heh heh heh... shopping

I am no shopper, and you wouldn't expect it(maybe), but I tend to either be really picky about my clothes, or to not care at all. Whichever the case may be, I generally do not enjoy places such as the following.

But since the majority of the followers on this potty blog are, interestingly enough, of the female persuasion, I'm sure most of you will already be far more familiar with the next location than I. This is good, because it means I only have to post the shot of the restroom, since you already know by heart every detail of the favorite stores (I'm sorry, because if I were a girl you'd get a lot better pictures of the great clothing finds inside the stores. Instead you just get a bathroom, and a moose, and the signs on the way to the bathroom. :)

The place is the Tanger Outlets, or as you will much more likely know them, the Park City Outlets.



(thank you HawkEyePilot limited Flickr time for the image of the moose, which I didn't have the sense to photograph at the time. It's a beautiful shot.)

So which restroom did I hit?



I really couldn't tell you. If I really needed to, I would venture to say that the restroom was somewhat close to the Columbia Store... I think. Well here's the stores I passed on the way to the restroom.



Did you see it, way in the background there?





It was all very nice. It had automatic everything, broad stalls and clean walls, brightly lit. The only thing they seemed to have forgotten was the bathroom door (not the stall door, but the main bathroom door). The change machine is right outside of the bathroom, and there is no barrier between that and the restroom except the turn of a corner! I walked around the corner from the restroom and saw a lady right there working at getting change. Where exactly is the point where the restroom ends and the atreum begins? But like I said, clean everything. Only my invisible, psychological, personal boundaries were affronted there, so I won't complain.

Great rating!

And no, we didn't end up finding what we wanted. AAAAauuuuugghhhhh!

Smells Done Right

So sometimes smells are just right, even in bathrooms. Leave it to a place like this to get the smell just right. This next restroom comes to you from the Red Butte Gardens up Wakara Way near the University of Utah. I hit the gardens at their most unexpectedly beautiful. It snowed the night before, and although it would all melt a day later, for that morning walk through the gardens...







...beautiful.

In that kind of landscape it becomes very easy to lose yourself. I returned more recently for a class and saw some of the same areas without their drapery of snow.





Now I'm not even including photos of the more structured areas of the garden. Most have nice paved walkways, sculptures, cultivated gardens, all beautifully orchestrated. I just happened to pick the path that first led me away from the structured areas into the natural habitat sections of the garden. It was worth it.

The first restroom was from the initial entry to the garden. This next one is in the arboretum where I encountered another fragrant commode with an additional plus.





No, it isn't the flower (which smelled really nice),



Or even these pictures for the additional aesthetic enhancement. It was this...



Who does this? These restrooms recieve a combined great rating from me. The arboretum's was a little nicer, especially with the folded toilet paper detail, but the first wasn't far behind. No automatic elements, although the Arboretum had sani-covers for the seat. For some reason I can't remember if the entryway restroom had sani-covers or not. Either way...



...gorgeous.

Earth Mother and Cove Fort

On our way out of the canyon, we took a final hike up to an overlook, passed back through the tunnel, and then were on our way back home. We stopped here first though, before we were more than five minutes out of the National Park.



The sculpture is entitled Earth Mother, and is the focal point of a little park on your way out of Springdale. It's quite a remarkable statue, and it's rather hard to miss if you're looking off the road in Springdale.

The restroom was rather unremarkable except for one glorious thing...



It had hot running water. I couldn't believe it. Me and the shirtless adventurer who happened to be in the restroom at the same time were both very impressed, and even broke the unwritten rule of restroom silence to remark on the hot water.



The restroom also had those faucet nobs that you press on for water, and then it turns off automatically. I normally hate those, except that this one lasted long enough for me to actually wash my hands. Another extraordinary plus.

This restroom recieves a fair to good rating. It was better than the grotto, which was fair, even if it outpaced it only because of hot water. This was at the George A. Barker, Springdale River Park.

Then the last restroom(we made good time on the way home, and needed fewer stops) was at Cove Fort.



I really just have one thing to say about these restrooms, as a general rule. If you ever want to disconcert your restroom guests, and at the same time really arouse their curiosity...



...put a door on the inside of the bathroom stall, leading out the opposite way. You can just see it in the picture at the very back of the room, and you bet I tried the knob to see if it would open.



It didn't. Now I'm going to be forever curious about that door. The rating, as you can see from the picture, was great. It's another of those polished restrooms(impressive since it's all in very light colors), which despite the absence of automatic niceties, was so clean in every nook and cranny, that you didn't really worry about it.

