Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Short trip to Salt Lake City

"Learning the gentle art of going nowhere in particular and bumping into things can help spark your creativity-wherever it is you find yourself." Picked this line from Unleash your creativity (52 Brilliant Ideas).
Our short trip to Salt Lake City last weekend turned out to be this definition spelled out loud.

We had to use some of our air miles before they expired on July 31. We did not know what place to pick or what to plan. Somehow, with the fixed air miles in hand we randomly picked Salt Lake City, Utah.
Mind you, this place is many many miles away from the Zion National Park or the great Yellow Stone. We had two choices, either to drive out of Salt Lake City to visit the National Parks which meant we will be on the road for 2 out of 3 days or stay local and see what we can find. And we are glad we chose the later.

The small town of Salt Lake City is a beautiful, well planned city with gorgeous mountains surrounding it on one side. The Winter Olympics 2002 was hosted here and you can see that event has managed to make the city well organised with good public transport services. I can imagine what a sight it would be during the winters.

First day we walked out of the hotel to find the temperatures soaring to the high 95. Travelling from San Francisco, this could be killing. We wanted to get back to the room, but saw a big farmer's market/art festival in a park middle of the city. I am so glad, I convinced Navin to drop the idea of going to the same old restaurant joints but instead eat at the park. We enjoyed some yummy Indian chicken stuffed dosas and yummy Caribbean grill.

There were all kinds of things at the art fest. There were jewelry, wall hangings, glass artistry, paintings. I bought a cute apple coral necklace at the fair. When I bought it, the owner tells another lady, now this necklace has reached the right house. Spooky!? I don't know what she meant but I was surprised the way she was referring to the accessory as a pet.

The best part of the day was watching a group of college students performing a form of Martial Arts; called Capoeira; it is a Brazilian Martial art that is based on the rhythm of music and is more like a dance combined with physical moves. Here are 2 videos I managed to take (with the Caribbean food plate in one hand and Navin getting angry that I may spill the food; but I managed to do both; shoot as well as savor the food later).
The music was very captivating and addictive. I was humming the song all day long. It has this special strong energy that can lift and energize you.



The other attraction of the city is the beautiful Temple Square and the beautiful Assembly hall.
One of  the days, we enjoyed some yummy momos and authentic Quanty Masala in a Nepali restaurant called
Himalayan Kitchen. BTW, you'll be surprised if I tell you, going to this restaurant was the only agenda we had in our Itinerary. One of our friends who had been to Salt Lake City had mentioned the restaurant and of course other things to do; but we etched the dinner plan even before we started out from San Francisco.

Overall a short and sweet visit to a new unknown city with loads of memories. 

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