Salt Lake and Sam Weller's

You might get tired of hearing about it, but it's all anyone talks about here:it has been a long, wet Spring. As we cross the Salmon River to leave Boise, we remark again at the height of the water, right up into the trees along the bank.

 Because we weren't smart enough to know there would be a very nice continental breakfast at the Modern Hotel, we left hungry. And stopped early.

Of course I had a potato. This stop (AAA recommended) was so close to the (AAA recommended) Shoshone Falls, that we decided to take a short detour. Through huddled housing developments and then into farmers fields, and then, WOW.

 The waitress at Idaho Joe's was taking her son to the Falls this afternoon because word is out that the water is high. In the summer they are sometimes a trickle, all the water captured for irrigation. The guy at the ticket booth (it's worth the 3 bucks, don't worry) still had stars in his eyes as he talked about the rainbows he saw over Shoshone Falls this morning.

 I don't want to miss showing you some of the lilacs we saw. Never have I seen so many big healthy lilac bushes. I want to bring them all into the car for the smell.

 But we are driving on, to Salt Lake today, about 5 hours through a windy world of subtle colors. High plains, I guess, but with big mountains always in the distance.

If I lived here I would paint landscapes.

 Keep your eye on the sky.

 I guess these are the colors the local artists use.

Those scuddy marks in the clouds usually mean troubled weather but the weather holds for our arrival in Salt Lake.

Our pleasant Hampton Inn Downtown is a short walk to Sam Weller's Bookstore and the office of City Weekly whose founder John Saltas is an old friend from NXNW days, through Louis Black (see our Austin stop). John treats us to a nice meal and a fine cocktail at Bambara in the Hotel Monaco. Check out the link http://bit.ly/kYcqov to a nice interview in City Weekly, written by Scott Renshaw.
John Saltas has to go to a kid's baseball game, so he'll miss John's reading at Sam Weller's but Tony Weller joins us for supper and the reading.

We have fun with him and his beautiful daughter Lila Ann and her equally beautiful grandmother Ann.
Sam Weller's is enormous and justly famous. Wally at Rediscovered Books in Boise talked about it with awe, and no wonder.

John read "Tramps" to a good crowd who must have been pleased to hear Salt Lake City mentioned in the chapter. Really nice staff. They sold a lot of books!

And we add to the collection of old friends gathered up on the road.

Hannah Rea is thriving as an RN for Hospice in Salt Lake. Here she is with her friend Gates. In Portland we saw Hannah's brother Adam. Tomorrow we'll be with their parents Tom and Barb in Casper. All we are missing is brother Max.

And I told you you'd be surprised, Lisa.

John "Solly" Sutton who left his nightclub in Park City to come hear John read. Solly was our Sound Mixer on several movies including MATEWAN and PASSION FISH. So sweet to see old friends.