Provo

22 April - we left the Utah's red desert lands and headed north towards the Great Salt Lake and its city.

Before we left Panguitch, where we were staying when visiting Bryce Canyon, we headed for Arby's drive-through to pack lunch AND dinner. Arby's is a fast food chain specialising in roast beef sandwiches and we've only seen them in Utah so far. We saw a promo on telly where US$5.95 gets you:

(a) TWO boxes of popcorn chicken (but that's SO ordinary!);
(b) THREE beef and cheddar sandwiches; or
(c) FOUR regular beef sandwiches

We had taken option (b) the night before and had discovered that Arby's roast beef sandwiches are REALLY good! The portions are generous and stuffed with layers of thinly shaved beef. And it dawned on us that $5.95 could feed two people for an entire day. Oooohhh... So we hit the road to Salt Lake City with a huge serving of option (c).

This is only half of the FOUR regulars we got for $5.95. What a deal!

An entire cow squeezed into a bun.

So off we went munching on beef and driving past lots of farms with beef-to-be. It was a beautiful sunny day to be on the road - check it out:

What a wonderful world....

And soon, we were heading into a mountain range, which provided us with a really scenic drive.

Ohhh, home on the raaaange....

The traffic that morning was really calm... smooth roads, considerate drivers, consistent speed limits... and soon, I started wondering if I could muster up the courage to take the wheel...

And I did! I've finally gone over to the LEFT side. It's not as scary as I thought it would be. Maybe it's from watching Dan get used to an opposite world and helping him watch out for traffic.

That's me driving a Chrysler Cruiser! Vrooooom!!

I think I didn't do too badly, albeit driving on the right lane (that's the sloooowww one) most of the time. And I got a bit of a kick from overtaking trailers and RVs in our little Cruiser. I covered quite a few miles and got us to Nephi and Dan took it from there to Provo, where we were staying for the night.

Provo is a not-too-small town just south of Salt Lake City. It sits happy in a beautiful location surrounded by snowcapped mountains and green fields. It's a really surreal experience to be pushing your trolly out of WalMart, and the auto doors whip open and a blast of chilly fresh air greets you as you walk into a breathtaking scene right out of your Desktop wallpaper:

Did I just step into a postcard?

We enquired about room rates at Day's Inn and were aghast that a room would cost more than US$80 (before 14% tax) on a weekday night! The receptionist claimed that we wouldn't be able to find a room less than US$50 within 30 miles of town cos families of graduates from the Brigham Young University were descending upon Provo for the graduation ceremony that weekend. We were glad that Colony Inn just down the road proved him wrong - we got ourselves a SUITE for US$50, inclusive of tax and hot breakfast (albeit the only hot items were the DIY waffles.) Nyeah nyeah Mr Day's Inn. So there.

The entrance to our hotel and the mountain ranges all around.

As we've been told (and try to believe), spring (not winter) is in the air and the spring blossoms within our hotel compound and along the road outside were in full colour. So we hit the road again - this time by foot and with our cameras swinging from our necks - to photograph the blooms. We saw boldly-coloured tulips in waxy purple, pink and red, dainty daffodils in their sunny star-shaped dresses and dandelions - some decked out in their golden frills and others in their poufy white frou-frou frocks.

Dan de Man likes the Dandelions best.

Walking down the red carpet.

This pink tulip seems to be stretching and sighing "aaahhh... the sun is out!"

A young 'un - still in the first flush of pink.

Ladies in red

I love the way they catch the sunlight in their petals

A daffodil - just missing a flower fairy sitting pretty on its petals

My favourite photos - for the way the tulip cups the warmth of the sun so gently in its petals and the waves of fresh green for leaves.

Now if only these could bloom along our streets back at home.