Back in the USA...2014.... Utah!!

We were home for just under 3 months and spent time with the family,  caught up with lots of friends, made sure the kids were all settled, the kitchen at Windy Harbour was renovated,

did numerous trips to Windy

and Perth, went to the beach,

the US travel wall was mounted

 the massive job of doing our US

and Australian tax

was completed, and we enjoyed many gorgeous sunsets...

and we were ready to head back the US....albeit exhausted!
We visited the US Consulate (again) for an interview and were very pleasantly surprised that they were going to let us back into their country! Morgan picked us up from Australind at 10pm on the Monday night, we stopped in to say goodbye to Kristoffer and Asha, then Joshuah and Jakeb, before Morgan dropped us off at the Domestic Terminal in Perth at 2.30am.  Unfortunately the airport didn't open till 4am so we had to sleep outside with all the other patrons...very unpleasant.
We got aisle seats for the 5 hr flight to Sydney, raced to the International Terminal with about 15 mins to spare and were delighted that the QANTAS flight was 1/2 full and we ended up with 4 seats each for the 13 hr flight to LAX.  Neither of us could sleep but at least we were able to stretch out, which was fantastic.  From LAX we collected our bags, went through Immigration and Customs (where we were asked how on earth we managed to get 6 months holiday...didn't have the heart to tell him it was actually 1 year!!!) and caught a shuttle bus to another terminal.  We had a 4 hr stopover in LA and needed all of it as it took a few hours to do all of the above.
Finally we were on our last leg to Salt Lake City, Utah...a short flight, but we flew over some very familiar, spectacular country.....and it was so good to see it all again...

Hoover Dam

Snow mountains!!!

We picked up the hire car, got straight onto the I-80 (which we preferred to the I-70 in Colorado)

and headed up the mountains to Kimball Junction where we had a condo booked for a few days.  It was a beautiful drive and it felt very comfortable to be amongst mountains and snow again. We arrived at our condo.....

just kidding...this was our condo....

The condo from the back

View from the front of the condo

View from the front of the condo

That night after approx 30 hrs of travel we were absolutely exhausted and after a quick trip to Walmart to buy tea we were in bed by 9pm! (But seriously, check out the view from the Walmart carpark!!!)

The next day Stu was up and ready for snowboarding...he had bought a pass last year for his regular ski resorts in Colorado and it included a pass to Canyons Ski Resort here in Utah, which is why we came to Utah first.  He has pretty much had the entire resort to himself and has loved it.  The hot tub here at the condo has been his best friend after a day's snowboarding, and surprisingly, the topic of us purchasing one hasn't reared it's head yet!

It's been a pretty easy transition from Australia to US this last week compared with this time last year.  So many things have come back to me....a lot of drivers still don't like to use their indicators (grrrr), the shopping trolleys still won't go sideways, I am totally confused at roundabouts (there seem to be a few in Kimball Junction (which no one indicates on) and I always look the wrong way for oncoming traffic, Walmart is still really, really cheap as is fuel and beer (God Bless America)! People still find it hard to understand us and we use so many words that people don't recognise and that's just the way it is! The painted lines on the roads are still really, really faint and pedestrians still walk out in front of you.
Oh and another thing...for the life of me I can't remember what side of the footpath I should be walking and what side of the aisle I should be pushing the shopping trolley, but I see the awkward confusion on peoples faces as I walk straight towards them as we both veer to the same side.  It kind of happens in slow motion and there's nothing I can do once I've committed myself to the "wrong" side!!!!
Yesterday we went for a drive into Salt Lake City which is only 30 mins down the mountain.  There were snow capped mountains surrounding us and it was simply breathtaking...it almost brings tears to my eyes.  The mountains are immense, grand, majestic....

I think Salt Lake City has become my favourite US city so far.  It really is spectacular...small, picturesque and surrounded by mountains.
Temple Square....

is home to the Headquarters of the Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)

Headquarters

and despite seeing snippets of South Park episodes, the Book of Mormon in Denver last year, and a visit by some parishioners to our house in Gascoyne Junction (yes Gascoyne Junction...180 kms of gravel in the middle of nowhere!!) back in the late 80's, I am still no expert!!! There are 10 acres in the city centre devoted to the Mormons with lovely gardens and buildings..it was beautiful weather and it was nice to take a stroll through the grounds.  And people were very friendly to us too.

But this was my favourite home in the city...

We made our way down to the "Energy Solutions Arena" which is the home stadium for the Utah Jazz...an NBA team

and thought we'd see if a game was on that night.  Turns out there was, so we got 2 cheap tickets...Utah Jazz vs Orlando Magic....we knew nothing about either team!

We'd seen a huge lake as we were flying into Salt Lake City and I really wanted to check it out, so after a visit to the Visitor's Centre we found out that the lake surprisingly was called Great Salt Lake!! and there was a causeway out onto an island in the lake.

 and the island was called....

so we were hopeful we'd see some antelope...unfortunately we didn't but it didn't matter as there were bison (or is that basin??)....EVERYWHERE!! And what a backdrop!  We were stunned as to how spectacular it was.

 Every turn took in a truly stunning scene...

obviously the most stunning!!

and once we reached the end of the road....

we turned back and looked across the lake to Salt Lake City....amazing.

 We headed back into Salt Lake City...a 1/2hr drive and made our way up towards Capitol Hill...

taking in some of the street art along the way...

 The State Capitol building is amazing as well...could I possibly have seen one similar in Washington DC?

 and just when we thought our day couldn't get any better, we walked outside to this view....

After leaving Capitol Hill we found a free parking spot 5 mins away from the basketball and made our way to the stadium.  Both teams are languishing down the bottom of the ladder I believe (we had to ring Joshuah to check!!) but it turned out to be a good game, with the Utah Jazz winning by 1 point with a 3 pointer being scored on the buzzer for the win!

The next morning we were up bright and early to drive into Salt Lake City to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  I have a vague memory of Mum and Dad having a record of the MTC so I really wanted to see them. 
Stu kindly gave up a morning of snowboarding to keep me company and when he rang Jakeb to tell him, the conversation went a little like this....Stu: "Jakeb, I'm giving up 1/2 a days snowboarding to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with Mum". Jakeb: "It sucks to be you!!"
 There has been a program televised every Sunday for 85 years where the choir sing a number of hymns and someone reads "The Spoken Word".  It goes for 1/2 an hour and was really lovely and I'm so glad I got to see them perform.  Stu said it wasn't too bad and he even managed to get in 5 hrs of snowboarding afterwards!

This afternoon we went up to the venue where some of the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics were held.

These Olympics were where Steven Bradbury and Alisa Camplan won gold and I was fortunate enough to come across this fella who was also putting in some training in the hope of making the next Winter Olympics team....good luck with that!

 So our first week back in the US has been all we had hope for.....plenty of snowboarding for Stuart and beautiful, beautiful scenery for both of us......next stop...Colorado.