Salt Lake City
When Megan and I were deliberating our itinerary, she argued that we should stay in Southern Utah for 3 weeks. I argued for 9 days doing the parks and 1 week in Salt Lake City. “It has a vibe!” I pleaded. “It is cool!” I promised her. She asked what I wanted to see and I quickly rattled off “Bonneville Salt Flats, Great Salt Lake, and Temple Square”. She didn’t push back too hard so we scheduled a week in SLC.
I am here to tell you that this was a mistake.
Look, don’t get me wrong. I have no doubt that SLC is a fine place to live. I have several friends who live there including a former business partner who lives up near Park City (which looks like a totally lovely place to live if you like being absolutely buried in snow half the year). Skiing / snowboarding / hiking / mountaineering / etc is all right at your fingertips in Salt Lake City. But the city also feels overwhelmingly conservative. I also think my experience in Salt Lake was adversely colored by an incident we had on the state Capitol grounds the first day we arrived.
My usual approach in a new city is to drive around a bit, find a coffee shop, load up on sugary pastries, and take the girls to a wide open space to ride their bikes / scooters around. Something about taking all that unbridled little kid energy and deploying it to a bike or scooter makes everyone feel a little more at ease in a new city. In Salt Lake City, I found that space at the state capitol located near the downtown area. It was a really lovely day with bright skies, a lot of cross cutting sidewalks, and big lawns to run around on. There were a few school field trips there and an entertainer blowing large bubbles for the kids to chase after. There was also, unfortunately, an extremely crabby old man mowing the state Capitol lawn.
My kids are young and inconsiderate as many children are that age. When I see them get in someone’s way, I remind them “hey, don’t be an asshole” and then I apologize to whomever we transgressed. They usually smile politely and move on.
But not this lawn mowing mothefucker. Nooooope. The girls were tearing ass all over the place on their scooters occasionally riding into the grass. Now keep in mind, this is the state Capitol, not your grandpappy’s suburban lot that you could mow in 20 minutes. There was a VAST amount of real estate this old man could cut. But he seemed interested only in cutting the part of the lawn my kids were on. Whenever the girls would come near him, he’d yell at them. The first time I apologized and asked the girls to move on. But the second time (and third…and fourth) old man Utah and I were yelling at each other. “THERE’S LOTS MORE LAWN TO MOW OLD MAN!” “GET YOUR KIDS OUTTA HERE!”. We went back and forth with each other. I was prepared to take this Latter Day Saint down if I needed to. Fortunately as things started to get a bit heated, the girls noticed the aforementioned bubble man and immediately lost their minds as kids do when they see bubbles.
What to do
Gilgal Sculpture Garden - The Gilgal Sculpture Garden is super easy to miss. In fact, the girls and I rode past it 3 times before we found it, not realizing it’s actually nestled on a residential block between a collection of ordinary looking homes and businesses. Once you find it, you walk down a long wooded path until you come across….a sphinx that looks like Pee Wee Herman (it’s actually Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon church). If that wasn’t weird enough, you turn the corner in the park and you’re greeted by a smallish amphitheater looking place that actually holds a self portrait of the sculptor and creator of Gilgal Thomas Battersby Child. In the sculpture, the artist is holding the tools of his trade and is wearing a pair of magnificent high waisted pants. The girls particularly enjoyed the Captain of the Lord’s Host, a sculpture they had many questions including “why is his head a big rock” and “what is the lord” (we really need to start going to church don’t we).
Great Salt Lake - Ok, let’s get real here. One of the top 2 reasons I wanted to stay in Salt Lake City was to experience the Great Salt Lake (the other reason was to visit the Bonneville Salt Flats so I could really open up my Subaru but it’s like 2 hours away. Womp Womp).
Temple Square - I have a genuine fascination with Mormonism. My former business partner is from Utah and grew up in the LDS church and I got to know more about the church then probably the average person would. So I was REALLY excited to see Temple Square, the home and epicenter of the Mormon Church. I was pretty disappointed to see that the entire square was essentially hidden behind scaffolding and construction equipment. It was undergoing a major rehab while we were there. So I’ve heard it’s cool? But can’t tell you firsthand whether it was or not.
Park City
Where to Drink Coffee
Alchemy Coffee
Salt Lake Roasting Co.
Roots Coffee