On Wednesday, April 10 I flew from Texas to Salt Lake City while Steve and Trevor continued home. Why did I go to SLC alone? WITS.
WITS stands for Women in Travel Summit. This annual conference brings travel bloggers, authors, and content creators together for educational sessions, networking, and an in-depth look at the host destination. About 99.5% of the attendees are women, but all genders are welcome. The 2024 conference was held in Salt Lake City, with a day trip to Park City. This was my first in-person travel conference since I started doing travel blogging in 2017. (I attended a virtual travel conference in 2022.) By fun coincidence, I was in Salt Lake City for SNAP Conference when decided to expand beyond crafts and blog about travel as well.
WITS consists of a 3-day core conference, with many tours available before and after. Some are by invitation only, while others are available to any attendees. Since they’re included in the price of registration, I signed up for as many tours as I could fit into my schedule.
Anyway, I landed in Salt Lake City in the early evening. It was fun seeing this sign greeting me at the airport.
For $2.50, I rode the Trax Green Line from the airport to the Temple Square Station. I love how easy and convenient it is.
The Temple is under construction (more on that later) but it doesn't affect transit.
The Salt Lake Marriott Downtown at City Creek (the host hotel) is just one block away from the Temple Square Station. I checked into my room, unpacked, and went to bed early, excited for my first tour the following morning.
Early on Thursday, April 11, I headed to the lobby for my first tour. I didn’t know a soul going into WITS, but everyone was very friendly and I almost didn’t want to stop chatting with my new friends when it was time to load onto our respective buses. There were seven of us on our 3-hour tour.
Southwest Adventure Tours offers private tours throughout the southwest and beyond. Our guide, Cameron, told us all sorts of interesting information about Salt Lake City as he drove us around town. We made made multiple stops, starting with this influencer-friendly sign. It's randomly tucked away in a parking garage.
Next we went to the Clark Planetarium. I went there in 2016 with Steve and Trevor and it was lots of fun to visit again. I don’t remember them having a huge display of telescopes for sale in the lobby last time.
A moon rock! (But already on The List).
This is so much fun to watch.
I love the tables by the snack bar outside the IMAX theater. Our group didn’t watch a show, but we did during our 2016 family visit. I definitely recommend a visit to Clark Planetarium during your visit to Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City has a lot of public art, including many fabulous murals. This one, SLC Pepper, was done by Jann Haworth. She's a Utah resident who created the original Sgt. Pepper album cover for the Beatles!
Until very recently, they were flying the previous state flag. This one is a huge improvement.
I've visited almost all of the State Capitol buildings and Utah's is one of my favorites. It's grand and beautiful and full of interesting details, inside and out.
If you're up for a challenge, try to count the beehives at the Capitol. Allow most of the day - they are everywhere!
Hey! That's the old flag. I can see the beehive, but it's so much easier to spot on the new flag.
Don't forget to look for the Liberty Bell replica.
The views from the Capitol are so pretty. And we were blessed with perfect weather.
I didn't know that High School Musical was filmed in Salt Lake City. East High is an active high school and students were in session when we passed by. You can take a self-guided tour after school gets out in the afternoon.
Our final stop on the morning's tour was supposed to be an organ recital at the Tabernacle. These 30-minute concerts have happened (almost) daily for a century. However, there had been an Ensign College graduation at the Tabernacle that day instead of a concert, so we got to see the organ but not hear it.
I was surprised that the Tabernacle was still open and hosting recitals (and, for that matter, graduations). Much of Temple Square is blocked by construction fencing.
You can read here about the renovation; it's very interesting. It started in December 2019 and is expected to be completely finished in 2026.
Since I'm not a member of the LDS Church, I can't go in the Temple anyway, so it's not a huge deal to me that it was under construction when I was there. However, I was very disappointed not to be able to eat at Lion House Pantry, which is also closed for renovations. I'd been thinking about their pot pie and biscuits since I booked the ticket to SLC!
Instead, I ate somewhere I hadn't been before, Kneaders. This Utah chain serves up all sorts of sandwiches, soups, salads, and bakery items. I had a fantastic lunch and took advantage of the many samples they had on offer.
Kneaders is located in City Creek Center. It's basically an outdoor mall, but there's a lot more to it. Most notably, it's beautiful.
In addition to the namesake creek, there are beautiful fountains (with hourly shows). Kids are welcome to play in the children's 'Engage' fountain and there are opportunities to feed the fish! Along the creek, there are pawprints of different native animals. City Creek Center is quite a place and well-worth a visit.
Another good reason to visit City Creek Center is that it houses the Utah Sports Hall of Fame.
The HOF is small, but very well done. And it's free to visit!
This display lets you choose an athlete and see how you measure up to them.... literally!
I enjoyed my visit, but it was time to return to the Marriott for my next tour. I could give you a hundred tries and you probably won't guess what I did on that tour. Here's your hint: it's a sport, and it's something that literally not a single person I know has ever done. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow!
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