We got up early and decided to forego breakfast so we could start off up I-15 to Pleasant Grove, Utah.
My Dad looking out at the scenery in the Virgin River Gorge.
For a lot of the drive in Nevada and Utah, and the little corner of Arizona, it was very windy, as we were driving into the wind and it buffeted us around a bit on the road.
A semi-truck and trailer overturned due to high winds on the median of I-15 north of Las Vegas.
But we did not have it as bad as one truck driver on I-15 in Nevada as somehow his (or her) semi ended up (trailer and all) upside down on the median.
The winds were high enough to overturn this tractor-trailer rig and blow it into the median on I-15 north of Las Vegas.
It was about a 15-minute delay to get past the wreck where the crews were working to pull it up and out of there.
Then it was onto to St. George, Utah – through the Virgin River Gorge.
The beautiful scenery of the upper end of the Virgin River Gorge.
It’s a beautiful drive through the gorge, sadly there is no place to stop and take photos until you are almost out of the gorge.
We ended up in St. George and stopped off at the Denny’s in the south part of town for breakfast right around 10:55 in the morning, then realized it was really 11:55 in the morning as we had entered a new time zone.
The next stop was a well-time visit to one of Utah’s very nice Rest Areas.
A rest area on I-15 in Utah that was very clean. California should take lessons on road maintenance and rest areas from Utah.
The bathrooms in this facility were as clean as those in Eddie World. But we also discovered that it was a lot colder here than in Vegas or California. And the wind was still blowing.
My silver Nissan Versa Note parked at the rest stop along I-15 in Utah. It was very pretty in this area.
Oh, and while we were at this stop, I made Dad finally find his sunglasses and put them in the glove compartment and be able to conveniently wear them.
Then it was back on the road. We gassed up in Cedar City, then drove on.
Then it was onward and we didn’t stop again until we got to Pleasant Grove. I had to pull off the interstate to look up the location of our hotel for two days, a Holiday Dad Inn Express.
The mountains as seen from out hotel room in Pleasant Grove, Utah.
It’s a nice room with a nice view.
Then we made an amazing discovery! There is a restaurant in Pleasant Grove called (drum roll please!) Jim’s Family Restaurant.
Jim’s Family Restaurant in Pleasant Grove, Utah. I didn’t know my Dad had a restaurant named after him.
Well of course we had to eat dinner there.
My Dad at his namesake restaurant in Pleasant Grove, Utah.
The owner also is Greek and besides the normal (large) family types of foods and sandwiches, he has some Greek food too. I had a marinated Pork dinner. Delicious. Dad ordered a Grilled Pastrami Burger with cheese, but after eating my soup decided to save the sandwich until tomorrow.
It’s a warm and friendly atmosphere inside Jim’s Family Restaurant. Something my Dad really liked – so did I.
Then it was up to the room for the night when Dad made a quirky discovery: The knob on the bathtub faucet could not be pulled up easily to divert the water up into the shower head. So we went down and got the hotel manager and we got it fixed. Thank goodness.
So now it’s time for bed as tomorrow we will go to Evermore Park where my good friend, former Disney Imagineer Josh Shipley, was the creative director for this brand-new themed entertainment experience.
Here’s a link to Day Two of our adventure.
