A Weekend in Salt Lake City

After getting two hours of sleep I woke up at 4:30AM to get to the airport for my 6:30 flight with some of my co-workers. We arrived in Salt Lake City (SLC) around 10AM and got to our amazing hotel, Grand America Hotel, by 11:00AM. The hotel is amazing! In addition to being beautiful they let us check in early. Awesome!

Some images of the hotel, my room, and my view.






The courtyard is so pretty at night, all lit up!




Part 1 of the bathroom/walk in closet


Part 2



The elevator lobby


After getting settled into our rooms we went to find a brunch place. We ended up across the street at the sister hotel, Little America, for their Saturday brunch buffet. It was a beautiful, delicious spread.

I started with a bowl of oatmeal and a cheese blintz.


Then I went back for a BIG plate (or two) of food! Except for the fruit I only ate half of what you see, I swear!


After brunch we decided to walk around town and try to burn off some of our calories. We ended up walking uptown to the Mormon temple. Here are some pictures from our tour of their grounds and buildings.







Where the Mormon Tabernacle sing




Photos from inside Brigham Young's home



It was an interesting and educational afternoon.

When we got back from our tour my friend and I went downstairs to the gym. The hotel has a great gym! Weights, cardio machines, steam room, sauna, pool and hot tub! We're going to be visiting it a lot while we're here!

After the gym we cleaned up and headed uptown to Bambara for dinner with friends and colleagues.

I started with a salad that had roasted beets, oranges, mache, goat cheese, blood orange vinaigrette and roasted hazelnuts.


For my entree I had Maine diver scallops with butternut squash risotto, red chard, and a truffle vinaigrette.


All accompanied by two glasses of Malbec. Yum!

When I got back to the hotel I was exhausted. It had been a very long day and I had a very early morning! I was so excited when I walked into this.



I was ready for sleep!

I was scheduled to attend two continuing education courses on Sunday. It made for a very early, very long day! However, it started with a delicious breakfast in the hotel. I had the banana brule Irish oatmeal with berries and one scrambled egg.


We barely had enough time for lunch between our first course and our second but we managed to squeeze in Red Rock Brewing Co.


I ordered the oatmeal stout and the warm goat cheese salad with chicken. Unfortunately, I ended up getting a bed of lettuce with blue cheese dressing and a dry chicken breast. There wasn't enough time before my course started to get what I actually ordered. Ugh. At least the beer was good.



When my brain was finally full of new knowledge I came back to the hotel and went to the gym for a quick tricep, leg & ab session followed by 16 laps in the pool. I love swimming! It's so exhausting but so much fun!

After a shower my group headed out to dinner at Piastra on Gallivan Plaza. The table got a couple of appetizers to share to start. Sorry these photos turned out blurry.

Bruschetta


Tuscan Shrimp


Calamari


The appetizers were great! Along with the three kinds of bread that they serve with their own olive oil and seasoning dipping sauce.
I ordered the goat cheese salad which looks pretty but was dissapointing. There was probably an eighth of an ounce of goat cheese on the salad. How can it be a goat cheese salad with a dime size amount of goat cheese on it?! What was with me and being an enemy of goat cheese all day?!


For my entree I decided to share the special with a co-worker so we could have room for dessert. The special was citrus grilled chicken over a bed of veggie rice pilaf with asparagus and squash. It may look pretty but don't let it fool you. The rice was over salted and the veggies and chicken were overcooked tasting dry and burnt. Yuk!


Thank goodness we saved room for dessert because it made up for my meal. My co-worker and I shared chocolate crepes that were filled with vanilla custard and topped with raspberries. It was heaven! I'm so glad we shared because I would have eaten the whole thing, especially after eating a quarter of my meal.


Another colleague got the canoli and fruit basket which I thought was too pretty not to share.


After dinner we walked around town trying to find a place for one last drink. We ended up at the hotel bar at the Hilton. I ordered a locally brewed hefeweizen beer. It was good but I couldn't finish it. Again, sorry about the blurry picture.


After our last drink we went back home to our hotel and went to sleep. Monday is going to be another long day.