Saturday, October 9, 2010

Utah Road Trip - Day 03

Last night John asked the clerk at the Ramada about a Mexican place he had heard of from another lady standing a long line to register. The clerk tried to convince him that the Ramada restaurant would be much better, especiallly since it was Prime Rib night. But, get there before 7pm or they will be sold out. However, the other lady in line assured him that the Mexican place was very good. Linda had already nixed the smokey Ramada restaurant. Indeed, the Mexican place, El Marques, was popular and thus seemed extra slow in bringing our orders to the table. Finally, our waitress appeared again and asked if there was anything else we would like before we got our check. "Our dinners, please" Linda said hungrily. It seemed ironic and extra funny that John and Linda had just seen the same situation on a TV show called "Undercover Boss". When we did get our dinners they were good.

Just a few more words about the Casino where we stayed in Tonopah. As we were waiting for the elevator in the smoke-infused lobby we saw a sign just to the left of the elevator door. "Oh, we must remember to take a photo of that before we leave" one of us said. Of course, we were both so anxious to get out of there this morning that we both forgot but it was something to the effect of "Bad Service, Crummy Food, Come Back and See Us Soon" We thought that pretty well summed it up. Actually, as you can see from the photo gallery, there were some cute decorations with the silver mining theme. And it is a quaint historic town. We just don't care to stay in a smokey place up 3 flights of stairs with a pet. And Fannie Mae was really confused by the carpet and the distance to a potty break. Linda was on early call this a.m. so she put Fannie on her leash and headed out the door. Fannie made it about 6 feet and decided that the exotic plant design of the carpet qualified as outside (Linda came back and Nature's Miracled it later). Then they went outside for the 2nd part of Fannie's potty break.

In the department of things that wouldn't have happened at home: John had a startling saline surprise when he took his pills this morning. Linda had saved the salty water from her Neti Pot in case she decided to gargle before departure. And the inconsiderate Ramada had provided no HIS and HERS water glasses.

We feasted at the Golden Arches for breakfast on our way out of town. Linda told John that she had heard a rumor that seniors could get coffee at a special price. "OK, you order some for yourself then" he said, sounding very doubtful. So Linda dutifully ordered a yogert and fruit parfait, an OJ and a senior coffee. The trainee had no problem with punching in any of that so John rattled off his order followed by "And one of those senior coffees". When we got the print out it showed that 2 count them TWO Senior Coffees totaled $1.00. What a deal. And it does not show up on the menu. But apparently lots of seniors know about it. There were 2 other couples in there who also got Senior Coffees. And other people (who obviously were seniors) who either didn't know about it or were above asking for Senior Coffee. While at the Golden Arches Linda also got the scoop on the homecoming game for THS Tonopah High) which had been the previous evening. The stadium was right across from the Ramada and you could hear some of the plays being announced from outside the casino. Linda asked a young girl with a Tonopah sweatshirt on who won the game last night. She proudly reported "The Muckers!" (Tohopah Muckers). Luckily the sweatshirt also had the word Muckers on it so Linda knew what she meant. She wanted to ask "What kind of mascot is a Mucker?" but decided that they probably have enough problems with that name as a mascot without having strangers ask about it.

We pulled out of Tonopah at 8:24 a.m. with a temperature of 49 degrees. We were soon in the midst of open range for cattle, lots of scrub and very scenic mountains in the distance. Soon more Joshua trees appeared. These seemed much younger and further apart than the ones we saw yesterday.

There were so many different formations of rocks and mountains all the way to today's destination: Cedar City, Utah. It really makes you wish to have a geologist in the car with you. Where's a Peter Anderson when you need one? It's been a long time since Linda took geology at Texas Tech in the '60s. For example, boom, here were all these rounded rocks that were piled up into hills. What made them so rounded and how did they get plastered together into those shapes?

Soon John noticed there were lots and lots of Cedars. Hmmmm, we were on the way to Cedar City, so that made a lot of sense. And, many are large enough to hide behind (man or woman) and relieve yourself alongside the highway. After that we came to the Utah state line and left Nevada 319 and were on Utah 56. As we approached Cedar City there continued to be lots of cedar trees and more and more colorful rocks. We checked into a Quality Inn and were soon faced with a flood from the refrigerator that the previous guest had unplugged and thus defrosted. The front desk was happy to help out so we were able to use the refrigerator to refreeze our water bottles for the cooler.

We found a park to give Fannie some excercise since she had mostly been cooped up for our second day of being in Wilma for a long time. She appreciated the chance to stretch her legs and run around like a wild puppy for a while. She loves to chase her monkey on a string and it really wears her out.

We ate dinner at an IHOP a few blocks from our motel. There was a whole busload of kids returning home to Nevo (wherever that is) from the Utah Shakespeare Festival. They were obviously having a good time and were also very well behaved. Linda noticed that they had names embroidered at the bottom of their jackets on the back - names like David, Lisa, Thomas, etc. Then along came one whose jacket said Broccoli. There's got to be a story there somewhere.

Just a few pictures today and you can view them by clicking here. Just wait, future days promise a wealth of imaages.

Linda's Teabag Tidbit for Today: The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook. (William James 1842-1910) on a Good Earth green tea tea bag.

John's Pot-Shot for today was not random.

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