Canyonlands is way better than Arches, in my opinion. Angel Arch is a nice hike. Best to visit in the late spring…around April or May.

Bryce Canyon – absolutely without a doubt the “must see” place on the West Coast.

As for Eating, try finding the Big Z. It may seem odd to ‘eat’ at this location… but I’ve heard word of this place all the way on the East Coast from pp who’ve stopped by. Word of mouth has made it worth a trip. Let me just say this: go hungry.

http://www.utah.com/lodging/profile820.htm

:) Have fun!! I loved Utah. I will definitly go back.

Obviously the National Parks are great to see, but there is also much to see and do in the northern mountains of the Wasatch. If you are going this winter, a day in Park City seeing the various Olympic venues and skiing are great. If you really want to try skiing and get into it without spending the large amounts of money that Park City wants to charge, try Big Cottonwood canyon and the resorts Brighton and Solitude. Much better skiing in my opinion.

Also, in Salt Lake, you cannot miss historic Temple Square, regardless of your religion. It’s neat to see where the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings. This time of year the Christmas lights are fantastic.

For eating, I would not recommend a particular restaurant but to say, try visiting the Gateway or Trolley Square where there are some very nice and unique places to eat.

One place to surely eat at would have to be The Mayan.

The Mayan is Mexican food in and tropical atmosphere. It’s located in Sandy, Utah – which is just off Salt Lake City.

“This 40,000 square foot theme restaurant has seating for more than 1000 people, thus earning the title of the largest restaurant in Utah. The inside is styled like a tree house, and guest sit on different levels on the branches of four “trees”.

The decor and ambiance brings alive the ancient Mayan Culture. In the midst of the dining area is a 36 foot cliff complete with a fiery adaptation of a Mayan God of nature named Kopac, where divers entertain with single and double dives into a 15 foot deep pool of water. There’s also a tropical storm and flash flood. Besides the divers, on the cliffs are animated, talking parrots and iguanas who sing and banter and generally put guests in the mood for a good time.”

You can also visit the Mayan’s website here: http://www.themayan.com/

On the right hand side, there is an intro about the Mayan, play it, it gives some great clips of what the restaurant is really like.

the sloops there are famous. personally i’ve never been to them…but if i was going for an extended period of time…i’d totally hit the sloops. salt lake city is beautiful. the lakes there are freaky. they are green!

When I drove around some of the Southern States from California, I remember stopping at Zion National Park in Utah.

It is one of the most beautiful and breath-taking spots I’ve ever seen in my life.

http://www.nps.gov/zion/

Also, it’s a good spot for rock climbing:

http://www.rockclimbing.com/routes/listState.php?CountryStateID=1

Although I’ve never climbed in Utah, I hope to the next time I’m there!

I’ve been to Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce, and Zion, and I would recommend them in this order:

1. Bryce Canyon: I think it’s the most unique. Stunning canyon. Not a formation here and there, but it all IS formations. Beautiful colouring on the spikes from white to dark orange, graded. Wonderful to hike around in. Recommend at least one full day.

2. Zion: Not the main part of Zion where most people go, which is also cool, but the East side, which is really amazing and very unique. There’s these what I call “pudding rocks” there that look like a bunch of poured pudding and all sorts of great cool things to experience when hiking. Recommend for the East side at least 3 days. All of Zion, at least a week.

3. Canyonlands: Makes the Grand Canyon seem rather average by comparison. I found it much more awe inspiring than the Grand Canyon. Such deep canyons, so high up, with the Green river down below…you can dangle your feet off a the lip of a thousand foot truly sheer vertical cliff. You can get an awesome feeling here in just half a day, but if you want to really hike around and stuff, of course much longer. A couple days.

4. Arches: Last doesn’t mean anything bad, certainly. Arches is facinating. You can easily do this in half a day, or a leasurely full day.

I dont know if you had made the trek to Utah yet but if not then there are a couple places I can recommend.

1. Snow Basin – it was where I learned to Ski. It is just outside of Ogden and is the lesser known Olympic ski venue. It was full of great runs. Plus on the way up the mountain to the park you will see plenty of great places to get out and ride a tube or sled if you have on handy.

