Ya, so....

I know it has been awhile, but I have been (and am still) in need of Experiencing this part of Utah...


The Harold B. Lee Library!

It's pretty much the bee's knees.

Aye! Avas!

Last weekend I had a great opportunity to hone my weaponry skills. --Honestly, I thought the wrapping paper roll wars my sisters and I had growing up would have better prepared me. Fencing was really hard! But really fun! :D

First, we all went in and got suited up. This included: the sweet vest body suits, the masks, the foils and for the girls chest protection... I wish I would have thought to get a picture of the "Xena bra" as our teacher had dubbed them.



The teacher gave us a short lesson and then let us go out each other with our foils. It got more and more comfortable the more we played, but I really was surprised at how difficult and uncomfortable it felt. [I will never look at The Princess Bride or Pirate of the Carribean the same way again.]

The guys we went with made a reservation before we went. I don't know as many of the details of setting this up because they took care of everything. The facility we went to was in Orem and some more facility details can be found here and here.

Bridal Veil Falls

After three years of being in Utah, I finally got up to Bridal Veil Falls.

A friend and I went to go for a "jog" on a bike trail in the Canyon that we had been on before, but then decided to "jog" up the trail to Bridal Veil. (The "jog" turned into more of a walk after about 10 minutes-- Oops.) We went up the Canyon and parked in Vivianne Park at the trailhead. This is about a 15 minute drive up from Provo. It's a paved path all the way over and is really nice. Here are some pictures of the local artwork on the abandoned concrete buildings we saw. (There is also a hike, I believe, that goes up to the top, but that is still on the to-do list.)

The leaves are just starting to change colors and the canyon was stunning as the sun crested over the mountaintops.

BYU Devotionals and Forums

This morning, President Thomas S. Monson of the LDS church gave a devotional at BYU. It was so fantastic. He went through some brief memoirs of all the Prophets who have been alive during his lifetime.

From our seats we could see the teleprompter rolling and at one point he continued with a story as the prompter had stopped. This unscripted story was so funny. (I'll update this post with a link to the talk when it goes up.) Glad I got to enjoy his spontaneity and the view of the teleprompter.

BYU has amazing speakers coming all the time. Last year I got to sit on the floor for Arthur C. Brooks forum, 'Why Giving Matters' and it was incredible. You can see all upcoming forums and devotionals here.

The Pie

Our final Labor Day stop was The Pie. This place is legendary. I remember hearing about the illustrious Pie back during my Freshman year. Honestly, I'm a little skeptical about anything with a lot of hype.

Verdict: Really what it was cracked up to be. We got Vegetable Supreme, Hawaiian, and a Ranch Chicken something or other... point is: they were all really, really great. It's not a light pizza by any means. You pretty much want to be hungry when you go-- it's hard to stop eating and it fills you up fast.

The address is 1320 E 200 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84102. It is a little hidden. When you see University Pharmacy, you take the stairs out front down and then you will see...

When we were there, there was a live band who took requests. It's a fun atmosphere and substantial pizza. There was enough leftover that nearly all of us took home leftovers.

Red Butte Gardens

The beautiful Red Butte Gardens are on the University of Utah campus. We came just as the sun was setting and it was sublime.

There isn't a ton of ground to cover and you can walk through the entire garden in about half an hour. (That's how long we were there, being as it was closing.) It was really neat and I would have enjoyed staying longer and just sitting on one of the benches to enjoy the scenery. Probably not solely something I would have made a trip to Salt Lake for, but a great stop on our way to the conclusion of our Labor Day festivities.

[We got in free for Labor Day "Free Garden Gift Days." I would keep an eye on the website for other similar events. Plus there are some cool events like Greek Theatre coming up, too.]

Antelope Island

Antelope Island is the largest island in the Great Salt Lake and also happens to be where I spent my Labor Day afternoon. I hadn't really heard of it before we made plans to go, but I am definitely glad it made the list.

You drive onto the island via a man made road and it is a pretty neat drive. Naturally, it smells pretty bad at some places. Anyone who has been near a large salty body of still water can attest to that.

We went up to the Visitors' Center and the park guides there gave us some good ideas of what to do. We picked up a list of great hikes on the island, ranging from 'nature walks' to full on 12 mile hikes.

As for us, we made a trip to the "beach" and I even ventured into the salty water. (That wasn't really my decision, but I guess I appreciate that I got the full experience.) The bugs down by the beach were insane. They were just little tiny gnats, but I have never seen them in masses like that. (See Video)


We also got to see a lot of wildlife, such as bison, antelope- go figure!, and quail (which looked like genetic mutants- huge!). It was nice to drive around and see the beautiful scenery and try to spot the wildlife.