We pushed on home, stopping once for gas, and the next restroom I hit was at our little home, which is most definitely good.

If you want to see more gorgeous shots of Zion National Park, click here. There is a lady documenting visits through a bunch of National Parks.

All Pottied Out

A thing we sometimes wish our little daughter could be, all pottied out. We'd save on diapers, and on time changing... but I mean this Zion's trip this week is a lot of privy posts to take in. I'm anxious to get to the Red Butte Gardens post, which was really an incredible experience. It was beautiful. And our beautiful shots from Zion are about over. Well, a couple more...



This is on the Emerald Pools Hike. The hike was great, with cool terrain to go through(cool like awesome), a lot of shaded portions of trail, and some gorgeous waterfalls coming into the pools. I have a cd of water sounds, which I absolutely love. But I can't play it around the wifey because it inevitably makes her need the restroom.

Luckily I don't seem to have that problem.



But this is one of the saddest things about my new health condition. When hiking I invariably have to choose a shorter hike and plan for restrooms nearby. As the remainder of our group continued up to the last and largest of the pools, our little group turned aside down a side trail toward the restrooms at the grotto(trailhead for hikes like Angel's Landing).



It's a cute little thing, isn't it?



and inside...



Yeah, a cute little thing, surrounded by picnic tables and little roped off sections of ground for re-vegetation. The restroom was cozy, about as big as the Salt City restroom, only the stall was closed off from the urinal, and it wasn't as nice (or private). But this was still fair, as far as the general feel of the place. It was never overcrowded while I was there, although it could very easily get awkward if two people finished at the same time and converged in the small corner where that sink was, and then especially so if at that moment someone else decided to come in. After I had left it behind I saw two people go in, and then another three, so it supported five at once, although I don't envy them in there at the time.



(It kind of looks like she's off to the restroom as well. If only...)

At the beginning of next week I'll try and finish off with The Mother Earth and Cove Fort Restrooms, which emcompassed our return drive, and then get to Red Butte(don't think about the name too much).

Are we all pottied out yet? I plan to slow down once I'm out of the Zion trip sequence. By the way, 12 followers, that's great! Thanks everybody for the follow, and feel free to please spread the word to any interested parties.

Visitor's Center

Our first full day in Zion, we decided to go on a hike up emerald pools, stopping at the Visitor's Center before getting on the shuttle that runs up canyon. They have this really amazing column that both heats and cools the restrooms year round without needing an energy expense to do it(if I understood it correctly). That would be nice for a home.





This was one of those shots that took timing to catch. It was a very busy restroom, and every shuttle (running about every 10 minutes) was full, both going and coming, which means the restroom was full as well.

But it turns out that to manage these kinds of crowds there was an entire west wing of the men's restroom that nobody seemed to notice. It was huge, the lights weren't even on, and I didn't see it until afterward. Too bad. It would have been nice to have an entire wing to myself, even if it meant being in the dark.



And despite being heavily trafficked, even the side I used seemed surprisingly clean. There was water almost everywhere except the seat I was sitting on, and being in a hurry to get on the trail, that was good enough for me. Fair rating on this one, although I'm sure if I'd used that other side it would have been a good rating(since almost nobody else used it).

No Longer Out of Order.

oops, sorry everyone. isn't that the biggest faux pas a potty blogger can have, to tell people to follow and not have the button up? in terms of the blog's subject matter, it would be like arriving at a restroom and finding the sign on the facilities that says, "Out of Order." that's as close to outer darkness as i've seen so far, and here i was doing it myself online.

so no, this wasn't meant to be a cruel social experiment... like building a house without a door, and telling people it's open whenever they want to come in. :)

the gadget can now be found on the left hand side and should have the button so people who haven't been otherwise able to, can now become followers...

again, sorry. the door really is open now.

post coming tomorrow.

(and yes, it is rather late. apparently our daughter was hungry for a midnight snack, because she woke up asking for food. yes, she's asleep again, and I will soon be as well.)

At Long Last!

The first among many planned give-aways has been awarded through random selection to one of our now 8 followers. Thanks to everyone for the feedback and the follow.

The prize, as indicated...

A Restroom Sign!



And no, I don't know what you can do with it. Maybe bring it out at parties or hang it on a closet door. The possibilities are endless. I'm sure something will come to you.

The winner will be notified by email (and if they don't mind being announced as the winner, I'll let everyone else know).

Keep spreading the word, and we have similar give-aways (signs, gift-cards, toilet seat covers, :) to come.

And as always, let me know if you find a deserving potty out there. Tomorrow I'll post the next Zion Canyon potty, The Visitor's Center. And coming up next week I'll be posting the rating for Red Butte Gardens, which was amazing (not just the potty).

