We flew from Portland to Salt Lake City, Utah, to continue on our quest to visit all 50 states. After grabbing a rental car, we headed to Legend’s Sports Pub so The Husband could watch the Tottenham Hotspurs match. We had lunch while we were there and it was pretty good for a sports bar.
After the match, we stopped at my most anticipated spot, the Salt Lake City public library. It is one of the most beautiful public libraries that I’ve been to in the US.
We hung out in the library, checking out all the floors, until it was time to check into our Airbnb. We were uninspired by the hotel options when we were there, so we booked an Airbnb that had a great view of Capitol Hill and the mountains.
For dinner, we headed to Red Iguana, a Mexican place with a couple of locations locally. It was on every list of the best places to eat in SLC. We decided to walk, since it didn’t seem that far. That was when we learned just how big each city block is. SLC is designed for car traffic. The streets have multiple lanes going each way, and everything seems wider. It would take multiple NYC blocks (even avenues) to go the same distance as one SLC downtown block. And the map is deceiving. If something looks more than a few blocks, you’re better off driving.
Back to Red Iguana. They’re known for their signature mole dishes. I don’t always love mole so I ordered the fish tacos with a side of mole sauce. It was fantastic. The Husband had a quesadilla, which he also really enjoyed.
We started the next day at 801 Coffee Roasters, which ended up being my favorite coffee of the whole trip (Portland included). I had a Swedish-inspired kaffeost, which had Parmesan and rosemary syrup with nutmeg on top. Sounds strange but it was perfect.
Fueled up, we headed to the Utah State Capitol building. It’s an impressive, grand building with stunning architecture and even better views. SLC might be the prettiest capital city in the country.
The main hall is just as gorgeous. The ceiling around the dome has hand-painted murals from around 1935 that depict early pioneers in Utah and their settlements. This includes Brigham Young, the second President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (so much for separation of church and state) and Father Escalante discovering Salt Lake in 1776 (completely ignoring the native tribes that certainly saw it first). Visiting government building in the current political climate already makes me uneasy, and these murals were a good example of how little has changed in many areas in almost a hundred years.
I digress. The state Supreme Court and House of Representatives was lackluster compared to the rest of the building, but the final hallway with sweeping staircases looked straight out of an MC Escher drawing.
Our next stop was the Cathedral of Madeleine. It was completed in 1909 and I was surprised to find such a beautiful Catholic church in SLC. I was even more surprised to find that the representation of Jesus on the Stations of the Cross wasn’t as whitewashed as usual.
After almost two weeks of travel, I really wanted a healthy lunch. We saw great reviews for Vessel Kitchen, so we headed there. It was exactly what I wanted. I had a delicious falafel and tahini bowl, and The Husband had pork naan tacos. If we had one in St Pete, we would go pretty often.
Our next stop was Tracy Aviary at Liberty Park. While technically a zoo, Tracy Aviary has a robust conservation program. As a birder with a great appreciation for nature, it’s important to me to support programs that are working to conserve nature and reintroduce endangered species, like the Guam kingfisher. They are one of twenty-five zoos successfully breeding them so they can be reintroduced.
They also have a bird near the top of my bird wish list, the laughing kookaburra. It’s a member of the kingfisher family, and so dang cute. I was really hoping it would laugh for me, but I had to settle for its silent posing.
They also had baby pink flamingos, which were an unexpected treat! These tiny gray balls of fluff splashed around in the water under their parents and were just so adorable to watch.
After leaving the aviary, we walked around and stopped at Randy’s Record Shop, Lovebound Library (a romance bookstore), and Gilgal Sculpture Garden.
Fun fact: I met Q-Tip when I lived in NYC a long time ago and still, to this day, refer to him as ‘my friend Q-Tip.’
The free Gilgal Sculpture Garden was created by mason Thomas Childs, a member of the LDS church. He created it to give a physical form to his beliefs. I fully support people being into whatever brings them joy, but this place is bizarre. As The Husband put it, it’s worth the cost of admission and nothing more.
We wanted to grab some wine on our way back to the Airbnb, and we learned about State Wine Stores. In Utah, only state-run stores can sell alcohol, and they don’t all carry the same things. Some carry only liquor; some only wine. The employees are federal employees and the stores are considered government property. By not selling in grocery stores or private liquor stores, the Utah government believes they can promote moderation and regulate access. This policy is heavily influenced by the LDS church. What was it that the First Amendment said about religion?
