My Utah Bucket List

Happy Wednesday Everyone!  

The weather has been beautiful and I have had an amazing spring/summer so far.  Almost all of my friends are back in Connecticut and I have really been enjoying the sunny days.  Being "alone" means spending so much time with my friends and family and I am really lucky to have them all so close, and so many reasons to celebrate (babies, houses, marriages, oh my!).  

However, as the "good times roll"  my anxiety about leaving them increases a little.  Don't get me wrong, I am SO excited for my move to Utah, but I am really going to miss these people, and I am really going to miss the water.  So, to keep looking forward and positive, I wanted to make a Utah bucket list.  

It can be easy to get comfortable, and into a routine, so I wanted to make a bucket list and vow to do one larger weekend trip a month (national parks) and a few smaller trips a month (in the city and surrounding areas).  So to keep excited, I made this list, to make sure I do all of the things I want after leaving New England and conquering the west.   I tried to break the list down into smaller day trips,  bigger trips to national parks, and even bigger road trips to surrounding states.     

It's a long list but I was always taught to dream big ;) 
Life is an adventure and I am so excited for this next chapter and to have someone to do all of these fun and amazing things with.

Get Ready Thatch. 

Day-Weekend 

• Climb to the top of Timp- Mount Timpanogos- 7.5 miles each way (~9 hours)

• Attend Mormon tabernacle choir - Sundays 8:30 am seating 

• Drive Highway 12- through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument between Capitol Reef National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park,

• Hike Ensign Peak

• Ride in the Bison Round Up 

• Saturday Pioneer Park Farmers Market 

• Lavendar farm in Mona 

• Go to a rodeo:  Strawberry Days in Pleasant Grove (June 19-22) or the Spanish Fork Rodeo (July 20-24).

• Tour the State capital

• Twilight concert series

• Snowshoe Donut Falls

• Drive the Alpine Loop

• Wander Temple Square at Christmas

• See a Ballet West Performance

• Hike Mount Olympus    

• Visit the Kennecot Copper Mine

• Go to a festival: September Greek Festival, Princess Festival, Icelandic Festival, Freedom Festival, Scottish Festival, Orchard Days, Lindon City Days, Pioneer Days, The Echo 10 Play Festival, Timpanogos Storytelling Festival and the Festival Latinoamericano. So many festivals, so little time!

• Watch the 4th of July Fireworks- best spots Sugar house Park or Ensign Peak

• Float the river:   High Country Rafting

• GO to Christkindlmarkt

• Go to a Ute game (football or gymnastics)

• Sundance Film Festival

• Salt Lake City downtown Library

• Visit Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island

• Heber Valley Railroad

• Eat at Hectors

• National History Museum of Utah

• Ski Alta 

• Memory Grove Park

• Liberty Park

• Utah Olympic Park

• Snowbird in the Summer

• Snowbird in the Winter 

• Red Butte Garden

• Visit Temple Square

• Wasatch National Forest 

• Hogle Zoo

• Dive the Homestead Crater in Midway

• Swim in the Fifth Water Hot Springs 

Long Weekend-Week - MUST SEE PARKS AND MONUMENTS!

• MIGHTY FIVE:
• Zion National Park
• Bryce Canyon National Park
• Capital Reef National Park
• Canyon Lands National Park
• Arches National Park

• Dead Horse Point State Park,

• Scott Matheson Nature Preserve, 

• Colorado river (float trips and white water rafting),

• Manti-Lasal mountains 

• Cottonwood Canyons

• Dinosaur National Monument,

• Glen Canyon Dam (and Glen Canyon Recreation Area)

• Wasatch Mountain State ParkLake Powell

• The High Unitas

• Rainbow Bridge 

• Delicate Arch (3 mile hike)

• Grand Staircase-Escalante Natl Park, Calf Creek Falls

• Monument Valley & Four Corners 

• The Wave- Coyote Buttes Area 

• Spiral Jetty: 

• Bonneville salt flats

• Bear River Bird Refuge

• Great Gallery in Horseshoe Canyon a part of Canyonlands Natl Park. 

• Grand gulch

• Nine mile canyon

• Calf Creek Falls

Week + Out of state road trips 

• SLC to Yellowstone & Tetons  (summer) (~5.5) 

• SLC to Vegas (~6.5) 

• SLC to Jackson Hole (winter) (~5 hours)

• SLC to Yosemite (~10.5 hours)
• SLC to Grand Canyon (~ 9 hours)
• SLC to Denver, Colorado (7.5 hours)

• SLC to (fly) California --Napa, San Fran, LA, Drive the Coast!