In my last post about Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, I mentioned falling in love with Salt Lake City – so much so that we cut our time in West Yellowstone short so that we could spend an extra night in Salt Lake City. In the end, we only got three days in the city, but they were amazing!
Our first encounter with Salt Lake City was as a stopover between Reno and West Yellowstone. An eleven hour drive was too much for us, plus a night in Salt Lake City meant we could stop at the Bonneville Salt Flats.
The flats were formed by the evaporation of the ancient Lake Bonneville, which covered a large part of western Utah around 14,500 years ago. The lake left behind thick layers of salt and minerals, creating the landscape you see below.
Spanning over 30,000 acres, the Bonneville Salt Flats appear endless. On clear days, the flats mirror the sky. Post-rain is equally spectacular, because the water creates a mirror effect. We knew rain was unlikely, however, we arrived on an overcast day, with huge storm clouds rolling in.
We were able to get a few photos in the sunlight, but when covered with clouds, the flats looked downright filthy. We also had to find an unusual path to get to them. There’s a major rest stop overlooking the flats, but you can only reach it if you’re driving west on I-80 (aka driving away from Salt Lake City). The only way to get to it from the east is to drive 35 miles past it and turn around, resulting in a significant 70 mile detour.
Instead, we made our way to the Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway. Apparently the flat, hard salt crust has been attracting racers to “Speed Week” since the 1930s – I don’t personally get it as the vehicles coming in from the salt look absolutely destroyed. As someone who grew up in Minnesota, I know what salt can do when left on a vehicle for too long.
So when we took the detour on exit 4, we stopped at the very edge of the road and walked onto the salt flats, as opposed to driving out ourselves. It meant we didn’t go quite as far as I had anticipated, but I’m still glad that we made the effort!
An hour and a half later, we were pulling into Salt Lake City. A fun addition to this story is that when we were in Peace Corps, a friend of ours told us that we would absolutely love Salt Lake City – we didn’t know anything about the city other than it’s Mormon history, so we were a bit confused. Fast forward a decade and we could immediately see why.
Salt Lake City is one of the cleanest cities we’ve visited in the US (Dallas is also at the top of the list). Additionally, while the city proper only has an estimated population of just over 200,000 residents, the surrounding metropolitan area comes in at 1.27 million people. We learned in Birmingham two summers before that a population of a million people is absolutely perfect for us! There are enough people for an excellent selection of restaurants and things to do, without being so big that the city is a hassle to get around in.
Speaking of food, two of our absolute favorite meals of the summer occurred in Salt Lake City: Cafe Shambala and Vertical Diner.
Cafe Shambala is a Tibetan restaurant and between the veg momos, curries, and spicy potatoes, we had enough food for dinner and lunch the next day! It was also shockingly cheap. Our other incredible meal was at Vertical Diner, a vegan eatery. We ordered everything from blueberry pancakes to the biscuit sandwich to the tofu scramble and were in heaven (also with plenty of leftovers!).
An honorable mention that doesn’t have a photo – the vegan sandwiches at Buds! We would go back to Salt Lake City just for the food.
Of course, food isn’t all that Salt Lake City has going for it. In fact, because of the city’s connections to Mormonism, there’s a huge reaction to the religion as well (in 2018, members of the Church of Latter-day Saints made up 49% of the population, marking the first time in decades that the percentage fell below half). I can honestly say that Salt Lake City has more pride flags per capita than anywhere we’ve ever been. Pockets of the city are incredibly hip, nerdy, and, of course, welcoming.
In fact, one of our favorite stops in the city was at the Legendarium, an LGBTQIA+ affirming science fiction, fantasy, and horror bookstore located in a historic home. It has an incredibly diverse selection and I purchased two poetry collections there: it was never going to be okay by jaye simpson and You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson.
And that wasn’t our only book stop! We also visited Weller Book Works and had a fantastic time browsing. And we made time to pop into the Salt Lake City Public Library. It was designed by architect Moshe Safdie and is known for its sweeping, curved glass facade that fills the library with natural light and offers stunning panoramic views of the Wasatch Mountains and downtown Salt Lake City.
We also happened to be in the city during the Utah Arts festival, and Pioneer Park has frequent events like farmers markets, yoga in the park, and a slam music festival. It was clear that there’d always be things to do.
One of the last things we did in the city was drive to Great Salt Lake for sunset. It’s the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere (and also a remnant of Lake Bonneville!), so we only saw a tiny portion of it.
Just like Mono Lake (also a salt lake), the shore was covered in brine flies, which was pretty repulsive. But I’m sure there are many other areas to view the lake from. Had we been feeling a bit more adventurous, we’d have done the hike at Antelope Island State Park, but we were definitely in city mode.
It was still a beautiful way to end our time in a fun and vibrant city. We’d happily go back for another visit!
Abroad With Ashley 