2. The best restaurant I remember in the state was The Prairie Schooner. It is somewhere near Ogden/Salt Lake – sorry I don’t remember its precise location. However it was really cool. You and your party are sat in an old fashioned wagon that has circled up for the night with a bunch of other wagons. The wagons are all inside and sit around a large campfire type thing. There was some old western music playing and the ambiance was always neat. The food was very good too.

If you’re in Ogden visit ‘historic 25th street’. I’ll be honest…this city is a bit of a dump…but this ONE street is FULL of old buildings, restaraunts, antique shops, pawn shops, and street vendors. The city park is right there and at the end of it is Union Station. In the station there are a few museums that are included in the admission (it was like 7 dollars for my family of four). There’s a huge model train set up you can walk through, a train museum, a natural history museum, the Browing gun museum, and a bunch of trains on display outside. It’s neat…my kids liked it. They’ve got an awesome grill in there too. Also…if you go and are on 25th street you HAVE to go to La Farovia. It is the BEST little italian place. You can eat inside or out…it’s soooooo good. And the atmosphere is awesome, quiet, relaxed, it’s family owned. But seriously…be warned…if you go over to 24th or 26th street…you’re in a totally different place! If you want to picnic or something like that, you can go up to the university, Weber State, and sit by their huge duck pond. You can feed the ducks and enjoy the fountain. There are a few hiking trails that begin at the school too. If you’re traveling with friends or would like to have a drink that is anything other than low point beer…(just in case, you never know) you DO have to buy it in a State Liquor Store here. There is one in Ogden that stays open until 10 though. The rest close at 7. The Prarie Schooner is really good! Snow Basin is also now offering night gondola rides to the tip of the mountain to view the moon if the weather permits. I’m not brave enough to check the price of it myself though…sorry…it’s something that I would love to do with my husband but I hate to be dissapointed when it turns out not to be afordable ya know? If you drive up Ogden Canyon on your way to Snow Basin in the spring and summer you can see the gorgeous man made waterfall! Hee hee…I didn’t know it was man made until I’d lived here for like 6 years! D’oh. OH!! I nearly forgot!! Behind the Ogden Temple (retro style for sure!) is Farr’s ice cream. Definitly stop in there. It’s on 22nd Street. Very very good old style ice cream parlor. Under no circumstances should you EVER drive on Adams Avenue between 24th and 28th street after 6 P.M. Just trust me on this…I lived there… And if you come through and need directions or to use the phone or the bathroom…I’d be happy to assist.

If you like hiking or the outdoors then you can go with – canyonlands, zion, bryce canyon, etc. My personal favorites are Goblin Valley, Mount Timpanogos, and basically anywhere in the Moab or St. George area. Go for whatever appeals to you most I guess.

If you’re more interested in the LDS side of Utah then Id suggest staying in the valley and obviously checking out Temple Square and historic houses, possibly Heritage Park. Desert Star Theater can also provide clean entertainment, they do dinner theater and spoof plays.

If you’re a more alternative kind of person then you might like the Sugarhouse area which is more coffee houses, tattoo and shoe shops, etc. You can prolly find anything along State Street, just depends what you like. Various clubs, music spots, etc.

As for food in Utah? For mexican, the Mayan isn’t that great to me, the cliffdivers only jump like every 15 min and the seating isn’t all that great, but thats just me. Id rather have Betos which is simple and the food is just as good if not better. Not an expert on Burgers. Nor on Italian but Buca di Beppos is pretty tasty and has a great atmosphere. As for Chinese I love a little place called Spring Garden, in Holladay.

If you like outdoor adventures, for sure go to Moab. Moab has everything packed into one small place. You can raft, hike, mountain bike, off-road, mountain climb, canyoneer…

For mountain biking, for sure do teh Slicrock Trail. World famous and a good challenge on huge rock mountains.

If you want to do this stuff but need a guide or gear, use the Moab Adventure Center. They do daily trips for just about every activity.