Zion National Park

One of my favorite places in beautiful Utah is a place where you can find amazing views and great hikes. Zion parks is a National park in Southern Utah, it is three hours away from where I live. This is the perfect getaway for those that enjoy nature and adventure

Zion Park features several hikes, here you can find ones that are for beginner or for professionals so there is something for everyone. Zion national park has an unique geography with amazing and dramatic landscape of the sculptured canyons and soaring cliff.

If you want to experience an unique vacation full of adrenaline and excitement, visit Zion National Park


Source
http://www.nationalparks.org/explore-parks

Global Engagement Week

Utah Valley University annual Global Engagement Week (GEW) is a part of the worldwide International Education Week (IEW). 

It is one of the most important week during the year for foreign students at Utah Valley University (UVU). They come together to celebrate differences and culture awareness. GEW is organized and coordinated by the International Student Council (ISC) at UVU, and they bring all the energy and effort to make this event an enjoyable week for families in Utah County. 

GEW also serves to promote campus-wide international programs that prepare UVU students to become productive citizens in the global society; foster collaboration and integration among international students, conventional students, faculty, staff, and administrators at UVU on international issues; and encourage cultural awareness among UVU students and community members. 

Every year ISC creates a cultural theme for GEW to make it interesting to their audience and bring a global prospective to UVU campus. Some of the successful themes from past and this year were International Airport, Amazons, and Ancients Egypt. 

More than 2000 people around Utah County come and participate of this global awareness, they try delicious international food and enjoy performances around the world. Also, foreign students are able to share with this community their culture and the importance of it. 

It is a week to celebrate differences and learn from diversity!! 

La Caille

If you are looking for a great place to eat and budget is not an issue, I would recommend La Caille. They are a fancy upscale restaurant with beautiful grounds! There is a huge pond that you can walk around and take pictures. They have swans and ducks that frequent the pond. Valet will greet you and park your car. The food is all very good as well. They set the scene the for you and then deliver on food presentation as well. When I went I had the.. ~escargot(probably my favorite part) ~sorbet ~salad ~chicken with vegetables ~nutella crepe All of the food was exceptional. The service was great and I enjoyed the entire experience! If you have kids, I would recommend to go with them when their school offers it. I know the french class and foods classes will go. You get a discount rate, with the same quality. ($34 rather than the normal prices of $50 and upwards!!) http://www.lacaille.com/ordereze/splash.aspx

Hampton Inn & Red Rock Brewing

Last weekend was Utah Valley University fall break. Since my husband and I both work full time and go to school full time we try to "get away" and spend time just us. This fall we were not able to go to Vegas or too far away like we normally do. This time we decided to stay close to home and do weekend fun in Salt Lake City.

We got a stellar deal at the Hampton Inn at Downtown Salt Lake City. We stayed in the 1 King Bed Suite with Whirlpool for only $80! This is an amazing deal considering the whirlpool tub is right in your room and you can watch tv while soaking! Currently the Hampton gives you discounted rates if you pre-pay for their room. So instead of spending lots of money and going to Anniversary Inn or going out of town we were able to do this for the night.Click here to check this out!

This picture is from the Hampton Inn website. But this is what the room looks like!

A couple of blocks away from the Hampton Inn is this brew pub/restaurant called RedRock Brewery. Talk about amazing food!!!! We ordered fried halibut and German bratwurst and potatoes  Extremely delicious! What amazed me about this place the most was their home made root beer! I am usually not a fan of rootbeer but after having theirs I wanted to buy all that I could! To check out their website click here!

Sundance Resort

Sundance Resort...

I might as well call this my winter home. I love this place; the scenery, the people, the food, the snow. It's all amazing and I can not wait for winter to come!

Located about 20-25 minutes from the freeway in Orem and nestled behind the majestic Mt. Timpanogos, this little treasure is sure to grow on you and welcome you to its family as it did me.

