Three Days in Salt Lake City

We ended our adventure to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks by spending our last three days in Salt Lake City. The city was only a four-hour drive from our Airbnb in Driggs, Idaho, so it was a great cap to the trip and -- bonus -- allowed us to catch a non-stop flight back to Columbus.

We arrived in Salt Lake City late on a Friday afternoon, but there was plenty of time for Paul to take the kids for a swim in the hotel pool before we began to explore. We drove by the Statehouse -- immediately visible atop a hill as we drove into the city -- and took a steep hike up to Ensign Peak to look down upon the city and across to the Great Salt Lake, barely visible through the reflecting glimmers of the quickly setting sun.

The peak we climbed.

After a quick playground detour, we parked the car in our hotel's lot and walked a few blocks to Squatters Brewery. Despite Utah's abundant number of Mormons, the city boasts a good number of breweries, and we tried several.

The next day we walked through a large farmers market on our way to Clark Planetarium. As soon as we got there, another guest almost immediately gave us free extra tickets to an Imax movie on rescue dogs, which was a nice surprise. The planetarium exhibits are free, and our local Cosi membership also got us a free planetarium show.

Then we walked to Temple Square, peeking into the Tabernacle Choir's home and taking a few photos. We continued our walk on this hot day to the Leonardo (thanks again, Cosi!), a museum combining art, science and kid activities. The kids quite enjoyed it, and we stayed almost two hours, til the 5 p.m. closing. We could have stayed longer.

That night was dinner at Red Rock Brewing, featuring a lime gose and a shrimp po' boy with the best fried shrimp I've ever had.

The next morning we visited yet another museum courtesy of Cosi -- the Natural History Museum of Utah. The museum, at the University of Utah campus, was on my "maybe if we have time" list, but I'm really glad we went. We stayed around three hours and the kids would have been happy to linger longer. The museum had an excellent dinosaur exhibit, a small but fun play area with water and kid activities everywhere. And a beautiful view, of course.

We spent the afternoon in Park City, which will be the subject of another blog post! And with a fridge full of leftovers, we ate in that evening.

The next and final day in Salt Lake City was a Monday, with a flight just after 5 p.m. We intended to go to the Leonardo again since the kids enjoyed it so much, but instead we spent a few hours next door, in Salt Lake City's public library. The kids alternately played or listened to me read books, while Paul, Edith and I took turns going to the fifth floor deck looking out over the city and mountains. It really is a lovely library, filled with window, light and lovely views.

When we first drove into Salt Lake City three days before, we were surprised to pass an In-N-Out Burger, so we decided to try it for a late lunch before heading to the airport. The burgers and fries were above average for the cheapo price, but I won't be rushing back.

Nevertheless I would be happy to visit Salt Lake City again. It's not what I would call an exciting city -- really, it's like Columbus with mountains and better views! But it was a destination that exceeded expectations, and a nice city experience to cap off a week spent largely in the middle of nature.