checking out salt lake city

we were only in salt lake city for one night, and since we'd arrived a little earlier than planned we had some time to go out and take a walk.

as we walked along we passed this:

and then we killed a little time walking through the mall.

around the corner we came across the huge mormon temple, and lots of people were hurrying down the street to get there.  we must've arrived just before a service was scheduled to begin.

of course, since we aren't mormon the best look we were gonna get was in the visitor center that overlooked the temple.  there was a pretty detailed model to look at:

and you could learn all about it if you wanted to take the time to look at all of the exhibits.

outside we walked all around the grounds, which were really pretty.  we even witnessed a marriage proposal, which is always fun.

the hub thought he remembered a cool train station down the street, so we headed out of there and walked towards it.  on the way there we passed the stadium where the utah jazz play, and also where justin timberlake has a scheduled stop on his "man of the woods" tour.

the train station was still there, but the doors were chained shut.  oh well.

i noticed the ragnar logo in windows all along one side, and i wondered if this was where their headquarters were located.

as we made our way towards the rear of the building, we found what must've been a pretty cool area to hang out in during the 2002 winter olympics.

  
the bean sweet-talked us into a little treat here, where two guys were making custom filled churros.  she opted for one filled with nutella.

we headed back to the hotel to freshen up a bit before heading downstairs to dinner and found this in our closet:

we'd been told that the hotel restaurant, bambara, was rated #1 in the city.  and since we were right there, we decided it was the best spot for dinner.

that little card got us each one of the chef's special appetizers - a beet deviled egg.  not my favorite, but the hub and the bean enjoyed it.

the blue cheese house cut potato chips were pretty tasty.

and the corn bisque with fresh crab and basil oil was really delicious.

we love cheese boards.  i think we order one every chance we get.

the hub's wedge salad looked good too, with the butter lettuce.  yum.

the bean opted for the grilled chicken as her entree.

this was the hub's pumpkin parmesan gnocchi.

and i'd ordered the seared striped bass.

it was all delicious, and a nice way to cap off our quick stop in SLC.

ya see one hoodoo, you've seen 'em all

as we headed out of zion mountain lodge on our way to salt lake city, we happened upon this eye-catching sign and decided that we needed to stop if for nothing else but to take a picture of it:

i mean, have you ever known me to resist a photo op like this??  heh.

but then our rumbling tummies told us that we needed to stop and grab something for breakfast lest we pass out from hunger.  and with several hours of driving in front of us, we took heed.  besides, who can say no to "ho-made" grub?  certainly not us.

the back of the menu gave the backstory on the restaurant, which has been there for quite a long time, as well as the origin of that "ho-made" tagline.  

the food itself was -well, it was fine.  i'd ordered the house special - deep fried scones with honey butter - hoping that i'd perhaps stumbled across some sort of delicacy that i'd drool over every time i remembered it.  unfortunately, that was not the case.  they were okay, but nothing special at all.

we did, however, enjoy the toast that was housemade, fresh and hot from the oven.

after a quick stop in the gift shop for souvenir t-shirts, we drove off and passed the small golf course that we'd read about on the back of the menu.

we drove through this on our way to bryce canyon national park:

and like our trip through zion, we drove along the road that wound through the park and stopped at all of the touristy turnouts to take pictures.  

i was super amused at the other visitors who came prepared in all of their hiking gear, while i walked around in skinny jeans, uggs and a jacket i'd impulsively bought on sale from the ragnar website.

the hub plopped the bean up on the wall for a picture, which made me a little nervous, but she was happy to pose for a shot.

the next stop was here:

then here:

and by the time we stopped here the bean was totally over it and didn't even bother to get out of the car.

i have to admit, i was getting a little bored myself.  i mean, how many different angles do you really need to see the same sights from?  yeah yeah, natural beauty blah blah blah.  i still got out at all the stops, but i was pretty much over it too.  we all got out at the last stop, just because:

and then she passed out for the rest of the drive.

she perked up when we finally pulled into salt lake city and got to our home for the night - the kimpton hotel monaco.  

this kid, man.  she sure loves her fancy hotels.