The exciting news about Sundance recently is the addition of a new ski lift which will provide access to parts of the ski area in about half the time as the previous "ski commute." This makes the powder hounds' mouths water as it creates quicker possibilities to dive into the famous Utah powder.

The skiing and snowboarding are not the only draws to this charming village in the mountains. There are world class accommodations, restaurants, spas and exceptional customer service. Winter activities also include cross-country skiing, snow-shoeing, and a livelier atmosphere in this busy season. The Owl Bar is Sundance's perfect apre-ski/snowboard destination with fantastic bands playing frequently, good drinks, and better people.

If you are searching for a cozy, friendly, welcoming place to get your ski or snowboard fix in, or just to get away from the doldrums of ordinary life, make serious considerations in visiting Sundance Resort. Bring your camera and high expectations for a great vacation. See you on the snow beginning December 7th!

See also: www.sundanceresort.com

Hiking the Y

As you know I have been here for about 5 years. People that live or are from the Provo/Orem area knows that one of the basic hikes you must do when you get here is to Hike the Y!!!. The Y is very popular, especially with college students, because it represents the Brigham Young University. Every summer my friends and I would plan to hike the Y, but we never ended up going. Most people said that most of the time too much planing ended up in nothing, in our case that was a fact! So yesterday for the first time, I hiked the Y!

Yesterday, my friend Josh suggested that we should go to hike the Y. He asked Lily, Marie, and I if we have hiked it before. We looked each other and started to laugh because we knew none of us had gone yet. Josh could not believe that we have been here for so long and never hiked the most popular and basic hike. Right away he said we should change clothes so that we could hike it. I was not prepared at all to go hiking, and that included clothes!

Luckily my roommates came to my rescue and let me borrow some of their clothes. However, there was one problem. My roommates and I did not wear the same size of shoes. I was about to stay and let them go, but they would not me. So I decided just to take my ballerina shoes that was so flat that you could feel you were almost without shoes.

At the begging the hike was not very difficult. My feet were okay and we kept pushing forward. But almost toward the end of the hike they were hurting me. The hike was actually pretty fun and easy. When we got to the Y we could not believe we did not do it our first year. We staid up there for a while talking, laughing, and just enjoying each others company. It was a different bounding experience with my friends.

I will say the most difficult part was coming down. The one thing we regret is not having water. By the time we started back we were so thirsty! If you ever go...bring water! The overall experience was just great! We joked about how we planned this hike for a long time but we never actually did it. When we finally did it we were not prepare at all!

Hiking the Y made me realize that I sometimes need to spend less time planning and more time actually doing. Sometimes we just need to take the risk and enjoy the Journey.

So if you are in Utah for a visiting or just moved it do not forget to go and hike the Y (don't forget the water too!). Take your friends and enjoy the moment :)

The Beginning 

Half way 

On the Top 

Coming down 

Paiute Trail 2012

The coolest thing i did this summer, hands down, was ride the Paiute Trail with a couple buddies over the span of three days. i usually do a lot of fun things in the summer, but this year was lacking except for this trip which we all try to do every summer. it worked out great because we used it as an extended bachelor party for the big guy. basically, this trail is a network of one trail with hundreds of side trails that wraps around central Utah and goes from desert to mountain tops. our trip lasts three days and covers over 250 miles of dirt, mud, gravel, and some small portions of paved roads.

Day 1. we start in a town called Aurora in central Utah about 30 miles east of Scipio. we load up our quads with our gear, some food, and plenty of fluids and hit the trail. we ride for about seven hours til we get to the Big Rock Candy Mountain motel and restaurant. Apparently there is a country song about this place... i'll find it and add a link. we enjoy a fantastic dinner at the restaurant, take showers, and pretty much go to bed. after a long day of bouncing, vibrating, and teeth chattering trail riding, one's body is done for!

