I’m becoming the queen of long weekend travel lately.  This past trip took me out west to Salt Lake City and I had an absolute blast!  I got in (on Southwest, love them!) Thursday night, got my rental ride, and was settled into my hotel room in practically no time.  I settled into bed and slept like a rock!  I got up the next morning, grabbed some bites to go, and ventured to Snowbird for my first day of boarding!

I had been boarding a few times before heading out here and felt pretty confident, but Snowbird was a challenge!  The first trail I rode was from the top of the one peak and I felt a bit intimidated, but I was determined to enjoy myself!  I made a few other runs and enjoyed when the clouds broke and I could snap some pics of the mountains in the distance!  The west always has the prettiest views!  After a solid five hours it started snowing pretty hard and I decided to head back before the road got too crazy.  I made it back to the hotel (at 5mph for the first seven miles, yikes), showered and took a nap.

I got up and hopped on beer advocate with one mission:  find good beer.  I came across reviews for The Bayou and was happy to discover some Philly locals gave it glowing remarks!  I double checked with my reliable source and bundled up for the short walk.

I was able to find an empty seat at the bar and got to work on the beer menu.  I started off with a local beer, the Squatters IPA.  It was clean, hoppy, and hit the spot.

After scouring the food menu, I went with red beans and rice for my dinner.  Their portions were HUGE!

The food was delicious!  I enjoyed a couple more IPAs then ventured back to the hotel and called it a night.  Saturday I got up and spent some solo time reading on a comfy couch in the Raw Bean coffee shop.  The feeling on contentment I had lead me to write the previous post.  Even though I was by myself so far on this trip, I was having an amazing time and felt completely happy.

The second part of the day was in the making for the last year and a half!  Part of the draw of going to Utah was not just the snowboarding, but also finally solidifying plans to meet up with Janetha!  We missed meeting up at HLS in 2011 and have been bouncing back and forth on hanging out and boarding together some day!  Janetha and her friend picked me up at the hotel and took me to a place I swore I would never, EVER spend money in.  That didn’t last.  We went to lululemon and thanks to her fab discount I left with this little number here.

I am doomed, but we’ll continue on.  (It’s the softest, most awesome long sleeve ever, btw)

We met up with another friend at Red Iguana for a late lunch and I was starving!  I ordered chicken burritos and devoured this entire plate.  Don’t judge me. 

Sooooo good.  We got a pic together in front of a heinous green wall and chatted about all kinds of stuff.

I love when you meet up with a blog/Twitter/whatever friend and you feel like you’ve always known them.  We finalized plans for the next day and I went back to the hotel to pass the f out.  I was seriously full for the entire rest of the evening, I didn’t even need dinner.  Holy crepes.

Sunday Janetha picked me up, I grabbed coffee and the most delicious bagel ever from Einstein’s and we made our way to Brighton!  She told me this mountain was her fave and definitely more local and boarder friendly.  I was super stoked to get out there, even though she is a WAY better boarder than I am.  We had a total blast on the mountain riding through the various trails and laughing on the lift about who knows what.  After a few hours, we grabbed lunch and some beers and shared even more fun stories of our younger days.  We got back on the mountain and did a few more hours before calling it a day when the sun started going down.

Sunday night I grabbed a beer and a bite at Squatters Brew Pub a few blocks from my hotel.  Their food and beer were definitely awesome and if you’re ever in SLC hit them up!

Monday I wandered around the city a little after checking out and grabbed lunch at Blue Lemon (OMG AMAZING!!!) before heading out to the airport.

The vacation was super fun, relaxing, and perfectly timed!  I cannot wait to head out there again!  And if you need food recommendations, get in touch with J, every suggestion she made was fantastic!