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Explore the Canadian Rockies from a Luxury Train

By Adventures, Outdoors, Travel

“Bear on the left!” a spotter calls out. The guests aboard the train scramble to the left, their eyes to the glass and cameras and cell phones in hand. Those down below on the landing between passenger cars stick their heads out, the wind whipping through their hair as they look for the elusive beast.

“There he is!”

It’s a black bear, sunning himself where the forest meets the railroad tracks, either unaware or uncaring of the 83-ton train passing him. We add him to our list: bighorn sheep, elk, eagles, osprey, and I’m certain I spotted a female moose meandering along the trees.

They’re all breathtaking sights for the passengers aboard the Rocky Mountaineer train, moving eastward 35 miles per hour along the Canadian Pacific Railway. The railways cut through mountain and cross over rivers on the train’s First Passage to the West route, a journey from bustling Vancouver to Kamloops, then finally Banff and Lake Louise.

You’ve probably seen the world by plane, by car. But what about a good old-fashioned iron horse?

All Aboard

Our adventure begins in the luxe Fairmont Vancouver, just steps away from the Vancouver Art Gallery and an easy walk to the waterfront. With an early train departure, we’re greeted at the Rocky Mountaineer station with coffee and a live pianist. As staff, dressed in navy blue vests and slacks, gently ushers us toward the train to board, a bagpiper sends us off into the wilderness.

The first floor is the dining room, where guests take turns indulging in cuisine that Chef Jean Pierre Guerin calls “elevated comfort food” for breakfast and lunch. Until your seating, have no fear: Servers load your tray with drinks, pastries and fruit.

But we’re not here for the food. We’re here for the views. On the Gold Leaf cars, riders have a 180-degree dome window overhead, where tree branches caress the glass like wayward curtains. The mountains crash into the clouds, sprinkled with trees and sugary snow. We pass logging towns, cross the Fraser River, spy strawberries, corn and blackberry bushes thriving in the meadows.

Standing in the open-air landing between cars, you can smell the earthy underforest, green leaves still drenched in morning dew, the thick wall of ponderosa pines. I can’t say how the sun and the wind have a smell, but from that landing, you could breathe it in.

The white heads of osprey and eagles dot the sky, decorating their treetop nests with orange fishing nets. You can spot the emerald flashes of ducks swimming. On the river, the beavers are the engineers, jamming up the waterways with their logs. We pass a bighorn sheep, nature’s Spider-Man, as it looks down at us while clinging precariously to the sides of jagged rock. Each time, spotters call out their discoveries. 

“It’s a fun job,” Train Manager Peter Masejo tells me. “Every trip is so different…even a week ago it wasn’t as green, and the river is lower.”

With our feet propped up, watching Canada pass, one of the last sights before we arrive in Kamloops is the eerie Tranquille Sanatorium. It was originally built in 1907 to treat patients with tuberculosis, then converted into an “insane asylum” in 1959. It’s no wonder that this secluded white building, paint peeling, is rumored to be haunted.

Kamloops

Our first overnight stop is the “cow town” of Kamloops. Three men on horseback greet the Rocky Mountaineer into the station, waving and tipping their cowboy hats.

Chef Guerin invites our group to join him for dinner in town. I ask him, “Is it hard to cook on a train, with the cars rocking back and forth without mercy?” Non. A former airline chef aboard first-class flights, he says you can do so much more on a train.

A guide tells guests about the mountain range before them

“You can’t sauté and flambé in the air,” he explains.

A glass of red wine in hand, Guerin tells us about the ranch he owns an hour outside of town. He’s seen Kamloops, where the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National railways meet, grow from a supply town into a city of 90,000 people. At this busy hub—the city’s name is derived from the Shuswap First Nation word for “meeting of the waters”—people are on their way east to Banff or Jasper, or to the big city of Vancouver.

As indicated by the restaurants, there’s a large Japanese population in town, their ancestors were forcibly moved from Vancouver into internment camps nearby during World War II (not unlike what was happening across the border).

The next day is another trip on the rails. A few hours into the leg, we pass a source of pride for the railroad: Craigellachie, the memorial where the last spike was driven into the tracks, much like Utah’s famed Golden Spike. Take a second to look down, and there’s a story behind the scenery: the sweat, blood and dynamite that built the Canadian Pacific Railway.

After Canada became independent in 1867, the nation’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, was determined to not let the western territories join the United States. He hatched a plan to connect the land from coast to coast, a huge feat requiring that his men survey millions of acres of Canadian wilderness.

Once a pass was found in 1881, the next four and a half years were a race to the Pacific. Railway workers battled blizzards, raging rivers, cliffs, rockslides, mishandled dynamite, hunger and disease. More than 10,000 Chinese men were brought in from California, earning less than half what their white colleagues were making.

In 1885, the Last Spike was smashed into the railroad, completing Canada’s first transcontinental railroad—six years ahead of schedule.

Banff & Lake Louise

On the second night of the trip, we arrive in the burgeoning tourist hub of Banff, a snowy playground where visitors ski, hike and escape to the hot springs. Here, the lakes are frozen over and the mountains are truly snow-capped.

A view of the Cascade Mountain over Banff

After checking into the hotel, I wander the mountainside town and pop into local shops—I buy a wedge of bourbon chocolate at Mountain Chocolate, organic soaps and lotions at Rocky Mountain Soap Company, and a wooden bear ornament at The Spirit of Christmas. For dinner, we dine at Grizzly House, a wacky fondue restaurant serving up shark, alligator, rattlesnake, buffalo, venison and more. We follow dinner with a tour of Park Distillery and a tasting of its vodka and gin—be sure to try the spirits infused with espresso and vanilla.

But a trip to Banff without stopping at Lake Louise is a travesty. En route to the lake we make a stop on the side of the road to take in the grandeur of the Castle Mountains, named for their flat-topped peaks. While taking photos, a long, rumbling freight train goes by. I see trains differently now.

To access Lake Louise, we stop at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, an elegant hotel with floor-to-ceiling picture windows framing a postcard view of the lake set against the mountains. I learn it’s named for Princess Louise, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria, and I also learn it’s not an exaggeration to call the waters Tiffany blue. After taking a romp around the lake, grab a drink or lunch at the hotel’s picturesque Fairview restaurant or Lakeview Lounge.

Alas, my journey across the Canadian Rockies had to come to an end. Getting up before the sun rose, I took an airport van to Calgary, where I flew back to the United States and sunny South Florida.

An Elk spots tourists rafting on the Athabasca River in Jasper

After spending days on a locomotive, being rocked back and forth as I took in the sights and smells of the wild, I said goodbye to the mighty mountains. 

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Worth the Trip: A Weekend in Sun Valley

By Adventures, Travel

I could vaguely make out the center line as I headed north on U.S. 93. The oxidized headlights I’d been neglecting struggled to illuminate much beyond the snow falling directly in front of my windshield, but the perilous weather provided ample motivation to make it to Ketchum, Idaho. Sure, I could have avoided the five-hour ordeal with a 50-minute Delta flight from Salt Lake City to the Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey, but there’s something about a white-knuckle drive through a blizzard that gets the juices flowing for a powder day at Sun Valley.

Why, Exactly, Drive North in a Snowstorm?

Utah’s rarely wanting for snow, so it takes more than some heavy flurries to get me out on the road. But Sun Valley, home of the world’s first chairlift, is quite literally the birthplace of American resort skiing. The area has a pioneering mountain-sport legacy, and now it’s more convenient and affordable than ever for Utah skiers to experience. 

