utah tradition. If you come to Salt Lake City, you MUST stop at Iceburg and have a very variable and maybe even displeasing shake. It’s the rules, you know.

Where: Iceberg Drive-Inn

• The Original Location (pictured here): 3906 South 900 East Holladay, Utah 84124 Google Map
• 673 East 12300 South Draper, Utah 84020 Google Map
• 1519 West 5400 South Taylorsville, Utah 84123 Google Map
• 692 West 10600 South South Jordan, Utah 84095 Google Map

The Utah Arts Festival was SO much fun this year. There were so many local artists that we recognized that it really felt like a hometown arts festival again. Last year, there were fewer booths , but this year there were so many that I wasn’t able to highlight them all on this video.

This video is just over three minutes long, but it gives you an idea of the wide range of art that was on display this year. Ironically, I missed the film section of the arts festival. We were hot, exhausted and tired when we realized that there was a whole section of the festival in the library that we missed.

Next year, we’ll see it…

Where: The Utah Arts Festival Official Website

At Library Square Google Map and Festival Map

List of the 2006 Awards Winners

Music: ProtoFunk via Royalty Free Disco Music

This is an entirely different view of Snowbird, Utah than I’m used to seeing. Mike and I usually only frequent Snowbird during the summer, walking its trails and trying to feed Cheese Nips to ground squirrels. This winter wonderland looks like a fantasy to me.

It’s funny how one part of the world can mean different things to different people. I loved watching this video from Ridertech.com. It showed me a snippet of my stomping grounds in a whole new light.

After getting past Elephant Hill in Stacey and Dan’s Hummer, we finally arrived to our campsite at Devil’s Kitchen. When I saw how far back it was from the main thoroughfare and enjoyed its private enclosure away from other campers and nearly surrounded by rock, I KNEW that the ride up was worth it.

As soon as we set up camp, I took a video of what our camp looked like. The campsite marker was by the road and we parked the bright yellow Hummer nearby, but the actual campsite was hidden past a small trail flanked by rock and vegetation. It took a full minute’s walk to get down the trail enough to find our campsite.

There have been so many times when we have camped in huge communal campsites, but this area felt entirely private. Sure, there were three other campsites, but each were separated from us by stone. Mike and I are completely unable to get to this campsite without the Hummer and suddenly the reason that people go off-roading became strikingly clear to me.

Off-roading takes you places that no one else can go.

For more information:

• America’s Byways – Devil’s Kitchen

I thought off-roading was a bouncy bunch of guys in Jeeps screaming and yelling while they go over the rocks all liquored up and willing to shoot at anything that moves. About a year ago, Stacey and Dan bought a Hummer H3. They have been taking it off-roading all over the state, but Mike and I have only gone with them once on a really minor 15 minute drive. I avoided off-roading because I had this pre-conceived image of what off-roading entails.

Instead, off-roading is a slow, meticulous and calculating journey. They were constantly checking where it was best to go in order not to damage the vehicle. This 1:52 minute video shows what off-roading was like for my introduction.

The drive was 45 minutes of careful driving, but once we got to Devil’s Kitchen, I knew it was totally worth it. Our campsite was remote and private. Tune in on Monday to see a video of what it looked like.

For More Information on our route:

• WeBeJeepin.com – Elephant Hill

37Signals had an interesting conversation about city planning and how streets are set up:

• Fly on the Wall: Pleasant River – Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals)

Utah does have a unique method of naming their streets. I used to live on Bard Lane, which sounds poetic in a Shakespearean sort of way, but in reality, it was 1325 West. Not so poetic now, huh?

The numbering system stems from the Salt Lake City Temple. Like a piece of graph paper, the temple is (0,0) and all the numbers advance from there. North of the temple, the streets are named North Temple, 200 North, 300 North and so on. South of the temple, they are named South Temple, 200 South, 300 South and so on. East of the temple, they are named State Street, 200 East, 300 East, etc. West of the temple, they are named West Temple, 200 West, 300 West, etc.

So, when I lived at 8305 South Bard Lane (1325 West), I lived 8305 blocks south of the temple and 1325 blocks west of the temple. It’s a great system, even if you’re not LDS. After a few years of living here, you eventually forget that the founders of the town set up the temple as the center of the universe and just use the grid system to your advantage.

The grid system in Utah makes getting around the city a breeze. Next time you plan a visit to Salt Lake City (or any of the towns in Utah), take a moment to look at the map and understand the grid system. It will make your traveling much easier.

Every year it happens. The sunny weather fools the tulips into coming out of the earth. As soon as they bloom, the tempermental sky dumps a foot of snow on them. Luckily, they’re hearty.

This 54 second video was taken on April 3rd, 6th and 7th, showing the process that happens every year. When I see the tulips popping out of the ground, I want to tell them to go back in. They’ve been fooled and winter is FAR from over.