Salt Lake City, Utah

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

My husband just found out he has to go there for a meeting for work next week. We are really excited! We have never been there. The best part is its paid for! We pay up front then get it reimbursed (and they are paying 37cents a mile to drive there!!! That will more than cover gas!!!!) So my question, what do you suggest we do there? He will be in meetings all day so me and the kids will be free to get lost!!! (and knowing me, I will :D)

 

Where should we go and what should we see????

[Xuzi]

Will you have a car? Go into Downtown and visit Temple Square first off (They do tours of the Tabernacle and Visitors' Center), then cross the street and go up the road a little ways to the Gateway, which is an awesome mall that has a Children's Museum attached to it.

 

Towards the Eastern edge of the city is This Is The Place National Monument which has replicas of homes of some of the original settlers to the Salt Lake Valley, and across the street from that is the Hogel Zoo.

 

About 30 minutes south down the I-15 is Thanksgiving Point which is a *huge* botanical garden (even a children's garden), as well as a dinosaur museum (which my 3 year old loooooooved last time we were there) and a little store that sells country crafts and kitchen gadgets and goodies and such.

 

You shouldn't have any trouble filling up your time. :D

[aggieamy]

Do you ski? Depending on what time of year you'll be there I have to recommend the skiing. Probably some of the best skiing in the world. They also have tons of really fantastic ethnic restaraunts.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

We will have our van so we can get to places. We would also like to find stuff within walking distance of each other because we will only have 2 days with 10 hour drives each way, so we dont want to be stuck in the van the whole time.

 

 

We are leaving next tuesday morning (early)

 

We are really excited!

[Amira]

If you're staying in a hotel downtown, you can easily fill up two days without needing to drive anywhere (although This Is the Place Heritage Park and Thanksgiving Point are well worth a bit of driving). It's also handy to ride TRAX downtown because it's free. There's a lot of construction right now, but there are still plenty of things to see.

 

Personally, I'd spend a day on foot downtown, and then either go to This is the Place or Thanksgiving Point for the other day. That shouldn't require a lot of driving, as long as you avoid driving during rush hour.

[DianeW88]

Yep, you will enjoy whatever you choose to do. We are a very family friendly city. I am an intrepreter at "This is the Place" and it is open for walking through, but not staffed until Memorial Day weekend. I do recommend the Hogle Zoo right across the street.

 

Gateway will be a blast for your family. You will love the children's museum and be sure to get some frozen yogurt at "Juicy Berry". Kids LOVE to play in the big fountains there, so if it's warm....bring a change of clothes, because they'll get wet. The Clark Planetarium is also located there and all the exhibits are FREE (the only charge is for an IMAX movie or a presentation inside the dome theatre...but they are worth it).

 

Definitely go to Temple Square and all the sites around it (don't mind the construction, it is still completely accessible). You will learn much about the history of the city and of the LDS faith. And, the Visitor's Centers are fun and interactive. The state capitol is a short jog up the hill and is open to the public as well.

 

Thanksgiving Point in Lehi is worth the drive. There is an IMAX theatre there and the largest dinosaur museum west of the Mississippi river. The gardens will also be in bloom and you might be there in time for the Tulip Festival. There is also a farm and a petting zoo. Lots of fun for kiddos. Plus, fabulous shopping for you.

 

We also have an aquarium in Sandy, which is a lot of fun and a Natural History Museum at the University of Utah.

 

If you want to drive into the mountains, Park City is a fun day trip. If you're down south in the Provo area....Robert Redford's Sundance Resort is a short trip up the canyon and the Tree Room is a yummy restaurant. And, often you can see Robert Redford hanging out. We have almost every time we've been there.

 

If you need more specific suggestions or information, ask away!!! We are so proud of our wonderful city here and we LOVE tourists!!

 

Diane W.

Edited April 12, 2010 by DianeW88
I'm the queen of typos.

[BikeBookBread]

Park City is so great - lots of fun shops, history and points of interest. Probably still too snowy to do the luge-ride up there if you aren't into skiing (I think it is a summer-only attraction). You could visit the Olympic park (ski jumping and bobsled venue) if you are into the Olympics.

 

Gateway is a nice outdoor shopping mall if you like shopping, and probably does have the best mix of stores in the area, but it isn't super huge and doesn't have anything that you couldn't find at other nicer malls, but it is pretty and pleasant, and is convenient to get to, and has a big Sur La Table cookware store (if you are into that sort of thing ;) - probably the best shopping in Utah. I tried to go to the site to see if much had changed since we lived there, and Avast (my virus software) was reporting it appeared to have malware, so I didn't add the link.

 

There are lots of good restaurants in the area -- don't know how much you are wanting to spend or how well your kids do in nicer places; if you like Italian, there was a smallish restaurant that wasn't kid-unfriendly, and was close to downtown -- and not corporate/chain -- called Al Forno's. It consistently got high, high ratings from the local lifestyle magazine. It was a fave of DH and mine while we lived there.

Edited April 12, 2010 by BikeBookBread