Sun Valley travel

Sun Valley­: winter sports under a summer sun.

Epic Pass holders have seven days of skiing at Sun Valley included with their 2019-2020 season pass, allowing them to venture north without buying a day ticket. Other passholders or those seeking a little variety can spring for the new $399 Sun and Snow Pass, which provides three days of skiing at Sun Valley as well as three days of skiing at their sister resort in Utah, Snowbasin.

Back to the Trip

I found refuge in the climate-controlled parking garage of the Limelight Hotel in Ketchum. The hotel’s eccentricities—my room had a View-Master stereoscope (think steampunk Instagram)—and contemporary art collection may not match Sun Valley’s sepia-toned aesthetic, but it’s a wonderfully comfortable place to spend the night. In the lounge I grabbed a cocktail and some Idaho Truffle Fries while watching live, local music—featured at Limelight every Friday through Sunday night—before turning in.

Sun Valley travel

Limelight Hotel

Limelight Hotel: 151 Main St. S, Ketchum, ID, 208-726-0888, limelighthotels.com

Hit the Slopes

I was up early to grab a quick breakfast downstairs before heading to River Run Plaza at the base of Sun Valley’s Baldy. For all their virtues, resorts in the Wasatch Mountains tend to have benches breaking up the fall line. Baldy’s defining trait is its consistent gradient over 3,400 vertical feet. I headed straight up to the top of Christmas Lift for untouched turns down Christmas Bowl and Rock Garden before heading out Lookout Lift towards Easter Bowl. When it was time for a break, I let gravity take hold down Limelight towards the Warm Springs base area.

Sun Valley travel

Mt. Baldy’s defining trait is its consistent gradient over 3,400 vertical feet.

The Warm Springs day lodge is a perfectly serviceable—luxurious even—ski lodge with excellent food. That said, I’d recommend walking right past it and going to Irving’s Red Hots. The quirky red shack on Picabo St. is anathema to profiteering ski resort developers. Less than five bucks gets you an authentic Chicago-style kraut dog and a bag of chips, and there’s a bucket of Double Bubble to help get the poppy seeds out of your teeth. Multiple ski patrollers strolling up to get lunch while in their boots reinforce the establishment’s local credibility.

Sun Valley: 1 Sun Valley Rd., Sun Valley, 800-786-8259, sunvalley.com

Irving’s Red Hots: 204 Picabo St., Ketchum, 208-720-1664

R&R

After a couple more leg-burning laps off Challenger Lift, I was ready for some rejuvenation. I headed to Zenergy Health Club and Spa. For $25, Limelight guests can get a day pass to Zenergy, which includes a gym, Pilates and yoga studios, personal trainers, spin classes, comprehensive spa treatments and more. All I wanted was a soak in the hot tub for my sore muscles and a relaxing stint in the Himalayan salt sauna and eucalyptus steam room.

A Brief Historical Aside

At its inception, Sun Valley was a ploy to get people to buy train tickets. Union Pacific Railroad Chairman W. Averell Harriman wanted to increase ridership on passenger trains in the West by capitalizing on the winter sports boom following the 1932 Winter Olympics, so he enlisted Austrian Sportsman Count Felix Von Schaffgotsch to help him find a location for a mountain resort similar to St. Moritz in the Swiss Alps. Central Idaho, with its ample snowfall and generous sunshine, was christened the place to enjoy “winter sports under a summer sun.” In the fall of 1936, U.P. engineers designed and installed the world’s first chairlifts on Dollar and Proctor Mountains, and Sun Valley, the first ski resort in the U.S., was off and running. Walls of the lodge are lined with photographs of celebrities—Bruce Willis owns property nearby. The best are those from the 30s and 40s, with Hollywood stars bundled up in wool sweaters on those long old skis.

Ready for some more traditional après, I headed to The Ram Bar at Sun Valley Village for a beer and a smoked trout plate. The Ram is steeped in a bit of history itself. One of the walls was adorned with traditional Austrian Doppelmayr Cowbells to commemorate each of Sun Valley’s lifts, and though I saw little dancing, the Hokey Pokey is said to have originated there. Fine dining abounds throughout Sun Valley and Ketchum, but I eschewed hyperbolic Yelp reviews in favor of ordering prime rib from the bar at Main Street’s famed Pioneer Saloon. You probably should too.   

Zenergy: 245 Raven Rd., Ketchum,
208-725-0595, zenergysv.com

The Ram: 1 Sun Valley Rd., Sun Valley, 208-622-2266

Pioneer Saloon: 320 N. Main St., Ketchum, 208-726-3139, pioneersaloon.com

Exit Strategy

I grabbed a couple European-style pastries and a cup of locally-roasted coffee from Konditorei Restaurant before heading back over to Baldy. I was greeted by sunshine and immaculate corduroy at the top of Challenger Lift and proceeded to run a few seemingly-endless, two-mile laps down Warm Springs. From there, it was time to steer the car back towards reality. But I’d only scratched the surface, and it is safe to say I’ll be back.

Konditorei: 1 Sun Valley Rd., Sun Valley, 208-622-2235

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Worth the Trip: Joshua Tree

By Travel

After midnight on the morning of September 21st, 1973, a Cadillac hearse pulled off Twentynine Palms Highway, snaking its way up to a desolate pile of boulders known as Cap Rock. Two drunk men wearing rhinestone jackets and cowboy hats stumbled out, opened the back, and dragged a wooden casket down on to the moonlit sand. After a few moments communing with the corpse, one of the men began pouring gallon jugs of gasoline over the body—five in all—then stepped back and lit a match.

A passing park ranger noticed flames in the darkness and cruised over to investigate. With soft desert wind fanning the embers, the tableau he beheld stands as one of the strangest in the history of music: the charred remains of country-rock legend Gram Parsons, framed by blackened ash, identified only by a yellow metal ring emblazoned with a red stone, lying where the bones of his left hand used to be.

The bizarre story of Gram Parsons’ desert funeral (he had asked to be cremated at Joshua Tree) is just one of the legends that linger in the eerie, seductive wilderness of Joshua Tree, California. For centuries local Navajo attested to the existence of yee naagloshii, “he who walks on all fours,” also known as skinwalkers: medicine men corrupted by power who disguise themselves as animals, casting curses on those they cross. The Mojave version of Bigfoot: Yucca Man, a hairy, red-eyed, eight-foot humanoid is said to stalk the desert at night, raiding campsites and stinking like a dumpster. The mysterious “Iron Door Cave,” is claimed to be a desert dungeon hiding mining explosives, stolen gold, or a hideously deformed child.

Clearly, something about this land lends itself to otherworldly notions. Named after the stark Yucca brevifolias (which Mormon settlers called Joshua trees because their raised branches reminded them of a man praying to the sky, echoing the biblical story of Joshua) the region has bewitched generations of artists, drifters, speculators and tourists with its open horizons, surreal shadows, and psychedelic night skies.

Savvy Southern Californians have long known that the best part of Los Angeles is leaving it, but few Angeleno-adjacent destinations exude as alluring an aura as the alien deserts of Joshua Tree. There’s a magnetism to its emptiness that’s more easily felt than explained.

Joshua Tree isn’t a place one goes to do things, but a place to simply be.

All that’s changing, of course. The explosion of Airbnb has accelerated the influx of visitors and micro-vacationing couples, seeding a steady flowering of new businesses, cafes and Instagram-ready boutiques along the dusty strip of Twentynine Palms Highway that cuts through town. The desert is still the draw but its ancillary amenities are gradually catching up with the times. You can have your out-of-body exhilaration as well as nice sheets.

