Headed to Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City here I come.

[Harmony]

I totally forgot until yesterday, but I’ve got a conference (aka paid vacation) to go to in Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov 17th-21st. Never been before so if nothing else I’ll probably enjoy visiting a new place. But other than that, I have no idea what the SLC has to offer in terms of things to do when I’m not nerding it up with fellow engineers. So is anyone from the area? I’d like to avoid sitting in my hotel room staring at the walls all evening, so I’m looking for suggestions. Does the SLC have anything to see or do that I just can’t miss...other than a huge salty lake (which I am actually interested in seeing)?

Oh, and I will have a car so a little travel isn’t a problem.

[MechaFone]

I don't remember much of it. I was too busy destroying it with Lizzie and George back in '89.

[Imagist]

I go to school in Provo, so I don't know as much about SLC as someone who actually lives there, but I will say that whatever you do, you should walk around Temple Square for a bit, simply because it really is a pretty place, and you shouldn't go to Lagoon, because even though it's one of the only well-known amusement parks in the area, it's still so boring that it's not worth the money. Also, if you want to check out the clubs, you might try Area 51 for starters.

[Harmony]

I go to school in Provo, so I don't know as much about SLC as someone who actually lives there, but I will say that whatever you do, you should walk around Temple Square for a bit, simply because it really is a pretty place,

Yeah, I definitely wanted to see Temple Square. For historical and religious significance, sure, but did anyone else see the Mega Disasters episode on killer swarms of locusts? Apparently, after just arriving in Utah, early Mormon settlers (or at least their crops) were attacked by an ungodly number of crickets. As the story goes, an ungodly (or I guess godly) number of hungry seagulls eventually came to their rescue. As a result, that specific cricket species is now called the Mormon cricket, the seagull became the state bird of Utah, and there is a monument to the "Miracle of the Gulls" at Temple Square. I'm going to have to see it to believe it.

[Ajax]

Well, I live in Utah, but dont go to SLC much. As far a food is concerned, I recommend Crown Burgers, located at 377 E 200 S. Where you can get their trademark Crown Burger (sweet lovin' pastrami goodness) and maybe try out some traditional Fry Sauce.

Oh man, just typing about it makes me hungry...

[Ronyn]

I'm from Provo; I only go up to SLC for major events. Hmm, you could check the Utah Jazz schedule to see if any of your favorite teams will be in town and see them play. The games only sell out during the playoffs and there's usually scalpers too. There's Hogle Zoo, and Liberty Park on the right day. Imagery is right Area 51 is one of the more popular clubs but it might be members only I forget. I like to cruise the downtown shops but there's a lot of construction lately it's not as fun as it used to be. You might just cruise State St for fun all the way to Sandy city and back, there's a ton of shops, clubs, and interesting things along the route.

If you're looking for fun engineering related stuff and interested in SLC history, take a tour of the LDS Conference center, the new one. I'm not LDS but it's damn interesting. The building is so huge sound doesn't even come back to you, like being outside. It's an acoustic nightmare but they do ingenious things to compensate, and they have a bigger broadcasting setup then the U.N. The U of U campus is not far I bet there's a museum or facility to tour.

If you drink, don't wait till Sunday to stock up , it's bone dry here then.

[Calpis]

Grew up in Utah and living in SLC right now. Here's a few tips:

The GSL (Great Salt Lake) is pretty boring, but if you insist on seeing it, don't go to Antelope Island (probably closed at this time anyway). I find that most tourists (few as they may be) have this notion that Antelope Island is some sort of resort place for the GSL only to be hilariously mistaken. Trust me, I spent my childhood living three miles from the causeway and never wanted to go there, the smell is horrible. Also, don't swim in the GSL. Just don't. Also, stay away from Utah County (Provo/Orem area). The missionaries will smell your fresh blood from 30 miles away.

If you were coming a couple months later, I'd suggest hitting the slopes but there's not enough snow yet for that. But even so, I'd suggest going to Park City. It's got some great wilderness to be seen without having to camp. Great views and some of the easiest-to-find bars (with no cover charge, which is rare in Utah due to the Nazi alcohol laws, if you're into that kind of thing. Keep in mind that Park City is about a 30-45 minute drive from downtown SLC.

There's an interesting place in SLC called Sugarhouse that not many Utah outsiders know of. You used to be able to go there and find a lot of shops that aren't the norm in Utah but lately those shops closed up, thanks to the LDS church (that's what I suspect anyway.) It's still an interesting place but possibly not that exciting if you've visited larger cities.

For shopping, there's a couple malls, although the LDS church just destroyed the main one recently. You'll probably notice a huge mostly-empty city block just south of Temple Square. There's a mall just west of TS called The Gateway. It's got all you main store commodities that you'd expect to see in just about every other mall in America like Hot Topic, Abercrombie, Express, Applebee's, etc.. You might do well to visit Trolley Square. This is the place that was on the news around February because some crazy asshole entered with a shotgun and a handgun and killed 5 people. Basically there are two main points of interest here: 1. This is where the SLC Hard Rock Cafe is located (mostly a family restaurant here) and 2. for the Rodizio Grill, a Brazillian restaurant. Really good but kind of expensive compared to other restaurants in the city. The bit about the seagulls is true and I really hate it and because it's a state bird nobody's allowed to kill them so they're everywhere, fucking trash birds. Don't give them food, it's like Hitchcock's movie and you'll regret it. When I was a kid we used to feed the seagulls Alka-Seltzer. It makes them explode.

