Day 26: Utah to Nevada

Friday, May 1

View Day 26 in a larger map

As we pulled into the hotel the night before, we’d noticed that Wicked was playing across the street at the Capitol Theater. Since we’re both big fans of that musical, we discussed staying in town through Saturday morning and trying to get tickets to Friday night’s show. However, a few phone calls revealed that not only was the show sold out, but that scalped tickets were way too expensive, so we decided to just keep on driving.

Salt Lake City

Before we left, we drove around Salt Lake City for a while. It’s a very pretty town, and very well kept. (Or else we just didn’t find the run-down areas.) We were surprised to see a couple of big tour groups, which we weren’t expecting, and we also saw that Gray Line Tours operates daily tours here. Interestingly, the city is dominated by churches, and not just the Church of Latter Day Saints. In some parts of town, it seemed like there was a church on every corner. But the LDS church is by far the biggest and most conspicuous presence, with a temple, a huge conference center, an office building for their headquarters, and a large genealogical research library all in close proximity to one another downtown. 

Despite that enormous presence, Mormon strictures do not dominate Salt Lake City the way they used to. There are several decent coffee places, and the stringent liquor laws that used to exist (for instance, the one requiring that only “private clubs” can serve alcohol) are being relaxed.

The Utah statehouse is particularly impressive, even as compared to the capitol buildings of other states. We approached it from the south side, on State Street. As you approach it, trees on both sides of the street form arches, blocking you from a full view of the capitol ... so when you’re finally past the trees, the statehouse rises up suddenly, with the words “State of Utah” emblazoned beneath the dome. Very cool.

We had lunch at Indian Market & Grill, an Indian / Pakistani place serving average curries. There was basically one employee, who was running around like crazy when he had four tables occupied. Fortunately, we were the first ones to arrive.

We stopped at the Raw Bean for a pretty good cup of coffee, before heading out.

Nevada

Sandy hadn’t slept well the previous night, so Zahid took the first shift and we headed west on I-80. Zahid drove as far as Elko, Nevada, with Quadrophenia as the soundtrack. If you don’t know that album, it’s a classic that Zahid listens to over and over. And over.

When we reached Elko, we grabbed fast food at a place called Arctic Circle, which was, well, decent fast food. The restaurant hypes their shakes, but the shake Zahid had was mediocre. (Yes, Zahid’s supposed to be eating healthily. He didn’t finish either the shake or the fries, if that makes you feel better.) We then gassed up, switched drivers, and headed west.

The Great Salt Desert

The El Dorado

Toward Reno, we debated whether to push through to get home, or to stop in Reno for the night. It would have made a difference of about 2 hours, which was just enough of a difference that we decided not to push forward. We made a reservation at the El Dorado Hotel and Casino (Priceline had failed us, not finding any rooms available for the night) just as we were heading into Reno.

The El Dorado is a typical casino, which is to say, it’s a big contrast from the roadside hotels we’d stayed in. Even the fancier places like the Monaco or Hyatt Regency can’t match the El Dorado (or any other Reno hotel/casino) for flashiness. We paid a little more than we’d paid for most of our hotel stays.

For the last night of our trip, we picked a hotel

with a different aura from any of the previous ones.

As it turns out, it was worthwhile. When we first showed up, we were booked into a smoking room. We called down to complain, and they asked us to come back to the front desk to pick up keys to a different room. When we got there, after a brief conference between the front desk staff, they realized they didn’t have a comparable non-smoking room. Instead, they upgraded us to a very nice corner suite—one of the more comprehensively appointed rooms we’ve stayed in. We were impressed with the front desk’s determination to satisfy the customer even if it meant a significant room upgrade. It was probably a pretty painless switch for them, as it was late and the suite probably wouldn’t have been rented out that night anyway, but we appreciated the gesture.