Where you stay is everything while visiting Joshua Tree, since you need shelter from the scorch, scorpions and ruggedly beautiful waterless expanse. Not to worry: nearly half the homes are for rent so you can easily find a tastefully curated wild west abode any night of the week. Two of the most memorable are the Moonlight Mesa Hacienda and Tile House.

MOONLIGHT MESA | airbnb.com/rooms/13926866

TILE HOUSE | airbnb.com/rooms/1114991

JOSHUA TREE INN | joshuatreeinn.com

INTEGRATRON | integratron.com

GUBLER ORCHID GREENHOUSE | gublers.com

SKY VILLAGE SWAP MEET & CRYSTAL CAVE | skyvillageswapmeet.com

CROCHET MUSEUM | sharielf.com/museum.html

LA COPINE | lacopinekitchen.com

KITCHEN IN THE DESERT | kitcheninthedesert.com

The former is a groovy 10 acre desert retreat at the base of a small mountain abutting government land, with no immediate neighbors, designed entirely in ochres, oranges, and paisley-patterned wallpaper—a 1970s décor fantasy elevated to time-travel extremes. Even the TV is housed in a heavy wooden frame like a new episode of M*A*S*H is about to air. Tile House is the 20-year creation of photographer and artist Perry Hoffman, embellished with fluid multi-hued mosaics of ceramic fragments, found objects, and colored glass. The grounds are landscaped with painted and rusted curiosities scavenged from his travels and projects, providing an appropriately visionary backdrop for stargazing by the pit fire listening to thirsty coyotes.

For those drawn to more traditional lodging, the Joshua Tree Inn offers a range of historic options, including Room 8 where cosmic cowboy Gram Parsons famously died ($152 per night) as well “Donovan’s Suite,” where the “Mellow Yellow” troubadour frequently shacked with his muse ($206.)

During daylight hours not spent hiking in a sun hat across majestic arid plains or making the famous trek to 29 Palms Oasis (there are more than 29, actually) check out a range of curiosities. One of the most legendary is the Integratron, in nearby Landers, California. Self-described as “a uniquely resonant tabernacle and energy machine sited on a powerful geomagnetic vortex in the magical Mojave Desert,” the building is the brainchild of the late aircraft mechanic-turned-UFO-ologist George Van Tassel, who constructed the space based on, among other things, the writings of Nikola Tesla and “telepathic directions from extraterrestrials.” Forty bucks gets you an hour-long sound bath of quartz crystal bowls, intended to induce relaxation and “waves of peace.” Needless to say, it’s a deeply chill scene. 

Afterwards wander across the street and down one block to the Gubler Orchids greenhouse, a vast tropical oasis of floral rainbows, orchids and carnivorous plants run by a third generation Swiss family dynasty dating back to 1918. Tours start every 30 minutes. Only one rule: no sandals.

Back in the heart of town the Crochet Museum merits mention, both for the eclecticism of its contents and its kookily claustrophobic container: a converted Fotomat drive-thru kiosk. Founder Share Elf is an archetypal Southern California multi-hyphenate—singer-songwriter-fashion designer-life coach-raw food chef and “maker of art from trash”—whose collection of toiler paper covered poodles gradually accrued to such size 10 years ago she was compelled to open a public display space. The museum has been widely featured on eccentric travel surveys and boasts regular visitors from all over the globe. Fully free and conveniently next door to the Joshua Tree Saloon for a post-viewing beer.

If you want to mingle with true locals, however, cruise through the Sky Village Swap Meet open every weekend from dawn to two PM. Dubbed “the down-home people place,” it’s a fun, sun-bleached sea of stalls and folding tables full of junk, gems and mysterious desert refuse. Owner Bob Carr’s interests extend beyond the mercantile marketplace, though—in 2004 he began a creation called The Crystal Cave, fashioned from turquoise, amethyst, rose quartz, sea shells, crystals, glass, mirrors, paint and porcelain. It’s a miniature enclosed terrarium viewed through small circular windows, and oddly fascinating.

At some point you’ll get hungry. La Copine is pretty widely agreed upon as the best in the desert, though it’s closed all of July and August to dodge the peak heat. Dishes like melon gazpacho, avocado ceviche and a fancy BLT loaded with ramp jus, pea sprouts and pickles are as tasty as they are totally incongruous amidst such a barren landscape. Kitchen In The Desert draws on the owners’ Trinidadian family recipes. Housed in a historic property built in 1947, and decorated with vintage mining equipment and murals, the restaurant serves a jumbled array of island-esque oasis food, from jerk chicken and shrimp and polenta to street corn, smoked cauliflower and fried Oreos. 

But the most popular haunt is Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown. Originally a “cantina” set for countless Hollywood westerns of the 1940s and 50s, in 1982 the space was converted into a festive family-oriented lunch and dinner spot known for Tex-Mex, barbecue and live music. These days it stays pretty packed with a melting pot of tourists, bikers and indie rockers, hosting several shows a week alongside a full bar and bustling menu of nachos, chili, Joshuburgers and beyond.

Leaving the place late on a weekend you can step out a bit into the darkness and see a smeared swath of the Milky Way trailing across into the horizon.

Where you ride next is up to you.

Check out more of our travel here. 

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Abra- Kanabra! Meet the New Kanab

By Adventures, Travel

The literally breath-taking gorgeousness of the red rock cliffs and canyons of Kane County, Utah— an area that includes the famous and elusive “Wave,” the slot canyon Peekaboo and the eye-popping Vermillion Cliffs— has, in the past, only been matched by the utter absence of human cultural delight. No place to eat. No place to stay. No events to attend. The scenic wonder land surrounding Kanab has long been a literal and metaphorical desert for miles. It’s all great, until you finish a day of hiking and want a glass of wine.

This kind of dichotomy has been true in many Utah towns and the towns have responded in different ways. “Not another Moab!” It’s the rallying cry of many residents of Bluff, Blanding and Boulder, all villages poised for change because of increased tourism as a result of National Park and Monument designations.

Where to Go: Kanab Visitors Center has an excellent collection of single-sheet itineraries for enjoying the area’s scenery according to your abilities and preferences. Access to everything from scenic driving routes to family-friendly hikes to ATV excursions and difficult, restricted hikes like The Wave is spelled out in detail, allowing you to plan your ideal trip. Kanab Visitors Center, 745 E., US-89, Kanab, 435-644-1300, visitsouthernutah.com

Now, Kanab, in deep southern Utah, on the edge of Arizona, faces the crossroads of tradition and tourism. Kanab has long been a “gas-and-go” community but in the last five or six years Kanab has changed, and perhaps the food on the plate in front of me tells that story most succinctly: Beef Wellington. You know, Beef Wellington—one of the defining dishes of French haute cuisine, especially as it was imagined in America. Rare beef, shrouded in mushrooms and encased in puff pastry.

Except. This “beef” isn’t beef. It’s “Impossible Burger,” the much-touted meat substitute beloved by ecologists and animal lovers. It looks like beef, tastes like beef, but no animal was harmed in the making of this “meat.” The Wellington is a star on the menu at Peekaboo Wood-fired Kitchen, the vegetarian restaurant run by Kathie Chadbourne, where the selections also include wood-fired pizza, potstickers and cassoulet. The outside patio functions as a town meeting place—I can overhear conversations between off-duty adventure guides and wilderness therapy counsellors and a table nearby is occupied by Best Friends Animal Sanctuary’s founders and directors.

Kanab has changed—to such an extent that Lonely Planet says it is the “next Sedona.”

