Nomad Life - Day 338

Despite my late bedtime, I still woke up at around 0600.  It was still very dark, though, so didn't get out of bed.  As a result of this decision, I ended up sleeping until 0800!   While I mostly felt like I'd readjusted to the time-zone and daytime hours, I was also glad to "catch up" on some sleep.  Once I decided to get my day going, I read, did puzzles and Duolingo exercises in the guest room at my friends' (Rich V and Dana) home in South Jordan.  Next, I got ready and went upstairs to see my friends.  We'd briefly discussed my hope to attend church in the morning and I let them know I'd decided to go to Mass nearby.  This was fine with them so I departed their home in the Daybreak Community and drove south and west on the streets in the residential neighborhood.  Somehow, I ended up departing from the completed portion of the Daybreak neighborhood.  The contrast between the oasis-like "home" in the high desert was quite stark - everything to the immediate west was barren, with only the bare skeleton of streets designed for future growth.  Right on the edge of the buildings, I discovered the (new) Salt Lake Bees Ballfield - it was still hard to wrap my head around playing baseball in such a warm place, though...  As I continued driving, my attention turned from the Wasatch Range (east of Salt Lake City and visible from Rich and Dana's house) to the Oquirrh Range to the west.  The place where I was headed, Copperton (in the Brigham Canyon) was located just at the base of the mountains but, until I reached it, the terrain after that was completely flat and barren.  There were pronghorns nearly everywhere.  Along the way, I passed lots of huge buildings that appeared to be Amazon warehouses.  One of the larger mountains ahead of me appeared to have active mining going on inside of it.  I learned later that this was the Bingham Canyon Mine, which Google AI told me was "widely known as the Kennecott Copper Mine, one of the largest open-pit mines in the world; the pit is roughly 2.5 miles wide and over 0.75 miles deep, making it visible from space and to the naked eye from across the Salt Lake Valley."  When I arrived at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church (0925), I was surprised at the tiny size of the Parish - it looked more like a house.  I was just in time for 0930 Mass and I was reminded of the small (Summer only) church I'd attended in West Barnstable (MA).  Everything seemed to be made up on the fly, with roles like altar servers, readers and Eucharistic Ministers being filled in real time.  The priest seemed very flexible and approachable and the parishioners were very friendly.  Somehow, everyone made the cramped building seem very open.  What a good experience!  When the service was over (1020), I was tempted to stay for their social event but didn't want to leave my friends hanging back in the Daybreak Community.  A bit reluctantly, I departed Copperton and headed back to Daybreak.  As had happened to me on the way to church, I got stuck at some of the lights with no apparent logic for the delays.  On the one hand, the UT-85 roads seemed like freeways but there was something strange about how far apart they were.  (Rich later told me that these were actually frontage roads that had been built before the larger highways and that made sense).  I arrived back at Rich and Dana's home by 1045 and joined them in watching NFL Football on TV.  Hoping to get a head start on my upcoming Nomad Life, I spent a lot of time making hotel reservations so I'd be covered through October 14.  At 1200, I told my friends I was ready to get some lunch (they'd told me they would be ready when I was) and we departed their home, enroute to the famous Red Iguana Restaurant.  Actually, we visited the Daybreak Community version of the franchise and it was called "Taste of Red Iguana" (the main location is in Downtown Salt Lake City).  They had only opened in the spring and they offered a Brunch menu with lots of interesting options.  In the end, though, I decided to try one of their Mole dishes (which had been recommended to me by a colleague during my work trip this week).  The server was nice and brought me a "mole sampler plate" which had about 10 different styles of mole - I liked them all!  In the end, though, I got one with a Poblano flavor and ended up being something like a disassembled enchilada plate.  To wash it down, I drank lots of water and a cocktail called "El Chencho".  Everything (including the house tortilla chips, which were very light) tasted great!  With Rich and Dana planning to depart on trips (Dana to Northern California and Rich to Cheyenne), our conversation mostly focused on travel.  We wrapped up our meal by 1345 and spent a bit of time walking around near the Ballpark and, on the drive back to my friends' home, exploring more of the Daybreak neighborhood (we visited "The Island").  We were settled back in the living room again (more sports on TV) by 1430.  The meal had made me feel quite tired but I resisted the urge to nap at first.  Instead, I worked on eBird entries and tried to catchup on my travel blog.  Eventually, though, I succumbed to the fatigue and took a nap (1500 to 1630).  By the time I woke up, I felt very refreshed and was able to do some reading.  Perhaps more importantly, though, I finally stopped procrastinating and ordered the T-Shirts for our upcoming Thanksgiving celebration in Nashville.  With that monkey off my back, I joined Rich in watching more football and started a load of laundry.  At 1915, he suggested that we take a walk around in the neighborhood so I could experience the extensive trail network that connects the different areas of the Daybreak Community.  Along the way, we got to see some of the Halloween Decorations that were scattered around the area.  We ended up taking a tour around almost the entire edge of Oquirrh Lake - what a treat!  There were plenty of birds (lots and lots of Red-Winged Blackbirds and American Coots) resting in the water as the sun was setting.  When we passed a flag at someone's house that was related to the Mammoths NHL Hockey franchise, Rich told me a story about the team's recent arrival in Salt Lake City and how much everyone is glad to have world class sports nearby ("rather than Root for Vegas teams").  Perhaps the biggest feature of our tour, however, was the ubiquitous Halloween decorations we passed - they were far more extensive and wonderful than I could have ever imagined.  Rich explained that the local people absolutely LOVE Halloween and spent a ton of money on making their homes look better than everyone else's.  Along the way, we passed an amazing Harry Potter themed home and spent a lot of time finding all the hidden clues and unique decorations.  It took a while to get back to Rich's home but I really enjoyed the views of the mountains, the brightly lit Mormon churches and wonderful temperatures of the evening.  The people were friendly and, at one point, I mentioned to Rich that I was very impressed with all the extra parts of Salt Lake City I'd seen during this visit.  Someone overheard me and said, without any sarcasm, "Welcome Home!"  I really couldn't doubt the sentiment...  By the time we were finished walking (about 2.5 miles for the day), I was completely impressed with Daybreak.  At the house again (2045), we watched the tail end of the NFL game and did a little more visiting while both Rich and Dana packed their bags.  After I said goodnight to them (2200), I did spend a little more time watching movies in the guest room before heading to bed (2300).  It's been a wonderful visit to Salt Lake City this week!  Sadly, I was wound up again by the time I turned out the lights and sleep didn't come easily.  Hopefully, I won't pay for this when I depart on my own long drive in the morning...