It's Okay, You're Camping

89.3 miles later, about 1 1/2 hours(thank you google maps).

Next was the privy that would soon become very well known to me, which for the duration of our little vacation became a home away from home.



You give up certain expectations when you go camping(unless you bring your own toilet with you). So when you see a hundred new little caterpillars crawling out of the service door(I'm sorry I don't have pictures), or notice that there is no soap for washing your hands, or even that at some point the restrooms became a playground for a mob of little children playing with the faucets, you don't mind quite as much as if you were elsewhere. After all, there is worse out there when camping, so with flushing and running water, and toilet paper, you're grateful. Besides, I brought an extra bar of soap which may or may not still be there.



This recieves the prestigious line rating, for daring to simply be what it is, a campgound latrine. It was cleaned every day, or at least maintained. There was that floor to worry about, and I definitely still used a makeshift sani-cover out of strips of toilet paper (am I the only person who does that?). But when you've got views like these waiting outside, you tend to forget what's behind you.





And by that I don't mean the little nubbins in my backpack. This wasn't even a good trip as far as pictures go, so unfortunately these don't do justice to that canyon, but you get the idea.

Next Stop

Or "next go," ha haa (About 140 miles past Nephi, 2 more hours or so)

It is quite a challenge actually to catch the restrooms when there aren't people in there.

You start taking pictures inside restrooms, and people think you're wierd. You can take the time to explain that you are doing a blog documenting/rating the different restrooms you use due to increased reliance on them following a bout with Ulcerative Colitis, or you can just sit waiting, biding, taking a little extra time as you wait for the right moment and...



So if you ever see shots that look like the above, it means I'm catching the window of opportunity while it's there, since you never know when that door is going to open and another person will pop in.

The colors are actually quite nice in this restroom, and it is the first restroom that made me feel like I was on vacation. It was busy, and the stalls were funny, because any person over six feet has a remarkable view of the entire space. This next picture will illustrate the point.



Another fair ranking, as long as you stay low, and the area is large, with pavilions and grass for sitting and relaxing in the shade.

This was the rest stop near Paragonah.

Semi-Colon Kind of Life

If you are familiar with how cell phones work, you know that they rely on towers that relay the signals. When you are in motion, like on a roadway, the signal jumps from tower to tower as you move, allowing the call to continue. Irritable Bowel Syndrome works in exactly the same way while you vacation. You travel down the road, but you rely on those restrooms all along the way, and if you ever get into a place without them, you lose the signal, calls are dropped, and all that.

We went on a family vacation to Zion National Park, and the next series of restrooms are from that trip. Every restroom I made use of(some more than others) will be covered here on the blog. First, there's nothing like a good cheeser from the girl to get things started...



Then, about 90 miles later (the first hour or so of the drive)the first restroom of the trip...



Now one of the great things about family trips while growing up was being able to get to our destinations so quickly. We were tough, and pushed through long stretches without having to stop. But now with circumstances as they are, I get to see all kinds of sights that I'd missed before, (thank you Ulcerative Colitis) like these deer heads from the Chevron in Nephi. The restroom was decent, with a solid fair rating. At this point in the trip, restrooms are plentiful, and since we are inclined toward Chevron for gasoline(for whatever reason), this one seemed the logical choice.

Comida Mexicana

So this is a restroom blog, not a food blog. But when you go to a restaurant, you don't initially go for the restroom. El Matador restaurant has their new location just off 500 South in Bountiful(I can't remember just how new it is). The food is really pretty good. As usual it isn't anything like what I ate with families in California that invited us to dinner, but it is what most people would expect to find and enjoy at a Mexican Restaurant. The sopapillos are really good, the enchiladas are pretty good...

This isn't a food critique. They get good business, so you should probably go for yourself. The restaurant aesthetic is really nice.





The bathrooms were nice, with unique decorations for the men's and women's rooms.



And it gets better on the inside.

To be honest, I don't remember now if there were automatic features or not, except that paper towel dispenser in the picture (which leads me to suspect that the rest was automatic as well), or even the sani-cover for the seat. But just look at those tiles...



And a bright orange door...



And then factor in that spanish music is being played over the speakers in the bathroom, all of which when put together, lost on me the other particulars of the privy by the time I sat here to think back on it.

They were nice though, and recieve a good rating from me, which is probably the equivalent rating I would give the food on my same scale, or fair to good(if I were rating the food...) :)

On the docket for next time, Taco Bell (maybe)!

El Matador is on 606 South Main Street in Bountiful.