Kanab

The Wave

The scenery, of course, has always been there, as old as time. What ignited the Kanab renaissance and sparked interest in the previously sleepy mostly Mormon town was one organization. Best Friends Animal Sanctuary opened more than three decades ago, bringing moneyed bi-coastal and European tourists to town for something other than scenery: Best Friends’ zealous mission to “Save Them All.”

“Kanab has always been a tourist town,” says Camille Johnson Taylor, Executive Director of the Kane County Office of Tourism, a seventh-generation Kanabite. “We’re celebrating the 150th anniversary of John Wesley Powell’s expedition and we’ve been known for decades as ‘Little Hollywood.’” Monuments to A- (and many B-) list actors who frequented the town to film Westerns in the ’50s and ’60s line Kanab’s streets. “And we’re very close to the Maynard Dixon homestead and to Lake Powell.”

But today’s tourists are a more demanding bunch. The Canyons Collection has developed a group of hotels and motels, each one distinct in its charm, emphasizing individuality as well as creature comforts.

Canyons Hotel

Where to Stay: Hotels/Inns
Canyons Hotel, 190 N. 300 West, Kanab, 435-644-8660, canyonshotel.com
My Star Vacation Rentals, has several unique rental houses. 435-990-5850, mystarvr.com
Quail Park Lodge, classic ’50s hotel, redone: 125 N. 300 West, Kanab, 435-215-1447, quailparklodge.com
Black Feather Tipi B&B (it’s a real tipi), 514 N. 200 East, Kanab, 435-899-9092, kanabstars.com/tipi.html
Cave Lakes Canyon offers tipis, hogans and conventional rooms, 435-644-3812, cavelakescanyon.com

Quail Park Lodge, for example, is a classic ’50s tourist court, redone with a keen eye for today’s mid-century love affair. Canyons Boutique Hotel has been completely modernized while keeping a slight Victorian vibe. The hotels offer services like complimentary bikes and dog-friendly rooms—another influence from Best Friends, which allows visitors to take animals on “sleep-overs.

Best Friends’ animal-friendly ethos has influenced Kanab in lots of ways besides the Impossible Beef Wellington on the plate before me. You can choose from more than half-dozen good restaurants—most all with vegetarian or vegan options. The Rocking V Cafe, serving a southwestern menu of vegetarian and vegan specialties as well as bison and beef, was one of the first. Now you can order a healthy bowl meal from Wild Thyme Cafe, start the morning with fresh-made pastries (croissants warm from the oven) from Kanab Creek Bakery, enjoy Asian flavors at Fusion House Japanese-Asian Grill or authentic French cuisine at Vermillion 45, where we stop in after dinner to visit with the chef and share some wine and food in an evening of joyful hospitality Lumiere would be proud of.

Kanab

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

Chadbourne bubbles with enthusiasm about the future in Kanab—she’s working to form a community of chefs, maybe even a restaurant association so that chefs and owners can cooperate on events and sourcing, which can be tricky in a place so far from anywhere. After running restaurants in Oregon and Salt Lake City, she says Kanab is the closest thing yet to her ideal.

People arrive at their dreams in strange ways. Shon Foster, chef at Sego, grew up in Utah and went to high school in Kanab, a place he never thought he’d come back to. He went on to become an audio engineer for punk bands in Los Angeles for labels like Pennywise, Epitaph, Phat Records and he still looks the part when I meet him to talk about his latest venture—the vaguely military haircut, the black sox and T-shirt, baggy shorts. The only attire that reveals he belongs in a kitchen is his clogs. He ended up as executive chef and F&B chief for Amangiri, one of the most exclusive resorts in the world, but left to start Sego Cafe in Kanab.


Where to Eat:
Wild Thyme Cafe, 198 S. 100 East, Kanab, 435-644-2848, wildthymekanab.com
Sego Cafe, 190 N. 300 West, Kanab, 435-644-5680, segokanab.com
Peekaboo Canyon: Wood-fired Kitchen, 233 W. Center St., Kanab, 435-689-1959, peekabookitchen.com
Rocking V Cafe, 97 W. Center St., Kanab, 435-644-8001, rockingvcafe.com
Kanab Street Bakery, 238 W. Center St., Kanab, 435-644-5689, kanabcreekbakery.com.
Fusion House Japanese-Asian Grill, 18 E. Center St., Kanab, 435-644-8868, fusionhousekanab.com

“Sego Cafe is more democratic,” jokes Foster. “We try to appeal to a broad audience and want the food to be affordable and local. The goal is to connect the food, the diner and the land. We feel we are in a position of stewardship of land and animals, stewardship of the planet via green kitchen.”

According to Francis Battista, co-founder and board chair of Best Friends, this is the larger goal of the foundation.

“Once you’re in the mindset of kindness and caretaking, it spreads to other things besides animals.”

Of course, says Taylor, there have been a few collisions between original town folk and the idealistic newcomers. But in the end, there seems to be agreement on the goal of creating a community in harmony with its place—specifically, not another Moab. 

See all of our outdoors coverage here.

texasbbq

Three Days on the Texas Barbecue Trail

By Adventures, Eat & Drink, Travel

Texas is in the middle of a new golden age of barbecue, so there has never been a better time to go on a serious barbecue road trip and explore the Texas Barbecue Trail. And, conveniently, since all the very best barbecue restaurants in the state are clustered in or near Austin, your road trip can consist of a few day trips, using Austin as a central hub and base of operations. You’ll want to arrive by late Thursday night, rent a room in Austin for the weekend, and acquire some sort of large car, ideally a Cadillac. Not an eco-friendly choice for a road trip I’ll allow, but, well, if you wanted eco-friendly maybe a barbecue road trip was the wrong choice to begin with. Don’t worry—on Monday it’ll be back to kale, Priuses, and normality. This is all just temporary.

Day One: White Hat vs. Black Hat

Texas Barbecue Trail

Louie Mueller BBQ

On Friday morning (for this trip, you can’t be averse to meat in the morning), head north to take a side in a genuine family feud. Of all the grand ol’ temples of Texas barbecue, only one still holds its own at the highest level of competition, and that is Louie Mueller Barbecue, in Taylor, Texas. Hallowed BBQ ground for generations, Louie Mueller has been topping lists of Texas BBQ joints for as long as such lists have existed. Louie founded it in 1949, his son Bobby took over in 1974, and Bobby’s son Wayne took over in 2007.

But there’s a name missing from that list. John Mueller, not Wayne, inherited both his father’s virtuosic mastery of smoked meats and the restaurant. But like a tragic character straight from a Western ballad, he blew it all up and left town. Since then the “Dark Prince of Texas BBQ” has been a drifter, periodically opening another BBQ joint, earning some money, and then blowing it up again. His current establishment, Black Box BBQ, about a half hour from Taylor, serves phenomenal barbecue.

Texas Barbecue TrailSo, what will it be—white hat and brother Wayne, or black hat and brother John? The answer is both. But sacred places deserve respect, so head to Louie Mueller first. Avoid the interstate—better to head east to Farm-to-Market Road 973, which you can take north all the way to Taylor. Try to arrive before they open at 11 a.m. As you step through the rusty screen door, the world goes sepia-tone; everything is stained from years of smoke. The menu is extensive, but stay focused—you are here just for brisket. Beef brisket, slowly smoked over indirect heat from post oak and seasoned only with salt and black pepper, is the undisputed king of Texas barbecue, and Louie Mueller serves some of the best anywhere. The meat is toothsome and moist, without a hint of the elasticity that signals un-rendered collagen (the ruin of brisket) but also without the intense overindulgent richness that plagues so many of the recent stars on the barbecue scene. The fat is rendered beautifully, savory and delicious, and the whole thing is encased in the signature Mueller black pepper crust. The moist brisket is excellent, but the lean is Platonic; I always get both, to hedge my bets, but I always get more of the lean. The styrofoam cup of red-colored onion soup they give you is what passes for a sauce here; it is best appreciated as a curiosity rather than as a foodstuff. Ignore the forgettable sides—if you need something to cut the grease, I recommend pickles and onions, and maybe just a bite of white bread. Actually, this side policy will apply at all of these establishments.