Oh ya! And Sea Monkeys! Haha.

Swiss Days

The Friday before Labor Day, a few friends and I trekked up to Swiss Days in Midway, which was settled by Swiss immigrants sometime in the 1800s. Midway is such a cute town and a lot of the architecture today is clearly influenced by the city's Swiss heritage.

My personal favorite part of Swiss Days is the sauerkraut sandwiches. Rye + sauerkraut + polish + mustard = awesome. (Tastes even better than it looks)


A close second is the yodeling.



And finally all of the oh-so-Utah vendor booths. (Super cute temple bags?)

The trip ended with a stop at Dairy Keen in Heber. Fresh raspberry shake. Yes please.

You Make My Dreams Come True... The Narrows!

So this is a follow up to B. Bunk's post because I got the chance to follow in her footsteps there last weekend.

As a part of EUEL, I made a goal to be more willing to be spontaneous, which led to a couple friends and I deciding at 7pm to go hike the Narrows in Zion's. We jumped in the car, got a room at the Super 8 in Hurricane (Herr-ih-ken) that night and were up at 6am to start our hike.

A little supplementary information: we parked outside Zion's and took the bus to the park and then the shuttle up to the trail head. The bus took maybe 15 minutes from where we were parked and then the shuttle took about 40 minutes. The Narrows hike we went on was the last stop and we followed the Riverside walk there to the Narrows and then hiked in about 3 or 4 miles and hiked back out.

Starting early had its pros and cons. Cons- I actually woke up before the sun... not common. Also the sun wasn't in the canyon until maybe the last half hour of us hiking. It was pretty cold, but keep in mind that is coming from an AZ girl- pretty much anything under 75 is cold to me. On the other hand, it was really cool being the only ones in sight the entire way up.

We were lucky to find walking sticks at the head of the trail- I would have been in trouble with out one. (which doesn't mean that I didn't still fall 5 times) For the most part the water was about knee deep and sometimes went about waist-high. On the trail back someone noticed how wet I was and asked if the water gets chest-deep, I told them "Only if you fall in."


Side note: I'm not sure our bus driver intended for this to be published, but we were so early that he said if we got into the park before the ranger stop opened we could just go in for free. We ate breakfast first so we weren't in quite early enough, but I think the park opens at 7:30 so if you want to hold on to your $12 you'll have to be willing to wake up before the crack of dawn.


About 3 miles in the trail splits and we chose to go to the right (Orderville Canyon). It got a little trickier the further we went in and had to turn back relatively soon due to time restraints, but this was one of the trickier parts trying to maneuver up this knotty log.

Anyway, it was a great trip. Being amazed that it has taken me so long to experience these things is becoming a theme for all my adventures. I definitely recommend doing the Narrows.

A little something from pre-EU days...

International Cinema has been one of my favorite parts of Utah/ BYU. While I'm not fluent in any other languages, I love seeing foreign films here. Some of my favorites have been Persepolis, A la Folie... Pas du Tout, and so many others.

I'm most excited for the Decalogue series, Pan's Labyrinth, The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, and Children of Heaven. They've got a great line up of films this fall.

There are new films every week from all over the world. So here are some links...

http://ic.byu.edu/

http://ic.byu.edu/PDF_Schedules/CurrentPoster.pdf

Timpanogas Caves

Thinking about making a Timp caves/ Dairy Keen trip... any takers?

Provo Bakery

Eighty nine cents cinnamon rolls the size of your face that taste like heaven? Seriously, how have I not been here until now?

It's south of BYU campus on 100 North 200 East and pretty much divine.

Take Me Home, Country Roads: Kolob Reservoir

My primary reason for starting this blog was so that people could read it, get excited, and know how to Experience Utah themselves. A "how- to" blog of sorts.

A couple of weekends ago EmThor was kind enough to invite a group of friends and me to her cabin. It was a truly divine weekend.

While I can't tell you "how-to" stay at her cabin specifically and maybe attaining a cabin is a bit too much, my "how to" Experience Utah advice this week is to surround yourself with good people. I had a lot of fun with everyone that came up. Lifelong friends and brand new friends alike, I am really grateful to have had such a fun group with us.

As for some Utah Experiences...One of the highlights of the trip was the lava rock caves. There was a huge area made of these huge lava rock boulders and surrounded by beautiful, green aspens. The boulders had created caves throughout and it was fun trying to navigate through all the nooks to find new caves. It was a really tight squeeze more than once...
Later we went quadding and visited some of the lakes near the cabin, and ended at the Point. What a spectacular view. You could see from Kolob Reservoir to Zion and even down to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.


An incredible weekend start to finish and a special thanks to EmThor!