Salt Lake City: Salty and Sweet Itinerary

Even though Salt Lake City is located just Southeast of Great SALT Lake, our experience there was more sweet than salty! After flying Into Salt Lake City, grabbing a yummy Mexican Food lunch at Red Iguana and our incredible experience at the Bonneville Salt Fats, we decided to hang out in SLC and get dinner. 

Temple Square

We walked from our nearby Hyatt Place Hotel to Temple Square and we were amazed at how clean the city was. Approaching Temple Square we couldn’t miss the overflow, smaller (warmer) tabernacle-Assembly Hall. It’s very picturesque and the gardens around it and the Tabernacle area are gorgeous. 

Next to Assembly Hall, separated by a pretty garden, but connected by sidewalks, is the Salt Lake Tabernacle. This is where you find the 11,000 plus pipe organ and the famous Tabernacle Choir.

The Salt Lake Utah Temple was under construction, but you can get an idea of how massive it is. 

In the same Temple Square area, we scoped out the Lion House and The Beehive House, which have more beautiful flower gardens all across the front. So pretty!

City Creek Mall

City Creek Mall is just across the street, filled with lots of stores, water features and restaurants. We had dinner here at Brio. Even tho my rule is usually to try new places when traveling, I love Brio and we don’t actually have one in our hometown. That made it ok. Haha We even came back here the next night and ate at Cheesecake Factory, which falls into the same non-local category. 

At least I selected this flatbread, which is something I had not had at Brio before. It was delicious with the shredded basil, and much to my liking, it was salty! Flavorwise- so in a good way!

Utah State Capitol

One place I was pleasantly surprised with was the Utah State Capitol Building.  I loved that the grounds were large and well utilized. There was even an event going on the day we were there. 

Sweet site we missed

Mrs. Backer’s Pastry Shop, celebrating 80 years, was closed while we were there. Would love to visit this bakery the next time we are in SLC though. 

Belgian Waffles/Frites

The perfect breakfast spot that was definitely open, lured us in two mornings in a row. We couldn’t get enough of the waffles & frites from Bruges Belgian Bistro. We even ordered some to go for the road. 

Loved the friendly Belgian owner too. He not only makes amazing waffles, but was very interesting to talk to about SLC and of course Bruges. 

Special touch: look how my chicken and waffles order was served as a bunny.  The next day my fruit topped waffle was embellished with Belgian Chocolate Sauce! Sweet!

Here’s the unboxing of our waffle and frites to go. We got two dips on the side for the frites; a lemon pepper dill sauce and a garlic sauce. As much as I love garlic, the dill was a stronger flavor, so I think that’s our fav!

Other Salt Lake City sights 

Cathedral of the Madeleine- Roman Catholic Church, opened in 1909. The cathedral/mother church of SLC diocese claims it’s the only US cathedral under patronage of St Mary Magdalene. 

So fun and colorful! Enjoyed seeing the painted utility boxes in SLC. Our city does this too and I love it. 

Eagle Gate is a monument spanning State Street,  originally topped with a wooden eagle in 1859, at entrance to Brigham Young’s property. The eagle is now bronze, weighing 4000 lbs,  sitting on a redesigned wider arch across the now broader State Street. A closer look, shows the eagle is actually on a beehive. The arch is just around the corner from the Beehive House, one of Brigham Young’s residences. 

Petunia sits next to Bruges Waffles & Frites and Downtown Farmers Market across from Pioneer Park. What’s not to love about this little piggy?!

Antelope Island

We started at the visitor center here. This may be the only place to learn a little about the huge brine shrimp industry on Great Salt Lake. After hearing our Bruges friend speak of it, and digging into finding as much info as I could after I left, I wish I had paid more attention to the sea monkey (brine shrimp) info here. 

At the VC and scattered through the park, are lots of artsy bison. Bud noticed that the burn-outs on the white one were actually in shapes of a warrior on a horse and bison. We found one, maybe painted by a class with all of the handprints? 

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Buffalo Point Trailhead

Our 1st hike of the trip was on Antelope Island where we hiked Buffalo Point Trailhead. This was one of the shorter hikes, at about a mile round trip, yet it offered beautiful lake views and great photo spots. The hike up felt a little steeper than we expected. Possibly because we were told it’s ‘a little steep at the beginning and then levels off’, which translates to: uphill all the way and level at the top. Haha The lack of shade in July, might have also contributed. 

Fielding Garr Ranch

Unexpectedly, on Antelope Island is also a ranch. Other than beautiful horses, most of the Fielding Garr Ranch just felt very historical. There was a huge barn filled with all kinds of antique equipment, tools, and machinery. A variety of silos, other equipment, vehicles, etc were all on display at the property too. You could spend hours here if that’s your passion. Finding some a/c became our passion pretty quickly! Once you walk thru the open ended barn, there’s not much shade. 

Salty sites we missed

Besides the Bonneville Salt Flats and hanging out on Antelope Island, surrounded by the Great Salt Lake, there are a couple of other salty sights we didn’t have time for. 

Spiral Jetty, an earthwork sculpture created by Robert Smithson, is 1500’ long, 15’ wide. It is sometimes submerged depending on water level of Great Salt Lake. It was actually underwater for 30 years until 2002, beginning shortly after completion. Sculpting began in 1970 with the hauling in of 6650 tons mud/salt crystals/basalt rocks. It emerges from Great Salt Lake into a coil at Rozell Point. Sounds very interesting, but we ran out of time to make the drive to see it. 

Brine shrimp industry, as introduced by our Belgium friend at Bruges Waffles and Frites. We had no idea about this rare and large operation until we were in SLC. Not that we really could’ve seen any boats out or observed any of the collecting of the cysts (eggs) in July, but it’s very interesting that most of the brine shrimp, or cysts, are harvested here for shrimp hatcheries around the world. 

Mighty Five coming up

After our sweet and sometimes salty adventure in Salt Lake City, we begin our road trip to Park City, Roots of Knowledge, Pando and the Mighty Five.  Posts to follow!

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