Like many great anti-heroes, John Mueller has a superpower—he can do things with a beef rib that no other man on earth can rival.

No time to lose—there’s more barbecue to eat. So put on your black hat and some James McMurtry, crank the volume, and head north up Main to Highway 29, which will take you to Georgetown—fancier than Taylor, with old stone churches and picturesque houses, making Black Box BBQ stick out all the more. Located on a vacant lot on Church street, Black Box is just three trailers, 8 picnic tables, and a big pile of split post oak. Sometimes they run a gasoline generator to power the electric scale. They don’t have a liquor license so, the beer is free—help yourself from the cooler in the back, and nod thanks to John, the grumpy man with the beard. Black Box lacks the historical impact of grandfather’s establishment, but actually, sitting on a plastic chair outside, watching the fire and listening to Waylon Jennings and George Jones, you realize this place has ambience to spare. Now is the time to branch out and try some of those other meats. The pork spare ribs here are delicious, perfectly cooked and crusted with salt and black pepper rather than some unfortunate glaze or powdery rub. Even better is the handmade plain beef sausage (NOT the other varieties!), which with its coarse grind and snappy casing is some of the best in Texas. Of course, there is the brisket, both the slightly-too-rich moist with its crackly crust and the excellent lean. But none of these are the real reason you’re here. Like many great anti-heros, John Mueller has a superpower—he can do things with a beef rib that no other man on earth can rival. So you must get one of those, and probably just one—they are large and filling, with a rich, robust beefiness like a more flavorful, less tender brisket. They sell out fast, but it’s Friday, so I like your odds; by this time on a Saturday, they’d be long gone.

It’s time for dessert and coffee, so you should head five blocks over to Monument Cafe, which has the best banana puddings outside of Georgia. Served in individual ramekins, they are made daily with real custard and then baked under airy meringues. Pudding sounds dense, but these manage to be light and elegant, a perfect post-barbecue dessert. If you don’t like bananas, or if they’re sold out of puddings (which can happen fast), the cream pies here are also very good, though they can hardly be called light.

Now you’ve got a little time to kill. If you like the outdoors, you should stay on Highway 29 straight to Llano, then head south down to Enchanted Rock, the pink granite inselberg known to Texans as perhaps the prettiest spot in the Hill Country. Or, if that’s not your idea of a good time, you could wend your way on rural routes through the Balcones down to Marble Falls, and stop at the Bluebonnet Cafe for a slice of peanut butter pie before continuing west. In either case, you should plan to be in Llano by about 6 p.m. for dinner at the original Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que.

Cooper’s is the outlier of the places on this list, and not just geographically. The barbecue here is less polished, less sophisticated, and so is the ambiance; the steel livestock fencing that guides you toward rows of giant smokers means you’ll feel like a cowhand at mess time. Instead of slow smoking with post-oak, Cooper’s uses direct heat from mesquite coals, a throwback to the earliest days of Texas barbecue. That means less smoke, but the smoke is from mesquite, so it’s more aggressive, more tang than caramel. Of course you must try the brisket (but maybe only a little bit), which here is a wild, chewy, intensely flavorful variant; do not feel obligated to eat all the fat they leave on. Their pork ribs are some of my favorite in the state, the rich fattiness of the pork balanced perfectly by the salt and the tangy mesquite. The same balance is at work in the enormous pork chop, for which Cooper’s is justly famous. But the reason we are here tonight is that Friday Night is Ribeye Night. The ribeyes at Cooper’s are well-seasoned medium-cooked steaks imbued with that beautiful tang of mesquite smoke. You might have to ask for these if they’re not in the pit, and you might have to wait. It’s worth it. As you select your meats, the pit-master, spearing them on a long fork, will ask you if you want them dunked into a bucket of dirty vinegar (they call it barbecue sauce). Why anyone would ever say yes to this is beyond me, but it seems inexplicably popular. Please don’t give in to peer pressure: Just say “no.” When you are done, wrap up the remaining 3/4 of your pork chop and take Highway 71 straight back to South Austin. Take the Lamar exit and head over to the Broken Spoke for a few beers and a two step, or two. Then, although it’s hard to forgo Austin’s famous nightlife, go to bed. Remember, you’re on a meat mission.

Day Two: Meet Tootsie

Texas Barbecue Trail

Slicing pork ribs.

Saturday morning is reserved for Snow’s, because Snow’s might be the best barbecue on the planet, and they’re only open on Saturday mornings. Also, the line can get very long, so you want to be there early; 8 a.m. would be ideal, 8:45 a.m is already getting a little too late. On top of that, it’s an hour away, in Lexington, Texas. So wake up early, grab some coffee, and try to hit the road by 7 a.m. No time for roundabout routes, so just head straight there—290 to Farm-to-Market 696. Fortunately, Farm-to-Market 696 in the dawn light is a beautiful road, so enjoy the drive.

Snow’s is a small red building with charming outdoor seating next to the outdoor smokers. It was only founded in 2003, but one of the founders, Pitmaster “Tootsie” Tomanetz, had multiple decades of prior experience smoking meat. Mrs. Tomanetz is an icon in the BBQ world, and rightly so—at 83 years old, she is still running the pit herself, and is producing some of the best barbecue available anywhere. Don’t skimp on the velvety brisket, which ranges in quality between exquisitely delicious and mathematically perfect. The pork steak is also astonishingly good, moist and deeply flavorful without being too rich. And, one morning, the jalapeno sausage forever altered the way I think about sausage. But really, everything here is great. And the dewy backyard, with Hank Williams on the speakers mixing with the sound of cattle lowing from the stockyard down the street, is as perfect a place to eat barbecue as one can imagine.

And the dewy backyard, with Hank Williams on the speakers mixing with the sound of cattle lowing from the stockyard down the street, is as perfect a place to eat barbecue as one can imagine.

Stop afterwards for gas, a bathroom break, and a bottle of Big Red at the Bastrop Buc-ee’s. Then you have a little time to kill before the next stop. Nature lovers could trek out of their way down to Palmetto State Park, to see a weirdly isolated little Lost Valley of the DinoPlants. Pie enthusiasts could head over to Round Top in search of a slice of pecan. Or you could do what I did after my first trip to Snow’s and sit half comatose on a rock in Bastrop State Park, staring at the sky while fighting back the Fear. What are you doing out here in the middle of Texas? What convinced you that eating this much barbecue was a good plan? Will you ever recover from this? But no, that’s just the meat sickness talking—some more Big Red will take care of that for now.

Press on to Lockhart. There’s lots of great barbecue available in Lockhart, but you just ate at Snow’s, so you’re here with laser focus, for just one crucial thing: the best sausage in Texas. Admire the beautiful old courthouse, then walk over to Smitty’s Market. As the screen door smacks closed behind you, it will take your eyes a moment to adjust to the dark flame-licked cavern you’ve just entered. The pits at the other end of the hallway are always roaring away; take a moment to marvel at the stalactites of ash that form above the fires, and try to get a good look at the pit filled with round sausage links. Those sausages are what you’re after—coarse ground, perfectly spiced, they are bursting with juice, and the casing has an ideal snap. You should really have at least one or two right now. Also, you should buy a bunch more, cold, to stuff into your suitcase. Pro tip: there’s a price break at 25. Twenty-five sausages, not dollars. Buckle up. 

