Utah State of Mind

I am finally here! After 6 weeks spent in Oregon and a 3 day roadtrip through Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, I finally arrived in Utah. While most of my first week here was spent moving into my new apartment, I did get to go explore a bit around Salt Lake City. I even got to hit up a quick hike with Winter and my Dad. Plus about a month after I moved here my mom came to visit as well, which meant more exploring!

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Ensign Peak and Ridge

After moving into my apartment we took an afternoon to go on the iconic Ensign Peak hike. The trail head for the hike is in a residential area in the foothills. Ensign Peak is a short hike, only about 0.40 miles to the top with about 400 feet elevation gain. All the details are on All Trails! We really enjoyed the views from the top of the city.

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Afterwards we decided to add a little distance and elevation to our hike by also completing the Ensign Ridge Trail. Or at least part of it. This out and back ridgeline hike is 2.8 miles out and back, however we only finished about half of it. Get the details and plan this hike on All Trails as well.

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Downtown Salt Lake City

After an our hour of hiking we headed down the street to check out the state capital building overlooking downtown Salt Lake City. The grounds around the building were gorgeous and it was really interesting to see the history and monuments there. I also got to explore this area with my mom a few weeks later!

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Temple Square is also a must see in downtown SLC. The goal was to ultimately to get to see the organ inside the tabernacle theater. Unfortunately due to COVID everything inside Temple Square was closed to the public. Luckily, I live here now and will hopefully get to go back and explore more when things open back up next year.

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Park City, Homestead Crater, and Cottonwood Canyon Utah

Park City

My mom and I took a day to head east of Salt Lake City to explore. The first stop was Park City. We stopped by Olympic Park – home of the 2002 Winter Olympics. The Alf Engen Ski Museum and Eccles Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games Museum were both open and both FREE. Unfortunately all of the potential activities were closed because it was too early in the season and because of our lovely friend, COVID. Overall, highly recommend spending a day here.

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Homestead Crater

Did someone say hot spring and mineral bath?? Utah has many natural hotsprings, but Homestead Crater is easily accessible for a quick afternoon trip. Homestead Resort gave me quintessential 60s family summer vacation spot vibes. Like think of the resort they go to in Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, that was the vibe. But the crater its self was really relaxing for my mom and me. You do have to make a reservation to swim, snorkel or scuba dive in Homestead Crater, which is 90 degrees year round and about 65 feet deep. More information on that is available on the resorts website.

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Cottonwood Canyon

Driving over to Park City we just took the interstate. On the way back we took the back way, through the mountain passes and Big Cottonwood Canyon. We missed the amazing aspen fall leaves by about 1 week, but the drive still gave us great views of the mountains on the way home. The best view was at the top of the mountain pass.

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Overall my first weeks and month in Salt Lake was full of fun, and work! But I am so happy to be in my new home, and so is Winter!

Stay tuned for more adventures around Utah and all the things Winter and I get up to in our new home! And check out all our past adventures in the Archives.

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