Anyway, after learning that we could never live in Utah, we relaxed back at the Airbnb before heading to dinner at Slackwater Pizza. Our wine lesson continued—we learned that restaurants can’t give alcohol samples. So you have to order a glass of wine and hope you like it. Luckily,we liked the glasses we ordered, and the pizza even more. It was one of the surprise standouts of the trip.
Because we are who we are, we decided to go to a Real Salt Lake MLS match after dinner. One of The Husband’s favorite Tottenham players, Sunny, now plays for LA, and they were playing at Real Salt Lake. Luckily, Sunny had a hat trick pretty quickly, so we didn’t have to stay for the whole match.
The next morning, we met up with my friend Steven. He was in my Writers in Paradise group the year before (my favorite writing conference that I’ve been lucky enough to be accepted to three times!), and we’ve stayed in touch. He works for the LDS church and was kind enough to give us a tour.
We met at the conference center, a massive building that is the main hub of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It houses the church’s day-to-day operations, as well as entertainment and worship for members. The famed Tabernacle Choir performs in the cavernous meeting hall, a spectacular room that holds 21,000 people. It’s hard to comprehend the room’s size. I imagine it must be electric when the 360-member choir is performing, and the seats are full.
The conference center also has what I would call an LDS church museum. It teaches about the history and includes artifacts, and a model of the new temple. The current main temple in SLC is being renovated to protect against future earthquakes. While it’s closed, there is a model of the temple at the conference center. Once the renovations are complete, there will be a short public-invite period, where anyone can tour the temple. After that, only LDS tithing members in good standing with a temple recommend card can enter. High church members, the President and the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, can enter at any time (only men can hold those positions). The lower level of LDS temples, including this one, have baptismal fonts that rest on the backs of twelve oxen, symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel.
There’s also an outdoor space with a great view of SLC. Above that space is a rooftop garden, but the President and Quorum of Twelve Apostles are allowed there, except during special events.
We also checked out the previous tabernacle. It was built in the mid-1800’s by a shipbuilder and housed the choir until the new conference center was completed in 2000.
Before saying goodbye to my friend Steven, we took a stroll through the garden. Everything in the LDS church comes from members, including the art. They don’t outsource or contract with any person or service that is not a member. All employees are members, which means their tithing is paid directly from their paychecks.
They recently added sculptures to the garden. This sculpture represents when Joseph Smith saw an angel in a field in Palmyra, NY, who told him he could revise the bible. That moment led to the creation of what is now the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Despite minoring in religion and philosophy in undergrad, I’m always surprised by the different ways religions are governed to oppress women. No wonder the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives cast went wild. (BTW I didn’t see a single member of the show the entire time I was in Utah!)
After grabbing a quick lunch, The Husband and I decided to drive 45 minutes to Park City for the afternoon. It is the quintessential mountain town and I bet it’s stunning in the winter. It’s also quite hilly, and the elevation is over 7,000 feet. My sea-level-dwelling Florida blood was not prepared for it, and I panted like a dog the entire time. But it was worth the tachypnea and tachycardia.
Our first stop was, of course, a bookstore. Atticus Coffee and Teahouse is a literary cafe based on my favorite book, To Kill a Mockingbird. (My dream is to open a literary bar called Tequila Mockingbird and sell books and book-themed drinks.) I grabbed a pumpkin spice latte (that came with a free sticker!) and Atticus notebook, like the basic Millennial that I am.
We wandered the main street, checking out the art. They have incredible galleries, with unique and interesting art that’s right up my alley. They also have a few Banksys, created during the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
We popped into No Name Saloon and Grill for a beer. It had a kitchy western feel that felt perfect for Park City.
We made one final stop, at Dolly’s Bookstore, before heading back to Salt Lake City.
We got up early the next morning to begin our drive to Idaho. We stopped to grab pastries at Eva’s Bakery and had the best Kouign Amann (pronounced like queen aman).
Then we headed just north of SLC to Antelope Island State Park, known for roaming bison and tons of birds. And we ended up seeing plenty of both. It was really cool to drive though the state park and see the animals in their natural habitat.
It was also pretty wild to see where Great Salt Lake used to be. It has lost roughly 73% of its historical volume and 60% of its surface area compared to historical norms, and you can see so many areas where water is supposed to be, but isn’t.
We made one final stop at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. I only got out of the car to take one photo, and was immediately covered in flies! It was like Hitchcock’s The Birds but with bugs. Gross. At least it was a pretty photo.
After that, we drove straight to state 39—Idaho!