My daughter’s spring break was mid-April this year and we planned a visit to Utah during her time off. I have never been to Utah and didn’t have any expectations. My main points of reference up until our visit was The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and Sister Wives.
When I say Utah blew me away, that is a gross understatement. It started with landing into SLC airport. The mountains in the background as we approached were so stunning and so reminiscent of the Swiss Alps. I was having serious deja vu.
The airport was also something to behold. It is almost 100% complete with its remodel, and already rivals the Doha airport in Qatar. Expansive, clean, well-organized, easy to navigate – this airport is spectacular.
Our trip started outside of Salt Lake in Deer Valley. We picked up our rental car and made our way over to our hotel, the new and stunning Grand Hyatt Deer Valley. The drive was about 45 minutes and the rental car agents loaded us up with bottled water to avoid “altitude sickness”. We were quickly outside of the “city” and floating up, down, and through the mountain highway. At almost 7,000 feet above sea level, our ears were popping the whole way. We marveled at how beautiful it is, though, and couldn’t stop talking about how it reminded us of our second home, Switzerland.
Our first night was pretty low key. But what made this trip an exceptionally special and unique one is that we brought our puppy, Stella. The hotel is the first of many buildings being developed in the area, but it is already extremely pet-friendly. We found a small dog park near the lobby entrance complete with poop bags! How perfect! Although, we quickly came to realize that our cute pup was easy prey for the hawks circling up above. We remained vigilant.
The next day, it was off to Park City. About a 15 minute drive from Deer Valley, Park City is known for hosting the 2002 Winter Olympics and the Sundance Film Festival. To us, it felt like the epitome of the “downtown” in any traditional Western movie. It was adorable, very walkable, and like our hotel, extremely dog-friendly. The people were also very friendly – lots of smiles and requests to pet the pup as we wandered up and down. The fashion was also something of note. You had some people wearing standard hiking gear (very Swiss) and then other’s wearing extreme cowgirl fashion. This meant cowboy hats, boots, cowhide shawls…it was awesome.
Speaking of cowboy hats, one of my favorite parts of our trip was stumbling upon Kemo Sabe. The store gets its name from the Lone Ranger’s sidekick, and “Kemo Sabe” translates to “faithful friend”. The store boasts the ability to purchase and customize your own cowboy hat. I had first heard of it during an episode of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (not Salt Lake) when Kyle Richards took the housewives to have hats made at the Aspen, CO location.
For me, just being in the store felt cool. I have never worn a cowboy hat before, and it has never been a part of my aesthetic. However, being in this store, I felt that I had to have one. I tried on a few different styles and colors, landing on a stunning emerald green Stetson. I then got to take my time decorating with leather trim, feathers, branding – I fell in love with being a cowgirl in no time. What an amazing souvenir (and experience) to bring back home from Utah. Looking forward to prime brunch season when I can bust this sexy green hat out.
The next day, we took a tour to the Homestead Crater and Swiss Village – yes, many Swiss settled here and you will soon find out why. More to come in Part #2!
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