We did take the time to stop by a local geological controversy: the infamous "Uplift Dome". One can see from the surface that this strange site contains rock discontinuous with that in the rest of the park: the stone flows have been twisted in concentric rings, and these are the only tilted strata in the area. Geologists disagree whether this appearance was created by a salt dome pushing up from an ancient sea that has since eroded away to reveal only the rising core, or if perhaps these convolutions are the last remains of a heavily eroded meteor crater.
My father, resident geological authority, dismisses the ancient meteor impact-site theory as so much nonsense.
Academic controversy observed, we continue onwards and spend some time staring over the edges of many sharp cliffs.
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Note that it really is an Island in the Sky - it feels like one is looking down on the landscape as if from an airplane. Perhaps this was the first chance many of our pre-flight predecessors truly felt that they were flying without ever actually leaving the ground.
The rain eventually drizzles away. The storm blows East into Colorado, and we travel North and out from underneath the storm. It leaves us with only a rainbow.
As we arrive in Salt Lake, the wind picks up again, and there is a dust storm. Truly fantastic to watch it blot out the sun, and cast long, muted red shadows across the countryside.
We see Andrew and Marian and Daniel one more time, and reward young Daniel with a colorful plush dinosaur from the Price museum's gift shop. We again find that time flies in their company as the conversation again wanders in that very Grinnellian way from science to religion to art and literature, somehow still managing to keep every beat in course and all of it relevant and connected.
As a result, we leave their home rather later in the evening to begin our search for a cheap motel to spend the night. In most major cities, this would prove no difficulty as the airport is usually surrounded by the things - a deer at bay by wolves. Salt Lake City proves surprising again, and we must hunt along the outer edge of Loop 215 until we finally find a small pack.
When we do pull over, we find that the first motel we enter is literally booked completely solid just as I walk in through the door. The second hotel has a room available, but they ask an unreasonable price for a single night. It is late, and all parties need sleep to rise and fly the next day. It is here that I learn an important lesson in modern commerce: I remove nearly twenty dollars from the woman's quoted price merely by asking if they have a more reduced or reasonable rate, as I am willing to continue searching for their nearby competitors. Haggling is still alive and well in capitalist America, and the only fixed price is the one you are willing to pay.
It is rather more of a hotel room than I had expected. For only a little more than our first night on the edge of SLC, we find wireless internet access, a bed larger than any I have slept in, two televisions, and a living room with a couch and a loveseat. Too bad that everyone is too tired and leaving too early the next morning to truly appreciate it.
| back to day five | whole week | onward to day seven |