Aaron and I had the best time in Salt Lake City! We caught ourselves saying, over and over again, "I could totally live here!" Granted, we weren't there during the snowy winter, but the gorgeous temple and churches, old historic neighborhoods, charming cafes and restaurants, and incredible scenery were enough to blind us for a moment into thinking it was a place we'd love to live!
The first night in SLC, we drove downtown to have dinner at a Korean restaurant where our "go to" Dolsut Bibimbap was 3x's more expensive than it was in Korea, but thankfully just as delicious! Then we headed over to check out a Bee's game... (They're the triple A team affiliated with the Anaheim Angels!)
We got to the stadium and found FREE parking on the street (YAY!) and then scalped 2 lawn tickets for $8.00 each and grabbed a seat in the outfield lawn area! But, we didn't stay for long. I thought we could somehow finagle our way through the stands and find a seat behind home base, and sure enough, we did!
Thankfully it was a slow fan night, so we were able to grab a seat without showing our tickets!
(YAY again!)
It was almost as if we had the place to ourselves... except for the guy behind us who was the spitting image (audibly) of Forest Gump! He'd yell all of the calls out after they happened. "That's a faaaaaaaauuuullll ball folks!" If it weren't so annoying it would have actually been pretty funny! I guess that's our Karma for sitting in a section we didn't pay for, right?! haha
One of the things we loved so much about SLC was how people were out and about walking and riding bikes everywhere! It's a very outdoor friendly community! We loved that they had these little orange flags at every crosswalk for people to hold up as they cross the street! lol
The next day we checked out some of the sights in Salt Lake...
The Governors Mansion (and yes, he actually lives here!):
The Avenues and Sugar House historic neighborhoods:
The Salt Lake city and county building:
...and the stunning buildings, temples and blooming tulips located in Temple Square! Mind you, these were taken without a tripod... Not too shabby for steadying it on A's back! lol
The coolest thing happened as we were heading towards SLC. I got a comment on my blog from a woman who'd been reading along since the very beginning! Her message began with,
"So....this is probably one of the strangest things I've ever done in my life but here goes....
IF you are still in Utah (I noted that these are post-dated a bit)
and IF you are heading north of Bryce Canyon up toward Salt Lake City
and IF you aren't totally freaked out by the thought of having dinner
with a family of total strangers who have read your blog religiously
for years then I thought I'd invite you and Aaron to dinner at our house."
How awesome is that?! We were in, immediately! Any chance to actually meet someone who's been reading my story is an honor! So, on our second day in SLC, Aaron and I drove over to meet her and her adorable 2 kiddos and very sweet husband for dinner! We had the best time getting to know each other in person! Thank you S!
The next morning, and our last... we had breakfast with Steve and Sharon (our bed and breakfast hosts) and then packed the car and headed to Hatch Family Chocolates, recommended by my old high school friend Chelsey who used to live 1 block away from where we were staying! It was the best recommendation of our entire stay in SLC!
1 rice crispy with marshmallow, caramel and chocolate will do just fine, thank you!
We hated to say goodbye to SLC, but alas, it was time to head north to Idaho...
... where we stopped the car to watch 3 shepherds, 2 horses, and 8 dogs round up and herd a thousand, if not more, sheep! It was pretty incredible to watch the whole operation!
...and then on to Wyoming, which is holy crap, AMAZING! I love it, love it, love it here!
We made it to Jackson Hole, Wyoming around 8pm, in the pouring rain, which botched our camping idea! But, we found a great hotel right in the center of town and checked in for the night at $72, threw on our PJ's, switched on the heater and ordered some pizza, which was a perfect consolation!