Welcome to Utah!

You know how when really cool bloggers (Cup of Jo) live in really cool places (New York), they do a little section about things to do when you come visit that cool place they live? Well I understand that Utah might not SOUND like the coolest place, but I live here and I love it! I also understand that most people who read this blog live in Utah so this guide is not exciting WHATSOEVER, but I think this will be handy for when I have guests visiting. (all purple words are links....)

Places to Eat:


Blue Plate Diner

• The Blue Plate Diner is located in the Sugar House area and is well known for their incredible breakfast. It was featured on Diners, Drive-in's and Dives, featuring Guy Fieri who loved the Corn Beefed Hash so much he called it "Money Hash".  Voted Salt Lake’s Best Breakfast by City Weekly every year since 2004. This is the last place Tay and I went before he left and I was very impressed. 

Sunshine Cafe

• Another great place for breakfast, Sunshine Cafe is located in North Salt Lake. Very reasonable prices with an awesome staff. Incredible French Toast and hash browns... ah I'm drooling just thinking about it. 

Cutlers in Bountiful

• Favorite place for a quick lunch, in high school we went here almost everyday.  The sandwiches and soups are incredible and if you think those are good, you HAVE to try the cookies. It's hard for me to pick my favorite, I love the Lemon Melt -aways and the brownie cookies but I seriously think the glazed sugar tops all. 

Burger Bar (Roy)

• I am a sucker for cool vintage drive-in's so I'm obsessed with this place. It was also featured on Triple D, and I'm going to be very honest with you, the only reason I like this place is the atmosphere... the service is pretty slow and the food is good, but not incredible. So try it out! It's fun and the shakes are awesome. 

Royal India

• Oh.My. Gosh. Best Indian food EVER. And I LOVE Indian. Whenever my dad took the boys out of the house, Mom and I would order buckets and buckets of this yummy food. Always incredible, it's fun to dine in as well, awesome servers (Cynthia used to work here) 

The Madarin 

• The yummyness of this Chinese food blows my mind. It has so many awards and reviews that I don't even know where to start. Katerina works here, her Grandfather owns the place (I laugh because their family is Greek and they run a Chinese restaurant) 

Red Ginger Bistro

• If you're looking for super inexpensive, yummy sushi, this is your place. Jane introduced me to this place and I've been back several times. I'm not saying this is fancy schmancy high end stuff but I LOVE it and it's easy on the college budget. 

Red Iguana 

• Best Mexican food around. The service is incredible and be prepared to wait for a table. The environment is so fun and bright! It's also been featured on the Food Network.

Sammy’s (Provo)

• Oh Sammy's. I always leave that place feeling so happy. Sandwiches are awesome and the shakes are my FAVORITE. They have cupcake and pie shakes, they literally put a cupcake in the blender with ice cream and serve it. Oh man I love those shakes! My favorite is the raspberry lemon cupcake and the peach pie shake. very hipster-y vibe to it which can be fun. Service is very slow but once you've had that first sip of that awesome shake, you'll get over it. 

Orange Leaf

• I know there are Frozen Yogurt places EVERYWHERE but when I'm on vacation, I still look for Fro-yo because  love it so much so I thought I'd just share where to get the best frozen yogurt in town. yum!

Things To Do:

Hogle Zoo

• This is an excellent zoo, nothing super extraordinary but make sure to take the train around! There's a new exhibit coming this spring called Rocky Shores, looks like it's going to be exciting!

Liberty Park/Tracy Aviary

• I love this park! The playground has lots of water toys so bring swimsuits for the kids. You can also buy tickets to do the Ferris Wheel (remember the movie Charly? Yes. It was filmed here) bumper cars, carasel and swings. Make sure to play in the waterfalls and wading pools then head over to the Tracy Aviary to see many different bird species.  

Jump On It

• A big warehouse full of trampolines, some are sectioned off for younger kids, fun for the entire family!

Temple Square

• They say that coming to Utah and NOT going to Temple Square is like visiting Rome and not seeing the Vatican. 

Red Butte Gardens

• Beautiful botanical gardens with little paths and hikes, fall and spring are awesome here! (I may or may not have wanted to have my wedding reception here since I was a little girl and if you steal it I will cut your eyeballs out)

Natural History Museum of Utah

• Brand new museum with awesome dinosaur exhibits and hands on activities demonstrating weather and climate. Kids LOVE this place. 

Living Planet Aquarium

• I've been to a lot of incredible aquariums throughout the country (and a really weird small one in Mexico...) and this is not one of them but it's still really fun! The highlight is touching the manta rays. (which I could do for hours) 

Lagoon

• Amusement park!  It's what fun is! So many good memories here... go on Wicked. It's the most fun roller coaster there. It's expensive to get in so if you're going, spend the whole day and do the water park too. Lots of awesome rides for kids and as always with these kind of things, bring your own lunch, food is expensive. you can do a bounce back cheap and go back within a week for $10.

And so many more! Don't forget Thanksgiving Point, The farmers market during the summer, ice skating at the Galivan center during the winter, and check out our awesome library. The list was quite a bit longer but I cut it down to my very favorites. I love Salt Lake!