Life, Love....and Lunch: The Drive back from Tooele

There was one more place I wanted to visit before leaving Tooele.

I wanted to stop in at the local Albertson's supermarket. I know this sounds like a meaningless excursion but I have a couple of sensible reasons for it. Years ago, I had a job delivering potato chips to this same store for a few months. This is going back to 1995 so it was awhile ago. And back then, it wasn't even Albertson's. It was Smith's supermarket. The two chains did some weird store swap several years ago. I didn't even know there had been a store swap so I was still looking for Smith's.

Secondly, there are only a few Albertson's stores left Utah. Most were either sold to Associated Food or closed. And I really have had a hankering for some Albertson's chocolate donuts. I used to eat them all the time. For a supermarket donut, they were the best around. The only question was whether or not this store uses the original Albertson's chocolate donut recipe.

After wandering around the store for several minutes, I found the donut case. And when I did find it, this is what I saw.

Hmmmm.......whoever iced those donuts must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed this morning....not iced with a whole lot of love in their hearts. But I had my own heart set on them, so I bought the two best looking ones and took my chances. Yeah, they were okay, I guess. It's been so long since I've had them I couldn't even tell if they were the real thing.

I got two more photos from the Albertson's parking lot before I took off. These dark, ominous clouds were right across the street.

There were a few seagulls flying around the parking lot, probably because it's a good place to scavenge for food. They weren't easy at all to photo shoot. I was very lucky to get this one.

These were my last photos I took in the main city. I was then back on the road and hopefully on my way to see the great Salt Lake

I drove a ways and turned left on Village Boulevard. Maybe this was a shortcut to the lake. Bad idea.

Another dead end. At least I didn't drive too far. The white car belongs to some teenage boys who can be seen on the left. I got another quick photo of them.

They were rummaging through a pile of...something. I don't know what they were rummaging through. You know, I kind of wanted to join them. The scene reminded me of that 80s movie "Stand by me". There were many of vacant lots in Las Vegas where I grew up and I used to go a rummaging with my friends there all the time. I watched them for a few moments reminiscing for a bit and then turned around to get back to the highway. To find the lake, I was probably going to have to do that unspeakable act that no man ever wants to stoop to. I was going to have to ask for directions.

I got back on the road heading east. The town ahead of me is called Lakeview - I'm sure because it's right by the Great Salt Lake.

From what I can tell, the only things there are a Comfort Inn, Flying Jay truck stop, Mcdonalds, a Chevron and a Top Stop convenient store. I decided to pull into Top Stop for directions. The clerk seemed helpful at first. I didn't even ask him for directions. I only asked him where I was. It seemed like he was going to make it easy for me.

Topstop Guy: Are you trying to find something?
Me: Yes, I'm trying to get to the lake.
Topstop Guy: The Lake is right here. (He pointed over his shoulder and must have been thinking that I'm the dumbest guy on the planet).
Me: Yes, I know where it is(you idiot!) I'm trying to find out how to get to the shore of the lake.

This is why guys don't like asking for directions. Anway, he did give me some decent directions and I was able to make it to the lake.

The Saltair event center is dead ahead.

I next found myself on a heavily diked road on the way to the Marina.

At last I'm here!...but I hate the part. Why pay two bucks to if I'm only stay for a just short time? But I paid. Especially if I'm blogging about this, I'd better pay up.

And now at last I can get some photos.

Not too bad. After shooting, I was very glad to see this.

I did need to relieve myself. I had been really tanking down on diet coke and Dr. Pepper during my drive and it was catching up to me. That's not a real intriguing blog entry but what came next was memorable. Some guy had just pulled in with his dog. While he got busy with something else, his dog took a focus on me. It started running at me and I fled back into the guys restroom for safety.

I stayed there for a few minutes, realizing that I couldn't stay there all night. The dog was probably just a little curious about me....I hoped. Either way, I was going to have to walk out and face the dog sooner or later. So I quietly walked out the restroom door, turned to the left and this is what I saw.

The dog was just sitting there waiting for me. I didn't know what to make of it. I started walking slowly towards the dog still not sure what to expect. I got within a few feet of the dog and that's when it started to spas out.

The rolled around back and forth in the grass in an excited frenzy. This might have been a kind of strange, canine greeting ritual but can't say for sure. Whatever it was, at least it didn't seem dangerous.

So the dog didn't want to be mean but it didn't want to make friends either. I picked up that strange sponge ball it was carrying and gave it a throw. It ran and retrieved it but didn't bring it back to me to have another go at it. It just sat down in the grass and ignored me.

I'm not bad at calling dog breeds but this one eluded me. I'd say one part setter. That would explain the playfulness. And the other part chow. That would explain the snootiness.

I was at the marina for maybe 30 minutes all together and then got back on the road and headed home. By the time i got back to Salt Lake, the dark clouds had cleared up and there was something to look at.

You'd think after all that fun today that I was done...but I wasn't. I took a spin around City Creek mall and temple square before going home.

Some guy was in the tabernacle practicing on the organ. It wasn't church hymns he was practicing. It sounded more like haunted house music. I guess it was just practice.

Now, I'm finally heading home. Here I am on State street and about 600 South.

This one was my most unusual cloud formation of the day. I thought of a flying saucer taking off from the ground an leaving a trail of exhaust. I also thought of the Cloud City in Star Wars universe.