Last week Debbie and I journeyed down to Salt Lake City to get a recall issue in our Model X taken care of. The issue was of almost zero importance to us (the left back seat might accidentally fold down in a sudden stop) as we only rarely have any passengers in ours, and the rear seats are almost always folded down. But we did it anyway. It took longer (over three hours) than we expected, but when we got our car back to our surprise it had been detailed. They hollered at me for not having replaced my tires yet, and tried to sell me a set of the same kind shipped on our car. I turned that down, and instead went (on Friday) to our local Les Schwab's and had a set of Toyo tires installed: much heavier tread, stronger sidewalls, longer tread life, less money, and I got to patronize a vendor who has treated me very well in the past. Once again they provided great service, alerting me to a slightly bent wheel (not a current issue, but might become one) and doing a fantastic job of balancing the wheels. The 22" wheels considerably limit the selection of tires available, especially because the rear tires are a different width than the front tires (this makes it challenging to find matching tires).
On that same trip, we had lunch at Bambara's, a new place for us. Short review: it's excellent, and we recommend it. We both had their silky corn bisque, and we were very glad we did – that's one outstanding soup. Debbie had a seared ahi nicoise, which she devoured while making happy noises. I tasted the fish; very good, it was. I had a chicken club sandwich with bacon and roast tomatoes on homemade ciabatta bread; also excellent. One big surprise for me: the fries that came with it were outstanding, and I am not normally one who gets excited about fries. Just as much fun as our food was our server, Brad. We were there after normal lunch hours and he wasn't busy, so we got to have quite a nice conversation. The whole experience was most enjoyable.
Before lunch we spent a couple hours at the Utah Museum of Natural History, concentrating on their Viking display. It wasn't crowded, a pleasant surprise. The display was very well done, and most educational. Debbie and I both came away with a very different impression of the Vikings than we'd had previously. My big takeaway was the quality of their craftsmanship – they made some truly beautiful things of wood, bone, and metal. Debbie's big takeaway was how small they were – she was expecting them to look like Thor in the Marvel series, and the truth is they were more the size of my dad (who was a small man by today's standards).
I'll wrap up with a less cheerful review: Jimmy John's “gourmet sandwiches”. This is a place that was highly recommended to me by several local acquaintances, but I'd never tried it before – mainly because whenever I felt like a sandwich I'd go to Logan's Heroes, which has about the best sandwiches I've ever had in my life. But for some reason I can't recall, a few days ago I decided to try Jimmy John's. The most positive thing I can think of to say about the experience is ... at least I know now that I need never think of going there again. Oh, and I didn't actually get sick, and the service was amazingly fast. Self-serve at the local dumpster would be fast, too – and probably just as good. And have more meat. And fresher bread. And cheaper. You get the idea...
