Iowans love to comment that Nebraska is a Native American word meaning “ a long way across”. We suspect that Nebraskans say the same thing about Wyoming. The first day covered the lush green of Iowa and Eastern Nebraska. We watched farmers planting fields, pretty farms, and small towns. The second day’s drive from North Platte, NB to Rock Springs, WY found towns further apart, fields were home to irrigation equipment, and then an occasional oil well. The color green was replaced with beige, and whole communities were surrounded by bleak barren hills. Dust devils could be seen as well as plumes of dust rising behind speeding pick-ups. Seeing an occasional antelope proved there was life out there. By Day 3 we began to angle down to Utah and the scenery started to get interesting again.
At Park City we were rewarded with good food, too. At the Silver Summit Café I had a wood-oven pizza that was superb. My husband claims his grilled ham and cheese sandwich was pretty good, too. This café proudly proclaimed it was the 2004 winner of “the best truck stop grub”. Lunch for two was under $15. Park City was the site of some of the Winter Olympics events in 2002. Remaining buildings and event sites could be seen from the highway.
The drive from Heber City to Provo follows Provo River, first along a wide valley fenced in by snow-capped peaks, then into the dramatic Provo Canyon and out into a lovely area with small ranches. We saw fisherman in waders casting in the lovely river. Mares with newborn colts frolicked on the ranches.
From Provo to Cedar City we enjoyed the beauty of the mountains on the east and the desert on the west. Cedar City proved to be a lovely college town with extraordinary beauty to the east and south. It is the gateway to several National Parks and Monuments.