Bonneville to Coalville.
Back in March I crossed over to Utah at Wendover (see previous post) and after a stop at the old WWII airbase, I got back on the road and headed for nearby Bonneville. Destination: the famed Bonneville Salt Flats Speedway where so many land speed records have been set over the years. Read more here.
Unfortunately, after the wet winter of 2016/2017 what I saw when I got to the sign marking the speedway should have been called the Bonneville Salt Flats Waterway. It was mostly flooded.
Apparently, racing conditions have not been ideal for a few years now. Read more here.
The salt crust has been challenged, and the “Speed Week” event was cancelled in both 2014 and 2015 due to poor conditions at the site. The 2016 and 2017 Speed Weeks were both held, however; this year’s was earlier this month. I guess it dried out. Based on what I saw (see photo) there was a lot of drying out needed.
On the approach to the Speedway sign I could see where it was drier and cars had been able to do their figure 8s. I decided against driving out there in the Audi TT…
Here’s another historic card I found online showing the Speedway on a drier day.
When I reached the southern edge of the Great Salt Lake I did a stop at the lake at the current iteration of the famed Saltair Pavilion. What’s there now is a shadow of what was once there.
The original Saltair Pavilion and some other buildings burned down in 1925. It has been described as being the most popular family destination west of New York at one time. It was rebuilt but Saltair II did not fare as well as its predecessor and was suffered a number of setbacks over the years (economic and otherwise). It was closed for good in 1958, and fires in 1967 and 1970 pretty much destroyed what was left. Saltair III is about a mile away from where the first two were and is built from an old Air Force hangar. It’s used mostly as a concert venue, as I understand it. Read more here.
I found some old postcards online which I am sharing here. It was really something.
On to Salt Lake City. I had about two hours of light left when I arrived at the hotel. (The Hotel Monaco, a Kimpton – recommended!) I dropped the car in front, did a quick check-in and headed out to shoot what I could in the remaining light of the day. The downtown seems to be thriving. There are a number of surviving and very attractive historic buildings, and the center city is not pockmarked as all too many US cities in the heartland are these days. It’s clean and didn’t have that down-and-out feel I experienced too often on my road trip when I hit a major city.
I read that Salt Lake City has made some important strides in addressing the homeless population. It shows. Bravo. Perhaps politicians on the coasts could learn a thing or two from the SLC efforts. Read more here and here. (It’s saying something that both the Mother Jones mag and NPR like what they are doing there.)
I digress again.
In what little light was left I headed for nearby Temple Square.
The original Lincoln Highway route through SLC headed for the center city on State Street from the south and made a left at South Temple going four blocks past Temple Square before making a right on what is now 300 W.
Temple Square is very impressive. I really started to lose my light when I got there but that created the opportunity to get these shots of the Salt Lake Temple in lights. Also in the Temple Square grouping is the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (formerly the Hotel Utah) which dates back to the Lincoln Highway era (it opened 1911).
The final SLC shot that evening is of the 1913 Capitol Theatre, home to Ballet West and Utah Opera.
I wanted to do a longer SLC walkabout the next day (and maybe tour some of the Temple Square sites open to the public) but the skies opened. It was pouring, and I knew what that meant: snow on the drive eastward planned for that day. I figured I had better get going. My destination for the day was Rawlins, Wyoming, about 290 miles away. I had a lot of driving ahead of me.
I made a few final stops in Utah before crossing over to Wyoming. In this post, Park City and Coalville; in the next post in a week or two, Echo.
The last two groupings in this set are from those stops in Park City and Coalville. Park City is in the Wasatch Range and is bordered by the Deer Valley and Park City Mountain ski resorts. Utah Olympic Park from the 2002 Winter Olympics is nearby. It is mostly a training facility these days. The historic Main Street has a lot of buildings built during a 19th-century silver mining boom. The Sundance Film Festival is held there annually. The Egyptian Theater opened in 1926 and is a beauty. They kindly let me in and allowed me to take a few interior photos (which was greatly appreciated). Mostly, the weather did not cooperate during my short stop there.
Picturesque Coalville is a coal mining community right on the path of the Lincoln Highway and (in contrast with Park City) is almost devoid of tourism. Before coal was discovered in the mid-19th century it was called Chalk Creek. Compared to Park City it was very quiet. Another fine stop, and this time the weather cooperated.
Another trip I will plan to see some more of Salt Lake City and also explore Bountiful and the other Lincoln Highway cities north of SLC.
