Mountain West adventures: Day 5
THE ROOK OF MORMON
SLC -- During my morning paper run, I was very impressed with the convenience store clerk. He had no arms below the elbows, yet was able to take my $2 and return 50 cents change. I shouldn't be complaining anytihng.
Once Chad got up, we hopped on the train to the University of Utah campus. Our first stop was Rice-Eccles Stadium, the site of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics. A train ride up the hill dropped us at their basketball arena, known as the Jon Huntsman Center. (No -- you're thinking of his son.)
We walked back downhill, stopping at the student union for beverages and ducking through the Marriott Library to bypass campus construction, before returning to the stadium stop and the hotel. After lunch, we drove down to Sandy to visit the UofU team store.
We again returned to the hotel for a brief break, before returning to Sandy (this time via light rail) for evening activities.
I attended a soccer match between Réal Salt Lake and Portland. And despite the soggy program and the literally constant drumbeat of the Réal faithful, it was a pleasant experience. Forward Álvaro Saborío scored a hat trick -- including a penalty kick -- for the 3-nil victory.
Chad intended to catch the 6:15 showing of Rock of Ages, but was turned away due to a sell-out. Somehow, he was granted passage into a movie already in progress, Moonrise Kingdom. He described it as "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest for the tween set".
This allowed me to join him for the 9:15 showing. Gotta say, ever since the divorce proceedings, Tom has gone off the deep end.
As we were leaving and I was checking on my phone when the next train would leave, I noticed that the last train would arrive in 20 minutes -- and leave us three miles short. (What kind of large city shuts down its transit system before midnight on a Saturday?)
So with smartphone in hand, I arranged a pick-up location (Carl's Jr at 3W/21S) and a cab ride... only to see these two guys across the street snag our cabbie. After discussion, it turned out we were both heading downtown back to Gateway, and we'd split the fare. (In their defense, they did call the cab company first.)
SLC -- During my morning paper run, I was very impressed with the convenience store clerk. He had no arms below the elbows, yet was able to take my $2 and return 50 cents change. I shouldn't be complaining anytihng.
Once Chad got up, we hopped on the train to the University of Utah campus. Our first stop was Rice-Eccles Stadium, the site of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics. A train ride up the hill dropped us at their basketball arena, known as the Jon Huntsman Center. (No -- you're thinking of his son.)
We walked back downhill, stopping at the student union for beverages and ducking through the Marriott Library to bypass campus construction, before returning to the stadium stop and the hotel. After lunch, we drove down to Sandy to visit the UofU team store.
We again returned to the hotel for a brief break, before returning to Sandy (this time via light rail) for evening activities.
I attended a soccer match between Réal Salt Lake and Portland. And despite the soggy program and the literally constant drumbeat of the Réal faithful, it was a pleasant experience. Forward Álvaro Saborío scored a hat trick -- including a penalty kick -- for the 3-nil victory.
Chad intended to catch the 6:15 showing of Rock of Ages, but was turned away due to a sell-out. Somehow, he was granted passage into a movie already in progress, Moonrise Kingdom. He described it as "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest for the tween set".
This allowed me to join him for the 9:15 showing. Gotta say, ever since the divorce proceedings, Tom has gone off the deep end.
As we were leaving and I was checking on my phone when the next train would leave, I noticed that the last train would arrive in 20 minutes -- and leave us three miles short. (What kind of large city shuts down its transit system before midnight on a Saturday?)
So with smartphone in hand, I arranged a pick-up location (Carl's Jr at 3W/21S) and a cab ride... only to see these two guys across the street snag our cabbie. After discussion, it turned out we were both heading downtown back to Gateway, and we'd split the fare. (In their defense, they did call the cab company first.)