Anyway, there's probably more to say, but it's late so I'll post more later.

PS - I hate Crown Burger, I don't understand why Utah likes that place so much.

[The Pezman]

What kind of engineer are you?

[Harmony]

@ ajax: Char broiled patty and pastrami on a single burger? Count me in. You know they say pastrami is “the most sensual of the salt-cured meats.” Mayo and ketchup on fries, count me out

@ James G: Conference center sounds interesting, but I wonder if they’ll let me walk around randomly with no real purpose for being there. Maybe there’s actually a tour or something. Sandy City looks nice on wikipedia and I like to cruise, so I’ll consider the drive. That is, I’ll consider it if I get a decent car from the rental place. Nothing against anyone who drives one, but I have this thing against this new wave of ridiculously tiny cars, and I’m thinking that by reserving an “economy” car from Hertz, I’m gonna end up with a *shivers* Honda Fit or something.

@Calpis: Haha, my friend and I were looking at Antelope Island on Google Maps the other day and it looks like a giant patch of sand from the satellite photo. We asked ourselves “what the hell is there and why would anyone want the find out!?” Still, I am a nature loving guy so I have to do something lake related while I’m there.

Ski-season starts around mid Nov near here in southern Pennsylvania. Guess you guys have to wait a little while longer? Although I do love skiing, I didn’t feel like dragging my ski stuff all the way out west for such a short vacation anyway. Looks like it’ll be a toss up as to whether I try to hit Sandy City or Park City…although Park City’s wiki page is cooler.

Site of a recent senseless murder you say? And it has a Brazilian restaurant? Yep, Trolley Square is on the to-do list. “Trash Birds”,lol. As a photographer I feel it is my duty to feed the seagulls and record the ensuing Hitchcock-like mayhem. I’m not cruel enough to attempt the Alka-Seltzer stunt, but I’m not above photographing it if I see it in progress.

Sounds like the most interesting thing for me to see will be the extent of the LDS influence. I mean I knew there were lots of LDS folks in town, but it sounds like everything from politics to shopping is restricted by (or adheres to) the tenets of the faith. Destroying malls the size of city blocks...ravenous missionaries who mob strangers that wander into their territory...hiding liquor on Sundays...wtf is going on in SLC?

@ Pezman: Well, technically I’m still a doctoral student, but short answer: aerospace engineer. Longer but completely more impressive answer: computational fluid dynamics engineer.

[Imagist]

I second the recommendation of Trolley Square and Rodizio, and also add that Area 51 is an open club, but you have to be careful because every night is different and you really don't want to wind up there on goth or gay night. 80's night is a good time if you can swing that. And just FYI, Provorem really is not as bad as Calpis makes it out to be. It's just that there's nothing terribly worth coming out to see. If you were already in the area you might see if there's anything going on at the Marriott Center or take a stroll through BYU campus, but other than that, it's like everywhere else in Utah minus the points of interest.

[Ajax]

Maybe there’s actually a tour or something.

Yeah they have tours of the Conference Center

The Conference Center, located to the north of Temple Square, was completed in April of 2000. It is open Monday through Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Free guided tours are available from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

[Harmony]

A few photos from my Salt Lake City adventure so far. Haven't really gotten any free time to do any real exploring outside of driving around downtown, but I will eventually.

The view from the roof of the parking garage of a ridiculously huge Wal*Mart. Yes, the store had its own parking garage.

Didn't bother getting out of the car, since I'll do a real tour of Temple Square another day.

Our conference is in the Convention Center which apparently does a fire show when big groups like ours show up. The fans created a vortex of air that spiraled skywards. There was a small "pilot light" flame on the ground in the center of the vortex, and the two guys used wands that sprayed some type of fuel that ignited once it hit the flame. They were able to create really intricate patterns, ranging from thin tight tornado-like flames, to full-on huge fireballs. The photos do it no justice. Very very very cool.

[Flare4War]

Enjoy the fry sauce not found elsewhere in the country. Don't bother with the beer.

[Calpis]

Yeah, I think Walmart is ridiculously successful in Utah due to the high amount of large families that can't live by their means because they get married too early.

You see, when LDS missionaries get home from their missions, they are urged to find a wife as soon as possible. Most missionaries arrive home at 20 or 21 and they haven't had the chance to go to any school after High School with little life experience so that leaves them with no money and a wife who usually doesn't have a job either.

Another thing about Mormons is that they usually start having children as soon as they're married due to the whole 'abstinence before marriage' rule. They're too eager to have sex and usually don't know what the hell they're doing in bed. So that combined with the fact that teaching proper safe sex in public schools is illegal. (They can only teach abstinence.) This means that LDS guys usually don't know how to use or just plain don't use condoms at all. That's my take on the situation based on my experience living here and growing up in an LDS family.

I didn't know about the fire show thing at the conference center though. It sounds pretty cool.

[Devyn]

Salt Lake City is the town where I was 'conceived'. Never been there on my own two feet, but I've heard there's lots of Mormons.

[Flare4War]

You heard right my friend.