This time last year me and Jesse took a trip to Salt Lake City*. I had been hearing a lot of good things about the city, and plane tickets were a good price! We had 3 full days in and around the city – and I feel that we accomplished a lot in a short amount of time.

My Top Fives of Salt Lake City:

1. The Little America & Grand America Hotels: You can spend a lot of money and stay in the Grand America, or pay significantly less and stay in the Little America. It’s right across from the Grand, so even if you stay in the Little, you can still trek over to the larger and fancier Grand America – which you should! One of the best toy stores I have ever been to is JouJou, inside this hotel. There is also a restaurant, café/bar, bakery and a few other things as well. Since we were there last year during the holiday season, they had the most awesome window displays – so fun to check out!

2. The Salt Lake & Antelope Island: The lake is pretty desolate, as there are few living things that can actually survive in/near the heavily saline water. It’s actually a little eerie, and it has a very specific smell to it that I can’t describe. That sounds bad, but it was really interesting! The long road that cuts through the lake ends at Antelope Island. A pretty desolate island as well, though now there are bison and antelope that live there. There’s also a little museum you can check out.

3. Alta Ski: As a Midwest girl, I did not grow up skiing like Jesse did in Colorado. To be honest, I don’t really like skiing – but I try to be adventurous (and I love the scenery), and Jesse has fun! Since we went early in the season and on a weekday it was pretty empty – less people for me to avoid skiing into – yay! Not that I have much experience, but the snow quality seemed nice and just as good if not better than Colorado. I’ve heard this is where the locals ski, and probably cheaper and less crowded than Park City.

4. Ruby Snap: Fresh baked cookies… mmmmm. I’m a cookie girl, and this place did not disappoint. Their cookies are represented by vintage pin up girls. We tried several, but my favorite was Penelope, a peanut butter cookie dipped in chocolate.

5. Temple Square: This was really neat to see, especially at night when all the trees were lit up. Since we’re not Mormon, we couldn’t go inside, but the outside was pretty amazing on its own. When we came back at night, a church service had just finished, and the whole square was filled with people and families, there were luminaries and trees lit up – it was really magical.

Transportation is pretty easy. The Little America is really close to the TRAX stop, and that will take you through the center of the city. We did rent a car for two days, which we took to see the Up House, Antelope Island, and Alta. Public transportation can take you to everything else in the city, and it’s really easy to use. We got in late the first night, so we took a taxi from the airport (only $20 some dollars), but leaving we took the bus, and it went directly to the airport, super easy and cheap. SLC is a very accessible city for tourists. It’s not too big or crowded and everyone was really friendly.

Other places of interest: Capital Theater & BalletWest, Eva, Takashi, Up House, and lots of vintage shops.

*Having been to SLC only once, I'm no expert on the city. But I thought I'd include some things we enjoyed, and things we figured out along the way in case you want to visit someday! I got recommendations from friends and co-workers, and it helped a lot!