On the way back into Austin, prep for tomorrow. Stop at the Whip In and buy plenty of interesting beer, then swing by a grocery store and pick up a cooler, plastic cups and some ice. Ice the beer down in the cooler, and leave that in your car overnight. Then take the edge off the meat sweats for good with liquor, maybe at drink.well, a cozy bar for the well-heeled hipster, or maybe stuffed into Techo, a quaint little rooftop mezcal bar on top of another bar. Again, though, not too late—you have another early morning tomorrow.

Day Three: It’s Not Just a Line It’s The Line

Texas Barbecue TrailSunday morning, it’s up at dawn again, this time to get in The Line at Franklin. Aaron Franklin opened Franklin in 2009 and changed everything. Prior to Franklin, the assumption was that any truly great barbecue restaurant had to be located in a small Texas town and had to have been there for years. Great BBQ joints somehow happened biodynamically, or by act of God, like wild truffles.

Texas Barbecue Trail

Lunch Tray pork ribs, smoked turkey, sausage, brisket and pulled pork. Photo by Wyatt McSpadden

If a barbecue restaurant did well in a city, it would become a chain and burn out—it just wasn’t stable. Aaron changed all that by hard work, careful planning, and deliberate action, and his model of success more than anything else has led to the current golden age of Texas BBQ. He has expanded slowly and carefully, making sure never to compromise quality for quantity, and, indeed, he has never had enough quantity—Franklin has sold out of BBQ every day since it opened in 2009. Hence: The Line.

Getting lunch at Franklin is an all-day affair, and The Line has its own code. I’m told by a reliable source that 8 a.m. is a safe time to arrive on a Sunday morning, but I’d rather be there closer to 7:30 a.m. Assuming you’re not doing this on your own, head straight there to establish your spot in line, then send runners out for coffee and maybe bagels (but no protein for God’s sake!). Once you’ve had a little coffee, it’s time to bust out those beers. Share with your neighbors—that’s why you got those cups, after all. The trick to a good trip to Franklin is to stop worrying and love The Line, and I find that that’s best done by building camaraderie via free beer.

If you’re going to wait four hours for your lunch, obviously you’re going to try some of everything at the end. And, as at Snow’s, it will be worth the ordeal; everything here is fantastic. The pork ribs are great, and the last time I was here I was very impressed with the deep beefiness of the sausage. One thing that is very different is that the sauces here are delicious, even worth putting on one or two bites of meat. But, of course, the critical thing is the brisket, and really you could just get that and be at peace. Franklin’s brisket is ethereal stuff, tender and moist without a hint of elasticity, silky and rich but not quite overindulgent, its perfectly rendered fat encased in a black pepper crust. If this brisket seems familiar, well, it should; Aaron Franklin learned the Mueller school of brisket when he was employed by John Mueller at one of those early independent joints. But Aaron was the ant to John’s grasshopper, and when John blew that joint up, Aaron bought the smoker and used it to start Franklin.

And now you have earned the right to judge, with some authority—how does Franklin stand up? Is it really the absolute best? How does his brisket compare with its immediate ancestors, still alive and well around Taylor? How do his ribs compare with the tangy pork chop from Llano, or the luxurious pork steak from Snow’s? Is his sausage as good as John Mueller’s? (It’s definitely not as good as Smitty’s.) And the truth is, Franklin’s is good enough that it just might win out, across the board. Even if it doesn’t, you’ll have a wonderful time playing judge.

You made it! Celebrate by not leaving Austin today! You could go swimming at Barton Springs Municipal Pool, or play a quick 18 at Peter Pan Mini Golf. Or, if it’s too hot out, Pinballz Arcade or the original Alamo Drafthouse would be delightful places to endure the aftermath of your morning. However you spend your afternoon, end the day by toasting your triumph with a round of Margaritas on the patio at Matt’s El Rancho at sunset. Now, start your vegan diet. Congratulations you’ve survived the Texas Barbecue Trail.

See all of our food and drink coverage here.

Goblin-Valley_Michael-Kunde-Photo_UOT_20151021_SlotCanyon-2564_Large-e1554927742591

San Rafael is a Swell Getaway

By Adventures, Outdoors, Travel

Frosty precipitation continues to pile up in the Wasatch as winter refuses to yield in April. This may be welcome news to die-hard skiers and snowboarders, but several Utah ski resorts are already past their use by dates and some folks are daydreaming of warmer temperatures and the season’s inaugural sun burn, which they’ll brazenly describe as a “base tan.” For those in the latter camp, it’s time to head south. A visit to Utah’s national parks will reveal the hordes had similar ideas, so beat the crowds and the cold by heading to the San Rafael Swell.

Credit: Utah Office of Tourism

In geologic terms the Swell is a sandstone and shale anticline about 30 miles west of Green River, but to sun-seeking outdoor enthusiasts, it’s a seldom-visited haven for camping, hiking, biking and exploring. An easy three and a half hour drive down Route 6 from Salt Lake City is all that separates you from enjoying a spring getaway in the Swell, so gear up and get going.

Three Ways to Play

Hiking in Goblin Valley State Park With surreal rock formations that could make Salvador Dali blush, Goblin Valley State Park is perhaps the Swell’s best-known area. Still, the three trails meandering through the endless maze of hoodoos offers limitless possibilities for exploration. You’re allowed to hike off trail throughout the valley, giving you free reign to chart your own path through an IRL Super Mario World. Just don’t be one of those imbeciles who vandalizes the natural wonders and ruins it for everyone.

Credit: Utah Office of Tourism

Just outside the park, Little Wild Horse and Din and Dang Canyons offer an excellent, non-technical introduction to slot canyons. Little Wild Horse is the easier, but longer of the two, though either are suitable for moderately strong hikers. As always, bring plenty of food, water and sun screen. The trails are well marked, but you’re still in the desert.

  • Goblin Valley State Park: Goblin Valley Road, Green River, UT, 84525
  • Little Wild Horse Canyon Trailhead: Co Rd 1013, Green River, UT 84525

Mountain Biking the Good Water Rim Trail

Overlooking the yawning Little Grand Canyon, The Good Water Rim Trail flat out delivers some of the best views in Utah. The singletrack itself features continuous turns, grade reversals and ledge-filled climbs and descents over its 15-mile length, though it never becomes difficult enough that it should deter intermediate riders.

The Good Water Rim Trail starts at the Little Grand Canyon’s Wedge Overlook, and because it follows the rim of a canyon there’s only 800 feet of elevation change over the course of the ride. That said, it’s exposed and can be hot, so bring plenty of water, especially if you plan to follow the six-mile dirt road back to the trailhead you started at.

  • Start at Wedge Overlook: Castle Dale, UT 84513

Credit: Utah Office of Tourism

Exploring the Past on Buckhorn Wash (Draw) Road

Indulge in a bit of history while you’re in the swell, starting with the Buckhorn Draw Pictograph Panel. The pictographs are more than 2,000 years old, painted by people of the Barrier Canyon Culture with powdered hematite pigments. The pictographs are accessible from a parking lot right by the wall, making the site a great late-day stop after a hike or bike ride. Follow Buckhorn Wash (Draw) Road south for 5.8 miles, and the pictographs will be on the left side.