Day 2. we wake up as soon as our bodies will let us and with a few ibuprofen and some gas station snacks for breakfast, we're on the trail again. this day goes from the lower elevation desert to mountain tops of about 11,000 feet in less than two hours. switchbacks and climbing mountains fill the day. dropping into little towns with only one gas station or not even a stop light or a population smaller than my high school graduating class is a real good time to get a feel for small town living. my favorite town is Koosharem. tiny and full of character. a gas station, a post office, and a general store (all in one building) lie at the town's center. you can still pump the gas first, then you have to go inside and tell them how much you pumped. i always stop at the Koosharem Cafe for some great home cooking.

Day 3. after camping out the night before on the edge of a gorgeous lake, its time to hit the trail again. today's ride is only about six hours but filled with just as much bridge jumping, river rinsing, dirt eating, and white-knuckling as the other two. by the time we get back to the car, our bodies are pretty much useless. soreness creeps in making us realize we had muscles we never knew about before.

four wheeler rentals: $600
food and lodging: $250+
sun block: $25
memories with amazing friends to last a lifetime: PRICELESS

See you on the trail next year!!

p.s. couldnt get the link to the song, but you can find it on youtube. just type in big rock candy mountain!

Bohemian Brew Pub

See Utah is not just about all the amazing places to see in Utah but also about the best places to find some delicious food! In Midvale, Utah there is the Brewery called Bohemian Brewery & Grill. If you want German food this is the place to go! Now I have never had German food but my husband lived in Germany for about 3 years and he said this is the closest place here that comes close to it. For our anniversary this year we went to this restaurant and  I ordered a Bavarian Brats and it was so delicious! The Bavarian Brats has two brats, sauerkraut, and potatoes. I normally love Brats with mustard and sauerkraut but the mustard sauce they put on this is amazing! It has a sweet spicy taste to it. The potatoes were even delicious. I normally do not like garlic mashed potatoes because they are spicy. But these potatoes looked like they were grilled with garlic seasoning. It was such a delicious combination.  If you live in Utah or just coming for a visit you have to at least try this place just once.

Click here to visit the Bohemian Brewery & Grill website.

Will's Oktoberfest at Snowbird

I got invited by my good friend Annette to go to the 40th annual Oktoberfest at Snowbird Resort up Little Cottonwood Canyon this past Sunday, and although i was skeptical about going at first, had an AMAZING time! I had heard about the event several times, but never made the trek to find out what it was all about. I've been missing out on so much! We had not even gotten to the parking lot without enjoying what beauty Utah has to offer in the fall as the leaves on the trees start to change color and provide amazing scenery. Despite our hunger pangs, we drove slowly up the canyon taking pictures and commenting to each other which colors and groups of trees we liked the best.

We arrived just in time before our stomachs began to remind us how hungry we were. Everything on the menu looked delicious. We had a hard time deciding what to get. Bratwursts and apple strudel, Sausages and German chocolate cake, pretzel rolls and sour kraut. The best of the best. As we ate, we were entertained with a couple different bands playing traditional German music with yodeling, traditional attire, silly pants, and an all around great time.

From the food tent, we ventured around the grounds to see what else the festival had to offer.Beer, wine, and food tents lined the area with other local artists and vendors selling their goods. Numerous German and other European goods were being offered to show support and/or heritage. Hats, lederhosen, ties, pins, steins (fancy mugs), and much more were for sale.

On to the tram ride to 11,000 feet where the alphorn players would be performing. Although a little bit windy and chilly, it was well worth it. We could hear the echo throughout the surrounding canyons and it was awesome! The three of them played these twelve foot, wooden, tubes that cost about $4,000 each!

After the tram ride back down, we needed more food, despite what our brains and stomachs were telling us. I opted for the glazed and chocolate drizzled Belgian waffle. I want another one already. Annette went with the garlic cheese fries smothered in chili. Not a bad choice on her behalf. We shared our bounty around the same time it was time to leave. After almost five hours of enjoying the festival, we bid Snowbird "Auf Wiedersehen." (pronounced: owf VEE-der-say-en) or "Goodbye."