And we're off!

After months of anticipation, my travels have begun! 

The precious little gem (above photo) kept me nice and busy on my flight. Thanks Lio!

Flying into Salt Lake feels a little like you're flying into a marsh, with all the water and isolation from not really being able to see the city, at least from the side of the plane that I was sitting on (the right side). The fog also helps. 

Ate at Este Pizzeria (http://www.estepizzaco.com/2.html) which was delicious. Walking in, MIA's Paper Planes was playing and instantly put me in a good mood. Mormons can listen to MIA? I kid, I kid. There are screen printed band posters all over the walls of the place including The Shins and Built To Spill. Good work Este, good work. 

Walked around for a bit and stopped at Energy Solutions Arena where the Utah Jazz play. Took pictures of  the John Stockton and Karl Malone (two previous Jazz players) statues outside the arena. Walked around he outside mall, which I now forget the name of. It has the IMAX theatre attached. 

A couple of interesting things I have learned from only being in Salt Lake for less than 2 hours. 

    1. There are orange flags that sit in bins on both sides of the street, the bins being attached to street lights. If you cross the street and aren't at a stop light, you must pick one of the orange flags up, out of the bin and carry it with you while you cross the street. Once you have safely crossed the street you put the orange flag back and carry on with your day. Don't believe me? Check it out (http://www.slcgov.com/transportation/Pedestrian/pdf/CrosswalkFlagsBrochure11_05.pdf

    2. You're standing at a crosswalk, you press the crosswalk button, it's your turn to walk. Once you start walking you'll either hear what sounds to be birds chirping or a beeping noise. Crosswalks let noise out from the corners letting you know it's safe to walk. If you are crossing to street east to west or west to east you'll hear a bird chirping noise, whereas north to south or south to north pedestrians will hear a simple beeping noise.

More to come later, now it's time to explore!