Our Big Little Adventures: Salt Lake City...and beyonddddd!

In an effort to finish our 50 state travels, we took a road trip to visit several new states!

“You can find your way across this country using burger joints the way a navigator uses stars.”
– Charles Kuralt

Utah

:: Salt Lake City ::
lodging: Hotel Monaco... we love Kimpton Hotels. This one was great, with an interesting twist. Apparently Salt Lake City, Utah is just too boring for Hotel Monaco...so they have decided to try and "spice" it up a little with animal print robes and an interesting "collection" of items you can purchase from the mini-bar / basket. Ha! Who knew SLC could be so crazy...
dining: Ok, I know we live in the city that never sleeps, but c'mon...the entire town of SLC shuts down on Sunday. You could hear frogs croak outside it was so quiet. So, we had dinner at our hotel - and it was wonderful! We started the night with the hotel-hosted happy hour in a hotel suite with gorgeous city views (and a massage!), had dinner at Bambara and after-dinner drinks at The Vault.
favorite things: We toured Temple Square and Pioneer Park...really, we were just trying to walk off our food. ;)

Idaho

:: Downata Hot Springs ::
Us Texans were missing our pool time. Luckily, people in Idaho believe in swimming. I also needed a base tan before going to Bren's wedding in Florida! We found a natural water pool. We swam. It was glorious.

:: Idaho Potato Museum ::

We went to Idaho... to go to a potato museum. How can you go to Idaho and NOT go to a potato museum? It was totally worth it - just for visiting, they gave us free hashbrowns in a box (you know, the healthy kind). So thank you Idaho Potato Museum, my breakfast last week was awesome.

:: Idaho Falls ::

Well, we didn't see any "falls"...however, we were treated as royalty at Stockman's Restaurant. Sure, that is just because no one else was dining at 3:30PM (were were hungry after seeing all those potatoes!). Really though, they did Mexican food right. Thumbs up.

Wyoming

:: Yellowstone National Park - Lake Lodge Cabins ::

We had such a great day exploring Idaho, that we were afraid we would have to navigate Yellowstone in dark - and after all the crazy wildlife warnings (just wait), I was in no mood to wrestle a bear. Luckily, we got to our cabin (note: THIS is camping - I have pictures to prove it.) just as the sun was setting over Yellowstone Lake. It was truly gorgeous and cold! The next morning we had breakfast at the lodge (biscuits and gravy, that's right Wyoming) before heading over to Old Faithful.

There she is!

Inside of our cabin...camping!

BEAR SPAY! I've never laughed so hard...

lodging: Lake Lodge Cabins

dining: The Lodge - Lake Lodge Cabins

favorite things: Old Faithful, Wildlife Warnings

Montana

:: Livingston, MT ::
This was hands-down one of the cutest towns we have ever been to! Thanks to Travel Channel's Anthony Bourdain (who I still think is a pompous jerk, but has good taste in food) we had lunch on the patio at the Murray Cafe at the historic Murray Hotel. There was definitely a hometown feel in the air.

:: Miles City, MT ::
Our first Bed and Breakfast! We stayed at the Horton House B and B in Miles City after enjoying a southern-style dinner at "The Rib and Chop House" - a town favorite. We were the only people at the Bed and Breakfast that night and the lady and her daughter were super sweet! The next morning, she made a ton of food for us and we swapped travel stories. She lived in New York when she was younger.

In front of the Horton House Bed and Breakfast

North Dakota

:: State Line ::

ND is a state of few words, things and sights.... so we entertained ourselves at the state line with a game of checkers.

South Dakota

:: Rapid City, SD ::
We celebrated the 4th of July in Rapid City. An hour before arriving at the hotel I realized that we were staying at a haunted hotel - Ghost Hunters even did an episode on it! Wonderful. Luckily, we had no visitors that night. Very cute town and our hotel was in the center of it. We enjoyed drinks on the rooftop of the Alex Johnson and then headed down to the city's 4th of July festival to watch the hot dog eating contest - these were seiously the largest hot dogs I've ever seen! Afterward, we enjoyed an Italian dinner before joining the ghosts at the hotel. The following day we visited Mt. Rushmore and went to Bear Country U.S.A. (Richard was way too excited about this detour).

4th of July in Rapid City, SD

Look how BIG these hot dogs were for the competition!

Richard's life is now complete

Grizzly Bear

Mt. Rushmore - it was really cool to see in person!

lodging: Alex Johnson Historical Hotel

dining: Tally's Silver Spoon

favorite things: Drinks on top of the Alex Johnson Hotel, Christian music at the city festival, Hot dog eating contest, Mt. Rushmore, (and for Richard, the bears)

Utah

:: Salt Lake City :: - back to where we started!

Lunch: Relying on Travel Channel again (this time, our favorite, Adam Richman) we had the recommended machine gun sandwich at Bruges Waffles and Frites. It was good and very, very different.

I really can't explain this sandwich, so here is Adam's explanation: "It's a classic friterie sandwich called a "mitraillette," directly translated to "machine gun"--and a far more refined sandwich than the description lets on. The merguez is snappy and hauntingly spicy, made by acclaimed Utah lamb producer Morgan Valley Lamb; the frites, Bruges's specialty, are crispy and creamy and delicious outside a sandwich or within. And the tangy, mildly spicy andalouse sauce brings it all together."

You know how every so often you have a "brilliant" idea pop in your head and you go with it? Yeah, that was Lagoon Park - Salt Lake City's Water and Theme Park. Stay away - far, far away. I'm not one for theme parks or water parks to begin with - but this one had very little water and was lacking normal people.

The "fun" had just begun....

Dinner: And another Adam Richman recommendation - Crown Burger. We had the signature meal -- a charbroiled beef patty topped with a pile of pastrami. Pure genius.