Salt Lake City, Utah - August 2011

I don't have many pictures from Salt Lake City because I simply could not capture the beauty of the mountains with my camera (though I'll show you anyway).

How we got there & where we stayed:
We stayed at the Snowbird Inn - a time share we booked through a friend (for just under $400 for the week).  We had a kitchen and a bed but not much else.  Our view was terrible, but it didn't matter because we spent most of our time outside.  We booked our flight on Travelocity and flew into Phoenix, which has some of the best airport art I've ever seen, and then to Salt Lake City.

Obligatory arms-length couple shot

The Fun Details: We bought a "Connect Pass" which allowed us into 13 different attractions - we made it to 9: The Lion House, Clark Planetarium, Tracy Aviary, Hogle Zoo, Thanksgiving Point, Snowbird Resort Rides, Red Butte Gardens, and the Discovery Gateway.

At Thanksgiving Point we explored the gardens on a golf cart, had a scientifically good time at the science museum, and ate a fabulous dinner.

The view from the top of the hill

There were sculptures and installations everywhere

...and a secret garden

Thanksgiving Point is home of the world's largest man-made waterfall

We saw k.d. lang in concert at the Red Butte Gardens, but before the concert we explored the botanical gardens.

k.d. lang concert 

k.d. lang concert in the rain

Seemed appropriate 

The sky after the storm

We made sure to take some time to explore the resort before we left.  We took a tram ride into the mountains and talked to a few ground squirrels (called "Potguts").  These pictures are nothing compared to the real thing.

A storm rolling in while we shopped for groceries

Our potgut friend walked with us all morning 

My first panoramic shot

The view from our tram

Top of the mountain

Panoramic version

There aren't really food details from this trip.  Our Sunday brunch at the resort was amazing (no real pictures).  The food was sublime and we sat out in the sun, surrounded by mountains, listening to a great musician playing acoustic Beatles ballads.  I would also highly recommend dinner at the Thanksgiving Pointe restaurant.  The rest of our meals were cooked in our room.

Our flight home

All in all we had a great time.  I will definitely be back - while we saw the Great Salt Lake we didn't spend nearly enough time in the national forests.