Salt Lake

Brian and I had a little bit of time yesterday morning before our flight back to Columbus, OH via Dallas, TX, so we wandered briefly around Salt Lake City and stopped by the Great Salt Lake, where Salt Lake City gets its name from!

We stopped by the Salt Lake Temple at Temple Square, which is massive and beautiful.  There are no public tours inside the temple, but we did take a quick walk around the outside.  It really is a stunning building to see right in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City.

Afterwards, we headed to the Great Salt Lake which is also the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere!  And it was big!  We only drove to a part of it, but it was cool to stop by and see such a famous lake!

Overall, we had a great time in U-taw!  We did so much and were able to see a part of the country that neither of us had ever seen!

While we have you, here are a few fun facts about Utah:

-Utah is known as the Beehive State.
-If you live in Utah, you are known as a Utahan or Utahn.  (We prefer the latter.)
-There are many dinosaur bones found in Utah.  One of them is called a Utahraptor!
-The state bird is the California Sea Gull...
And last, but not least:
-The "state cooking pot" is the dutch oven, which we find very funny on multiple levels!

Park City

We spent our last night in Utah in the infamous town of Park City - home of the Sundance film festival and the United States Ski team, among other things!  We made the drive which was about 30 minutes or so outside of Salt Lake City without any real direction.  We figured we'd get there, wander about, find a place to grab some dinner, and mosey on back to Salt Lake. 

And we did exactly that!

When we arrived, we headed to Main Street and window shopped.  We saw a ton of local artists, lots of ski shops, some skiers, and typical main street type shops - ice cream shop, fudge shop, souvenir shop, etc.  Once we had our fill of walking and looking, we stopped in at the No Name Saloon for some grub.

We both enjoyed our time in Park City, but we didn't enjoy the yuppity yup attitude that we noticed we were surrounded by.  On several different occasions we noted someone in our presence being rude.  Neither Brian nor I would like to spend our time around such people, so if I were to take a guess on whether we will be back to Park City, I would have to say not in the near future.  We actually spoke to one of the vendors at one of the shops on Main Street about the attitudes around town and we were informed that summer is a much more enjoyable, laid back visit and there is a ton of stuff to do.  So, I guess I can't really say that we won't be back ever, but perhaps just not again in the winter!

The Yurt

We met our group of 20 at the Clock Tower on Solitude Mountain at 5 pm last night.  Our guide outfitted us with either snowshoes or cross country skis, but we also had the option to walk without either because the snow was already pretty packed down.  Brian and I decided to try our hand at snowshoeing since neither of us had ever done it before.  (We were the only ones that decided to try anything.  Everyone else walked in the snow boots they were wearing!)

We started our walk up the snowy mountain with the rest of our group, for we were walking to The Yurt, our dinner destination which was located in the middle of the woods.  The walk was beautiful!  The snow was billowy and perfect, and the evergreen trees were so secluding that they created a perfect retreat.

When we arrived at the Yurt, we saw a round, 20' diameter tent which was nearly completely covered by snow.  (We also saw the outhouse which was our only "restroom" option.)  This is where we would be dining tonight! 

When we entered the Yurt, there were two long tables that sat perpendicular to each other, a hole in the center at the top of the tent which we learned is usually open for the fire that is in the middle (ours did not have that), and an area set up for our chef to whip up our five course meal.  It was unlike anywhere we have ever been or eaten, and it was fantastic!  The atmosphere was just incredible and totally worth the trek!

Over the course of about 3 hours, our chef concocted a five course meal for everyone in the Yurt.  We started with a soup, followed by a small appetizer, followed by a salad, then an entree, and a dessert.  I took a picture of the soup and forgot to take a picture of the rest of the courses!  And they were so unique that I couldn't tell you anything about them except for the fact that the small appetizer involved a scallop, the salad had arugula and pear, the entree was some sort of lamb, and the dessert had a delicious fruit from the pear family. 

Brian really enjoyed the menu.  I, on the other hand, am kind of embarrassed to admit that my pallet is extremely bland, so while I absolutely loved the atmosphere, I didn't absolutely love the menu.  Still, we had an amazing time despite my lack of mature taste buds.

Our dinner lasted well into the evening, and on our walk back down the mountain we were accompanied by the brightest stars and planets speckled against the beautiful, clear night.  I can honestly say that the quiet, private, amazing walk down was one of my favorite parts of our Yurt adventure.  It was so peaceful, and if I had a higher cold tolerance, I would've stayed on the mountain even longer and stargazed...if Brian wanted to join me, of course!

We were so happy that we got to experience such a unique dining atmosphere.  It really was amazing, and again, it is something that we would highly recommend to adventurous travelers and diners!

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos

Brian and I arrived safely and soundly in Salt Lake City, Utah!  Our first stop on the list of many, of course, was Bryce Canyon which was about a 4 to 4.5 hour drive south of Salt Lake.  When we arrived on Friday night, we drove about an hour and stayed at a Sleep Inn in Provo, UT where we decided to ... sleep in!  Then, on Saturday morning, we got up and drove the rest of the way south to Bryce Canyon!

The views in Utah are unlike any we've ever seen.  Salt Lake City has a beautiful mountain backdrop (we've learned these are the Wasatch and Oquirrh mountain ranges), which are snow covered in March.  For nearly the entire drive south to Bryce Canyon, there were mountains on either side of the highway.  (A note about the highways in Utah: the speed limits here stay steady at 75 mph, especially once you're out on the open road, but there was a stretch were the speed limit was 80!  Neither Brian nor I had ever seen an 80 mph sign on a US highway!)

Once we arrived at Bryce Canyon, we saw the infamous hoodoos that Bryce Canyon is known for.  These strange geological formations are incredible!  The view here is unlike any we've ever seen, and each hoodoo is unique and tantalizing in its own way.  It was a chilly, windy day at the viewpoints.  We actually had planned on an early spring picnic lunch, but decided to picnic in our rental instead because it was a lot colder then we thought!

We were so happy with the decision to drive to Bryce Canyon.  It was such a cool place to visit, and while we didn't have enough time to go hiking down into the Canyon to view the hoodoos from the bottom up, we did get to take in some incredible views at Bryce Point, Inspiration Point, Sunset Point, and Sunrise Point.  And we highly recommend Bryce Canyon as an incredibly unique national park stop if you are ever in the southern Utah area!