Salt Lake City, Utah

Hi, I'm Michelle from the blog Lovely by M and the website run by my husband & I, Twigcreative.  I'm happy to be here sharing must do's and must visit's in one of my favorite cities, Salt Lake City, Utah.  I am from Utah and so naturally Salt Lake a.k.a SLC has been a much visited place since my childhood.  In fact, whenever my parents asked where my siblings and I would like to go for a day visit, I would always request SLC so that I could carry around my old camera and snap pictures.  I was often heard saying, "stop the car!" because I just had to capture a moment seen along the street.

So here we go, I have a lot of favorites and hope that if you ever visit SLC, you'll give me a hollar!

Must Eat:

Fresh fruit pancakes & The dutch baby

Gourmet cheese pizza & Creme brulee

Pure comfort food

Teriyaki chicken

 -Cafe Trio.  Our absolute favorite restaurant in the city.  A swanky atmosphere with brick walls, great art, and sleek uniforms + menu design.  We always order the same thing, a cheese pizza to share and a creme brulee!

-Original Pancake House.  The best breakfast you'll ever taste.  I don't know what ingredients they use to make it all taste so good, but it's really that yummy.  Watch out though, they close at 3 pm and there's always a full house!

-Takashi.  Sushi fan?  This is your place.  Amazing Japanese food with a hip and sophisticated crowd.

-One World Cafe.  A unique vegan experience.  You only pay what you think your meal is worth, but it's bound to satisfy and fill!

-Ruth's Diner.  Take a little drive up the canyon to a cozy old train car that will serve up the best comfort food.

Must Visit:

Not just for kids!

Gets you right in the Christmas spirit

Conference Center

Gateway's outdoor mall

My favorite stop at the mall, Anthropologie!

 1. Hogle Zoo.  Not just for kids, we took an afternoon off and had a grand old time.  Don't know if we were supposed to feed the giraffes though???

2. Temple Square.  During the holiday season, you will be blown away by the lights on temple square and during the warmer months, the Conference Center is always fun to tour (roof top garden) or to attend a musical performance at.

3. Gateway Mall.  A fun outdoor mall with all the best shops.  My favorites, Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters.  Although I leave a little depressed ;o)  They have a great musical water fountain, hip crowd, and great surrounding restaurants.

4. Capitol Theater.  We attended Wicked there last year and we're not only in awe of the theater's architecture itself but of course the performance.  They've always got something going on.

5. SLC Public Library.  You wouldn't always think of visiting a cities library but I've loved this modern building from the beginning.  It houses interesting design & art all throughout, a roof top garden, many nooks and comfortable seating for reading, a coffee shop, and live music + art shows on it's grounds.

To Do:

 Lastly, you can always go to a city and visit hot spots or eat at the best places, but sometimes you just need something to do.  Fortunately Salt Lake has offered me many days of fun.  Here's just a few of my favorites.

1. Take a drive up in the Avenues.  I lived in the avenues for a time and still love to walk or drive its streets.  It is a historic neighborhood with much charm, many tree lined streets, and hidden chocolate shops, salons, and boutiques along the way.  It also has several top of the hill parking spots for looking over the city.  My husband actually proposed to me at one of these look out points (night picture seen above).

2. Visit one of the many coffee shops.  In college, I loved to hang out at various coffee shops with friends and chat or play a round of chess.  We would order steamers or hot chocolate and share the different flavors.  Many of the coffee shops offer board games, magazines, and wi-fi.  My favorites: Nostalgia and Cocoa Caffe.

3. Attend the awesome summer/fall Farmer's Market, the monthly Gallery Strolls, the Jazz Festival, Twilight Concert Series, Friday Night Flicks, Film Society, or the Arts Festival.  Handmade Markets also include: Craft Lake City, Avenues Street Fair, and the Art Market.

Wow, pretty cool city if I should say so myself.  I didn't even get to telling you the history or about the architecture but as I type this I think of a million more things to share.  So I'll just leave it at this and hope that you get a chance to step foot along Salt Lake's shimmery sidewalks someday!