I’m not sure one should admit that the high spots of a day’s drive through Utah were Starvation State Park and Strawberry Reservoir, but that’s the honest truth. I’m sure there are a lot of great sights in other parts of the state, but they weren’t on our itinerary today.

We left Vernal at 9 AM this morning, having suffered through a lousy breakfast in the restaurant adjoining our equally lousy Best Western motel. There wasn’t much to be seen as we drove through the countryside, through Ballard and Myton, and on into Duchesne — where we stopped briefly at a trusty McDonald’s to get an Egg McMuffin and some coffee. About four miles further west, we spotted a highway sign that said “view site — one mile.” Having seen nothing noteworthy all morning, we stopped to take a brief look at what turned out to be Starvation State Park.

For those who care, Starvation State Park is built around ta 3,495 a acre reservoir with the same name. It was built by the US Bureau of Reclamation built the reservoir as part of the Central Utah Project, and the Starvation Dam was completed in 1970. As such, it’s completely artificial, of course; and while the reservoir offers 23 miles of shoreline “for recreation pleasure,” with “five camping areas with facilities ranging from primitive to developed are located around the reservoir,” it looks like — to use David’s description — it was carved out of the rocks on the planet Venus. There’s no real shoreline, no grass, no trees, no sign of natural life. And there are dozens, if not hundreds of similar reservoirs sprinkled all over the western states. I have no idea whether they’re ecologically beneficial, but they really do look weird.

About twenty miles further on, we came upon a much larger body of water: the Strawberry Reservoir, which was apparently created in 1922 (via the building of the Strawberry Dam) as “Utah’s premier cold-water fishery.” Unlike Starvation Park, this one at least provides the illusion of being “natural”: it’s surrounded by vegetation, and the grass extends all the way to the edge of the water. David walked down a half-mile pathway to the water, and returned a while later to say that it was a very nice lake indeed.

After another 20 miles of driving, we stopped in Heber City for lunch. By now, having travelled through a couple dozen small towns since leaving Denver yesterday morning, a pattern has emerged. There are few, if any, indigenous restaurants and cafes in small-town America any more: they’ve all been replaced with national-chain fast-food restaurants. Every town with a population of a thousand or more has got its McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Subway, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, and a few other minor vendors.

But there are occasional exceptions: in Heber City, David spotted a funky little hippie-style place called the Sidetrack Cafe. Sadly, the web page that I’ve linked to tells you nothing at all about the place (though you can be easily confused by the numerous references to a Sidetrack Cafe in Edmonton, if you try to google the cafe), but we can report that they’ve got excellent sandwiches and salads. More interestingly, they carry a variety of bagels; and quite amazingly, they carry H&H bagels, all the way from Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The waitress was extremely insulted when we asked if they were really from H&H, and assured us they really were. So that more than compensated for two days of junk-food restaurants across this section of America.

(For those who have never heard of H&H, it was founded in 1972 by Helmer Toro, and claims to be the largest bagel manufacturer in New York City and one of the largest bagel manufacturers in the world, producing about 80,000 bagels a day. Its original Upper West Side location is at Broadway and 80th Street; and it ships bagels worldwide — including, apparently, Heber City, Utah — from its plant on 46th Street at 12th Avenue. H&H bagels has been featured in a Seinfeld episode, and in the movie You’ve Got Mail. Woody Allen carried a bag of H&H bagels in Manhattan Murder Mystery. So there — now you know more about bagels than you ever wanted to!)

After lunch, we drove the remaining 45 miles into Salt Lake City, and spent the afternoon and evening with my Dad. We’ll be heading north to Idaho tomorrow…