For a more modern and cryptic historical experience, spend some time exploring the MK Tunnels. The tunnels were created with explosives by the Morrison Knudson Company under supervision of the Department of Defense, purportedly as part of an exploratory process to build a complex similar to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado, though ultimately the area’s sandstone was unsuitable for such a structure. Traveling South on Buckhorn Wash (Draw) Road you’ll see an informational sign at a small turnout. From there, a trail leads up a hill towards the tunnels.

  • Buckhorn Draw Rd, Green River, UT 84525

Where to Stay

There are innumerable camping areas near the swell, including a wealth of primitive, dispersed sites on BLM land. Here are a couple easy to find established camping areas for different budgets.

  • The Wedge at Little Grand Canyon:There are 10 numbered camp sites in the area. The first-come, first serve camping is free and features a pit toilet and picnic tables.
  • Goblin Valley State Park: Camping at Goblin Valley is a bit more developed. The 24 camp sites are $30 per night, and there are two Yurts you can reserve for $100 per night. All sites feature centrally located restroom and shower facilities.

See all of our outdoors coverage here.

Worth the Trip: Barcelona the Beautiful

By Adventures, Lifestyle, Travel

Looking out my office window I can see Salt Lake rising. Just across the street, construction continues on a block of apartments. Beyond the unfinished buildings I can see row upon row of recently finished structures. All these new buildings, out my window and across the city, have some things in common:

They are built on right angles. And they are all shades of gray. The views from my window used to be of mountains, beautiful in any season.

And I wonder. Why do we have to construct our city with so little imagination? Where’s the color that we appreciate so much in our natural surroundings? Where are the organic shapes that echo our own humanity? Is it that much cheaper to build ugly buildings? Wouldn’t it be better—and worth the money—to build beauty in which to live our lives?

Barcelona

Cozy street in Barcelona, Spain

Some of my wondering comes from my recent visit to Barcelona. This Catalan city on Spain’s coast is most famous as the home of Antoni Gaudi, one of the world’s greatest and most eccentric architects. Seven of his buildings are designated UNESCO World Heritage sites—unique and unlike anything anywhere else. Generally, Gaudi’s work is regarded as a harbinger of Modernism, examples of the flowing natural curves of Art Nouveau.

But Gaudi’s buildings are more than that—they are a personal vision, unusual in modern buildings. Enter his most famous building, the unfinished (construction started in 1862 and it’s still being worked on) Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Sagrada Familia, and you feel the soaring immensity and striving for the divine that characterized Gothic cathedrals and is so conspicuously absent in modern churches, particularly in the cookie-cutter design of most LDS wardhouses—but present in the fantastical Salt Lake Temple. Other Gaudi spaces—the undulating Casa Mila La Pedrera with its mesmerizing aquamarine tiling and the delightful Park Guell, its rambling gardens, mosaic walls and whimsical sculptures making the whole feel like an artist-designed Disneyland—infuse Barcelona with a sense of whimsy rare in American cities.

Barcelona is a city that makes you smile.

Barcelona is a walking city. La Rambla, a wide tree-lined parkway, stretching almost a mile, from Placa de Catalunya to the Statue of Christopher Columbus near the harbor, sets the tone. You amble, you don’t rush, taking in the kiosks, the buskers and the markets as you go. No hurry. Barcelona inspires you to live in the moment—eat when you feel like it at one of the tapas bars that line every street. At Quimet & Quimet, in business for a century, with standing room only, we snacked on peaches topped with anchovies, salmon with truffled honey washed down with cava, which flows like water in every tapas place. Take your friends’ or cab drivers’ advice or just walk in the most appetizing looking door—it’s very hard to go wrong with food in Barcelona.

However, the heart of Barcelona’s stomach is unquestionably Mercat de la Boqueria, a crowded street market off La Rambla with stalls selling jamon Iberico, jamon Serrrano, jamon you’ve never heard of, plus cured meats of every kind and fresh meats from every part of every kind of animal: tripe, skinned rabbits, testicles, kidneys. Plus local Catalan cheese, bread and pastry and mounds of beautiful produce. You’ll wish for a kitchen in your hotel room.

Barcelona

hamon on counter at spanish market

And, by the way, Barcelona, though full of lovely hotels, also offers many AirBnB listings; we opted for a tiny but very inexpensive set of rooms in the Barri Gothic, one of the oldest parts of the city, with streets so narrow the taverna crowds spilled out in the street and we had to walk a block to meet our Uber driver. No way you could U-turn a team of oxen here. 


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Utah Hot Springs: We’re in Hot Water Now

By Adventures, Outdoors, Travel

the world is going to pieces. I don’t mean in the rant-on-Twitter way though some of the dismayed voices I’ve read on social media make compelling points. I mean more in the four and a half billion years of shattered-crust plate tectonics way. That’s ominous sounding, perhaps, but it’s really just a benign way for the Earth to lose a little heat.

Those of us in Utah get to enjoy benefits of the terrestrial pressure release valve—including those majestic mountains we’ve been skiing all winter and pockets of geothermally heated water for when we’re ready to thaw out. Hot springs bubble up in Utah’s landscape, and people throughout the Beehive State have fashioned them into subterranean SUP yoga studios, utopian hippie villages and even tropical inland seas. Nothing’s better than balmy aquatic adventure in the high desert spring—so get ready to dive in.

The World’s Oldest Yoga Studio

The combination of stand up paddle boarding (SUP) and hot yoga seems like something straight out of a new age wellness scenester’s fever dream, but even ardent skeptics will be won over deep in the Homestead Crater. For millennia, Wasatch snowmelt seeped into the ground where heat from the Earth’s interior warmed the water, pushing it back towards the surface depositing the minerals that formed what Park City Yoga Adventures (PCYA) owner Julia Geisler refers to as the oldest yoga studio in the world.

The Crater maintains a toasty temperature of 90-96 degrees Fahrenheit regardless of the weather outside while the fresh air and natural light afforded by the crater’s open top keep abyssal claustrophobia at bay. The 95-degree water is especially welcome when the inherent instability of a SUP board and yoga’s balance imperatives compel you to take a dip. Despite appearances, SUP yoga in the Homestead Crater doesn’t require laser-like focus and skill to enjoy. PCYA tailors a program to fit your group’s experience, and ending up in the water is kind of the point. Regardless of how successfully you elongate you thoracic vertebra and open your hips, SUP yoga in the Homestead Crater is a surreal experience unlike anything else you’ve tried before and feels especially therapeutic after a long day on the slopes. Pricing starts at $80 per session.

700 Homestead Dr., Midway,
415-695-4502,
parkcityyogaadventures.com

Let’s Get Metaphysical

An artist driving a bus back from a Grateful Dead concert in Las Vegas stumbles across some fledgling hot springs, purchases the land and turns it into a free-spirited oasis in the Utah desert. That sounds a bit too on the nose, but it’s exactly what happened to Mike Ginsburg in 1995. For the past 23 years, Ginsburg has been restoring cabins and buses, building soaking areas and hosting special events at Mystic Hot Springs.

Monroe may not be atop your list of must-see destinations in the state—there’s a good chance you’ve never even heard of the sleepy town named for our fifth president—but it’s right of U.S. Route 89 and is a great place to stop on your way to or from a spring trip to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Bryce Canyon National Park. The restorative properties of the sulfur-free, 99-110 degree Fahrenheit water will doubtlessly feel good after hiking through the desert whether you’re in one of the two soaking pools or the six vintage cast iron tubs. An acoustic concert venue adjacent to the soaking areas creates an ethereal atmosphere for a Utah sunset. Spend the night at Mystic. Campsites $30, but pony up $60 to stay in one of the Grateful-Dead-themed buses.

