I had very reluctantly decided in Missoula to head south on Tuesday. Instead of going all the way up to Glacier National Park,which was the original plan. But there was little I could do at Glacier, aside from driving a small portion of Going to the Sun Road. The park had only begun to thaw enough to allow for hiking into its interior. It would be going north merely for the sake of going farther north, compelling enough reason for me. But to insure that my last four days wouldn't be defined mainly by driving, I decided to get a lot of it out of the way and go south beyond Salt Lake City, as far as nearby Heber City.
As interstate experiences go, one could do so much worse than the corridor of I-15 heading south from Butte, through Idaho and into Utah. When I had come north a few days earlier I had hardly gotten the full effect of the landscape, obscured as it was by rain and grey skies. Heading south I had a fair day and a brilliant blue sky. What clouds that were present seemed to be drifting along for the sake of contrast, for effect. It was a spectacular show of mountains, a new act emerging just as one long in sight finally disappeared behind me. Driving 80 miles an hour or so, I really felt as though something must be wrong with the speedometer. I would look out the window at the edge of the highway, the shoulder beyond, and it looked as though the car were hardly moving. At least partially a result, it would seem, of the vast and open vistas in all directions.
To reward myself for all that driving, I held out for a late lunch in Brigham City, Utah, north of Salt Lake City. This the Idle Isle Cafe, yet another solid recommendation from Road Food. I found the Idle Isle on Brigham City's main drag in a mid-afternoon hush. Appropriate to the decor, itself in a lovely mid-century hush.
To reward myself for all that driving, I held out for a late lunch in Brigham City, Utah, north of Salt Lake City. This the Idle Isle Cafe, yet another solid recommendation from Road Food. I found the Idle Isle on Brigham City's main drag in a mid-afternoon hush. Appropriate to the decor, itself in a lovely mid-century hush.
I was so taken with the downtown of Brigham City that I considered stopping there for the night. The fact that the city had an operating old movie theater, The Capitol, settled the matter.
I returned to downtown late afternoon, well in advance of the early evening screenings at the twinned Capitol. I roamed north up Main Street. Once clear of the central business district, the street is lined, as is the case to the south, with beautiful sycamores. The trees serve as a kind of natural colonnade. Coming into bloom just then, the trees with their lovely trunks, mottled and almost olive in color, reminded me of the plane trees past which I drove about ten years ago, plying the roads between perched villages in Provence. Of such a perfect spring afternoon and evening, Brigham City seems quite a salubrious place, my friends. I don't know what life is like for all who there reside, but it made for a very pleasant stop for me.
I had not intended to have dinner after my big, late lunch. But then I happened upon this charming old drive-in, The Peach City Restaurant. Powerless against such places, I drifted in for a meal.
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| What? I had a salad for lunch. Chicken tenders, waffle-cut fries and 24 ounces of hard ice cream raspberry cheesecake shake love at the Peach City. Not even pictured - the two pieces of buttered Texas toast that accompanied the meal. |
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| The right entrance doors to the Capitol maintain their original bakelite handles. |
My unplanned dinner at the Peach City made me a bit late for the 6:50 screening of "Captain America," not entirely a bad thing since it was the second time in three days that I was seeing the film. I was able to see both auditoriums as I entered, though the former balcony and main level rooms varied only in size. Beyond the 30's/40's decoration of the facade and lobby, the Capitol with its walls draped with synthetic fabric and drop ceilings, is like any box theater opened in the 1960's or 70's.
Watching Captain America in 2-D this time - I could actually see facial expressions - I was taken with the proportion of the larger auditorium and relatively huge screen. It was bland, but otherwise a very good room in which view a movie.
And I still didn't make it to the end of Captain America, entertaining though it was. At some point before the two-hour mark, I quitted the theater and emerged into the welcoming twilight of Brigham City.
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