day 3: happy 4th from salt lake city!

happy 4th of july from salt lake city, utah! we started out the day in kanab, utah... leaving our hotel at about 7:45am (we had planned to leave around 6:30am, but slept through our alarm... oh well! the sleep was much needed for another day of driving!).

we first traveled through zion national park. paul had planned a great, short hike for us and the liv-meister in the middle of the park, so we were excited to get the day started! however, before we could even get to the trailhead, a ranger informed us that dogs were not allowed on the park's trails... uber bummer! we drove the rest of the way through the park and admired all of its beauty. paul has participated in 2 ncsu caldwell wilderness trips in zion, so he was happy to return... even if for a brief period of time.

the first photo below was quickly taken while passing through an amazingly-designed tunnel which had several small openings where you could briefly see the rockin' view... pun intended.

we then drove... and drove... and drove. although, i am happy to say that we did not drive as much as we did the 2 days before (only about 6 hours today). the driving really hasn't been that bad... paul and i take turns behind the wheel, and we have some excellent audiobooks that have kept us awake and entertained (we finished the first book of the hunger games today... and paul is hooked, just like i thought he would be!).

just past provo, utah, we stopped off for a late lunch at in-n-out (unfortunately, this fabulous fast food deliciousness is not available in north carolina... so we definitely enjoyed this 'last meal' of burgers... animal style with whole grilled onions, of course!).

when we pulled off the exit for in-n-out, we saw one of the fires up in the mountains... very scary! luckily, we haven't seen any others since then.

we finally arrived to salt lake city, utah in the mid-afternoon. with livi all set-up and happy in our air-conditioned hotel room, paul and i hopped on the bikes and decided to check out the city. we headed towards the famous temple and surrounding temple square. everything about it was super interesting; however, we were somewhat disappointed to learn that we wouldn't be able to get very close to the temple (it is blocked off by a rather tall wall at its entire perimeter)... but it was spectacular, nonetheless.

in case you were wondering... no, we have not adjusted to the increase in temperatures yet. we have been way too spoiled the past 5-6 years by almost-perfect weather year-round. we have been sweaty messes at the end of each day. that being said, after biking around SLC for a bit, we headed to a local brewery/pub and enjoyed a bit of the local flavor to cool down.

because we couldn't get a close-up look of the temple, paul was convinced that it as not really 'the' temple that we were looking for... he had to research the information on his iphone just to be sure... and then he found out that it was, in fact, 'the' temple... i think he is still bewildered.

after drinks we went back to the hotel for a much needed nap and snuggle with the livs. after closing our eyes for less that 30 minutes, we were up and out the door... to dinner we went! my dad recommended the red iguana... and it definitely did not disappoint. we are still stuffed from the delicious meal!

(my apologies for not taking a before picture of the meal... but we ate it way too quickly!)

after dinner, we decided to drive around the city some more. here are some of the photos that we snapped...

the capitol building overlooking the city...

the temple...

and for your daily livi dog photo... our guard dog... keeping an eye out for the fireworks!

if all goes according to plan, we are off to the great salt lake, dinosaur national monument, and eventually steamboat springs tomorrow! hope all of y'all had a very happy 4th!!

safe traveling and much love!
the mobleys