Utah: Day 1

Joelle, Ian, Garrett and I started our trip to Utah on Thursday night, loading up the car and leaving the city by 7pm. Our intention was to drive all night to Moab, Utah. According to Google, the trip was about 20 hours, so with four capable drivers, we took turns driving all the way south. A large part of our trip consisted of just crossing through Alberta, and by 1:30am we crossed the border into the U.S at Coutts, Alberta. We had no troubles with the customs agent, although Garrett had forgotten to sign his new passport and was given a bit of a hard time. We entered Montana and switched drivers, so Garrett and I slept for several hours in the back seat while Ian and Joelle drove through the dark. Come morning, we awoke to scenery such as this:Idaho went by in a blur of boredom - really, that state is so plain and uninteresting, I wonder that anyone would live there except to farm. We passed the time by playing travel Yahtzee in the car.
Finally, we passed into Utah and there, our progress slowed as we hit construction and heavy traffic near Salt Lake City. Adding at least an hour to our trip, we continued on and stopped for lunch in a town south of Salt Lake City. Garrett took this picture in the parking lot of the Subway there:You've got to love the U.S., where you can find a shot gun shell in the parking lot.
Next, we started entering the desert, as evidenced by landscapes like this:As we approached Moab, the desert changed to the distinct red rock that makes Moab such a neat area.As we stepped out of the car at Moab's visitor information centre, the heat hit us like a right hook. I think it was around 39 degrees Celcius that day, and it was just a preview of what was to assail us all week long. We got directions to our campground - the SandFlats Recreational Area, which was up and up and up the cliffs behind the town and only cost 10$/night to camp at.Our campsite was really cool. We chose one right near some red cliffs in a neat little corner. It had plenty of space for our tents and a sturdy picnic table, and wasn't too far from the outhouse. Speaking of the outhouse, it was a little different than what you find out north in Canada. It had no roof! Just walls. I guess when it doesn't rain very much, you don't need a roof on the outhouse.After setting up camp, we went back in to town and had dinner at a nifty little Italian place. We sat on the patio (despite the heat) and had a nice beer with our pasta dinners.During dinner, we decided a change of plans was in order. We had been planning on starting our two-night/three-day backpack trip the next morning, followed by a day hike once we got back. We decided to do our day hike tomorrow morning instead, so that we could see how bad the heat really was, without committing ourselves to the backcountry for three days right away. Thus, our plans were changed and we hit the hay, anticipating our first day of real vacation.