475 E 100 N, Monroe,
435-527-3286, mystichotsprings.com

An Inland Sea

Salt Lake City is some 700 miles from the closest ocean, but that doesn’t mean you can’t revel in a tropical scuba diving experience right here in Utah. Bonneville Seabase has geothermally heated pools with a natural salinity of three percent, which is very similar to ocean water. Thus, fish like salt water mollies thrive in warm water rising from a fault in the salt beds of old Lake Bonneville.

The inland sea is a perfect setting for snorkeling and scuba diving. Divers must be open water certified, and those who are can rent gear for as little as $20 per day. The rest of us can rent snorkel packages for $12 per day or for only five bucks enjoy a pedicure courtesy of the saltwater mollies. Seabase delivers a one-of-a-kind experience to dive, snorkel and feed fish like you would in a coastal destination without ever leaving the endorheic watershed of the Great Basin.   

1600 UT-38, Grantsville,
435-884-3874, seabase.net   

What Makes a Hot Spring?

Heat is everywhere beneath the Earth’s surface, so why do only some spots have hot springs? Western Utah is expanding, leading to thinner areas of crust where heat is closer to the surface. The expansion also creates faults, which allow cold water to seep down and warm water to percolate up, resulting in a pool of hot water in which you can relax, fall of a SUP or even swim with tropical fish.


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Worth a Trip: Nice to Mesquite You.

By Adventures, Lifestyle, Travel

The first time we went to Mesquite, it was the siren call of cheap rooms (starting at $24) and prime rib ($7.99) we’d seen advertised up and down I-15 that lured us there. We settled into our sparsely decorated, but perfectly OK room, ate prime rib and ham steaks for every meal—except one splurge for the Friday seafood buffet—and played bingo as often as possible for three days.

We came back to Salt Lake and told our friends about the great time we’d had and no one quite believed us. “Why didn’t you just drive another hour to Vegas?” one asked. Another said, “Yeah, I’ve been to Mesquite… for booze and gas on my way to somewhere else.”

So we went back, in part to prove everyone wrong. And we learned there are many ways to experience Mesquite, from a fun and inexpensive casino getaway to—well, Mesquite Gaming’s tagline, “Like Vegas used to be,” doesn’t quite cover it. And, on the second visit we decided, once and for all, we’re Mesquite people.

The pool at Eureka Casino and Hotel

SLEEP

There are three casino-adjacent hotels in Mesquite—Virgin River, CasaBlanca and Eureka. Each has onsite rooms, only Virgin River is a motel, and feels like one—the cut-rate pricing means rooms do not offer many amenities, including toiletries. CasaBlanca rooms are dated, but well appointed. Out of the three, Eureka Casino’s rooms are the star here. It has the most-recently remodeled rooms and their properties include Rising Star, a non-gaming and family friendly hotel offering.

EAT

While Virgin River is the home to the $7.99 prime rib, each of the other casinos has both buffet and fine dining establishments—at prices much lower than one would find in Vegas… or Salt Lake.

Katherine’s Steakhouse located in CasaBlanca Casino has stone crabs flown in twice-a-week seasonally and dry-aged beef from Chicago. At the Eureka, Gregory’s Mesquite Grill’s bread and butter is also steak, but don’t miss their ahi tuna appetizer. The bottles of wine start as low as $10 each.

If you’ve seen one casino buffet you’ve seen them all. Usually. But, Eureka’s Sunday brunch, with complimentary (and copious) amounts of champagne takes it a step further. There’s all your standard breakfast fixings—eggs, french toast and bacon, but it also offers the stars of a casino dinner buffet—prime rib and crab legs with bottomless orange juice and cranberry juice mimosas—or, if you dare, straight up champers.

Wolf Creek Golf Course

PLAY

There are of course, the casinos. You’d know that by driving through the border town. Each of the town’s three casinos have table play and slots. Virgin River has Keno (you can play while you dine on discount prime rib, natch) and joins Eureka with a bingo room. If you play, sign up for a free players card, you’ll get comps pretty quickly at all three sites.

The casinos do book live entertainment. Not exactly the Rat Pack, you’re more likely to find Elvis impersonators, ‘80s cover bands and the like on any given night. Embrace it. It’s actually kind of fun.

And yes, there’s golf, spas and swimming pools, just like the billboards advertise. If you must, Wolf Creek’s course is such challenge it’s been featured in golfing video games, which has in turn made it a bucket list course for many golfers. CasaBlanca’s spa features access to a private pool and sauna with all services.

But if gaming and golfing and spas are all the leisure you’re doing in Mesquite, you’re doing it wrong.  Save the casinos for night. There’s far too much to explore during the day.

Adventure Time Tours and Rentals

Mesquite is the antithesis of Vegas’ overpopulation. Just outside the casino doors are acres upon acres of public lands within the Mojave Desert to be explored. The best way we found to do it was via a Polaris RZR, the newer, bigger and faster all-terrain vehicle. Adventure Time Tours & Rentals (adventuretimetours.com) will provide the vehicle, gear and guide—or you can go it alone with their GPS-locators and maps. Tours can last anywhere from two hours to the Virgin River overlook, to five days, including camping, with a destination of the Grand Canyon’s North Rim.

We opted for two hours, and led by a guide we zoomed through cacti and Joshua trees. As the RZR went through sand, over hills and bounced off giant rocks, we experienced the terrain in a way that would be nearly impossible on foot in such a harsh desert climate.

But you know who doesn’t care about the climate? Camels, that’s who. And a half hour or so south of Mesquite in Bunkerville there’s a whole bunch of them.

To hear owner Guy Seeklus tell it, it’s a perfectly natural thing to tend to dozens of camels, llamas and alpacas. That’s what he does at Camel Safari (camelsafari.com). He’ll tell you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the desert mammal, the resident two-toed sloth or any of the other animals he’s got on his ranch.

A Bactrian at Camel Safari.

Camel Safari is so popular it has been featured on “The Bachelorette” and was the site of actor Seth Rogan’s bachelor party.

“I don’t know why more people don’t have camels,” he enthusiastically told me on my visit.

You can even ride the camels. In fact, it’s encouraged. Just try doing that in Vegas.

Yes, it’s legal.

It feels like it should be illegal, but it isn’t. An attendant scans your ID at the door, you grab a list of items available for sale and wait to be called back to the main sales floor, escorted by a sales rep. It’s not a high-end auction. It’s a recreational marijuana facility. And Mesquite has one.

Deep Roots is Mesquite’s only dispensary. And if the out-of-state license plates tell the story, also Utah’s favorite, despite a number of signs telling customers it is illegal to take its wares across state lines.

Indico. Sativa. Loose leaf. Pre-rolled. Gummies. Cookies. Vapes. This is why having a dedicated sales person is important. Navigating the types and styles of weed is overwhelming. This is not a regular drug deal. Tell your sales person you need to sleep, they have a strain for that. You need to focus? There’s one for that, too. Depression? They’ve got you covered. You just want to chill? Oh yeah. They’ve got that.

Your sales person writes down your order, you pay—this is a cash-only business, and it’s heavily taxed (21.25%, on top of retail pricing). The cashier gathers your order, puts it in a bag and you’re on your way. And even though it still feels illegal, it isn’t. It’s just another money-making (and tax-revenue building) Nevada business.


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