Episode 2
Downtown Salt Lake looked like the Meccah of Utah, if not the United States. There's the huge Mormon Temple, and the streets are numbered accordingly to their distance from the main temple. There are churches scattered here and there. One of the obscure aspects I noticed about downtown Salt Lake was the lack of coffee shops. It's hard to imagine that the Starbucks empire has had no Inquisitions in this part of town. It finally hit me that active Latter-day Saints (Mormons) abstain from drinking coffee. This practice derives from an 1833 revelation known as the Word of Wisdom, which states that "hot drinks are not for the body or the belly." Specifically speaking about coffee, Mormons state that caffeine is considered as a pollutant to their bodies. I'm not really sure, but the ironic thing is that bars were all over the place there. Alcohol or caffeine, which is more pollutant? Anyway, we have to respect other people's beliefs and views, but hell, I sure wanted a decent cup of coffee that day. I ended up staying another night in Salt Lake. I don't even remember why.
I hit the road the next morning continuing my journey towards Fort Collins, Colorado. Utah is beautiful; the mountains, the trees, dawn and sunsets, and the deceased deer scattered through out the shoulder lanes. This pretty collage vanished once I entered Wyoming. Let me make something clear here, Wyoming must be the the worst state I've ever driven through. I can speak for southern Wyoming at least. It brought back bad images from the Riyadh/Taif road, where pretty much you drive through the same terrain and scenery for around seven hours straight. I can say one thing, the terrain wasn't that pretty. It seemed like the film strip had kept going around in circle and nobody had bothered to replace it. Allahuma lai3tera'9.
That all changed as soon as I passed the Welcome to Colorado sign. Out of nowhere, poof! Everything turned green...
To be continued...
hey there
glad you liked slc. mormonsville is my hometown for right now.. u didnt see the 2 mosques we have?
Posted by
the gilanis |
8:23 PM
What a great roadtrip Sami... I could sure use one..
I never knew mormons didn't drink coffee.. so what about ice coffees ay?
Through all the years of roadtrips with my phobic dad I don't think we've ever driven through Utah nor Wyoming-- one could almost forget those states exist heh
Posted by
Trevelyana |
2:24 PM
wanasa, lol, ajal Taif huh??
so they didn't have coffe or what? i dont get it =S
"Fort Collins" sounds so cool, lol
lets see how this ended =D
Posted by
Nouph |
10:40 AM
Sami,
This is my first time reading your blog, but I just read the post above and noticed you said "It was your Birthday" but no one said Happy Birthday. I know my wish is probably even beyond the belated category but please accept my warm wishes that you have a great year.
Posted by
Anonymous |
3:57 AM