Our weekend in Utah was exactly what I needed. I (mostly) stayed away from my phone and email, which is always a huge win for this type A workaholic. And the weather was much cooler than Texas. I came back feeling refreshed.
My sister recently moved to Utah for her new job as a literature professor. (So super proud of this girl for chasing her dream with so many years of hard work.) This was my first time visiting Utah, but it is ridiculously beautiful and I know I’ll be back many, many times!
Here’s how we spent the weekend:
There’s a beautiful Saturday morning farmers market in Ogden. We strolled around and bought produce and pastries to snack on.
We wandered into Wasatch roasting company twice in two days (serious coffee lovers over here!) It’s a darling little third wave coffe shop that recently opened in Ogden, and I was impressed with the quality!
I love walking through small towns and exploring the shops. We wandered into a cute little bookstore. There’s a small used books section in the back, and I found a Byron Katie book I’ve been wanting to read for a while. I started it on the plane ride home!
Saturday included some afternoon naps/reading/snacks. This was our Labor Day Weekend trip, after all! It involved lots of R&R.
On Saturday night we went to Slackwater, a little pizza pub with a great beer list! The small artisan pizza had a honey crust, and the pieces were small. It was so good and I ate waaayy past full! That happens to me with sweet foods…
Utah has some weird beer laws, so beer on tap can’t be over 4% ABV. That’s fine for a few styles of beer, but it’s hard to brew a great IPA under 4%, so most of the beer at Slackwater was served in bottles. We tried three beers from 2 Rows Brewing, and all of them were winners!
On Sunday, we woke up around 7 am to do Malan’s Basin Trail. It was about 5 miles round-trip and a little bit steeper than we were anticipating! Ha.. Workout for the day: check.
The leaves in Ogden are just starting to change into their fall colors, and I couldn’t have been happier to see that! This girl is ready for autumn.
Views on views on views! Holy beautiful! We stayed at the top for about 20 minutes to take it all in. If you look way out into the distance on this picture below, you can see the Great Salt Lake.
Sunday afternoon: more naps, more reading, a beer enjoyed on the patio, and….no pictures! Ha. I was completely off “blogger mode” on this trip and fully relaxed!
It was a wonderful afternoon.
Since Sunday was my sister’s birthday, she chose to drive about 40 minutes north to Salt Lake City to start trying out the restaurant scene. I used Brooke’s guide to Salt Lake City restaurants to find Red Iguana. And it was the yummiest! All three of us ended up ordering mole. They have about 5 different types on the expansive menu, and I wish I had a bottomless stomach so I could have kept tasting food! 
We also popped into Red Rock Brewery to sample a couple beers. If I lived in Utah, it would take me some time to get used to the 4% law for draught beer. It’s a major bummer, because it lowers the standard of what hard-working brewers are capable of producing. Needless to say, the best beer we drank on this trip was in bottle format.
Also, how cute is Courtney?
It was a short and sweet trip with two of my favorite people. I can’t wait to get back to Utah and explore again sometime soon!
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