You guys, we did it. We finally re-entered the world as parents who can do things other than just parent, and it feels so awesome. We just had such a great week, and I wanna tell you all about it. Antoni (my co-host on Queer Eye, I'm sure you know) and his partner Kevin, came to Salt Lake City, to stay with us for a few days and it was magical.
Since covid hit, 2 bloody long years ago, we have only had friends at the house all of 2 times. But, Ant and Kev have been talking about coming to visit for so long now. With our crazy, non-regular work schedules, trying to find a time when we all had the same few days off proved difficult. Well, we finally found those days, last week, and so they flew the 5 hours to come stay with us and it made me so happy.
Whenever people come to visit, I get so excited, but then the anxiety kicks in. Is the house ready? Absolutely not. Is there baby stuff literally all over the house? Yes. Have we avoided finding a proper place for it all, since he was born six months ago? Heck yeah. Well, this visit forced us to get our shit together and tidy up/declutter. It feels fantastic to finally have it all done.
Ant and Kev arrived early last Thursday, and left on Sunday. I had plenty planned to try to convince them that SLC is not lame and just some random fly over city, but rather somewhere that I consider to be one of the best places in the US, to live. Tall order, but I knew I/SLC could deliver.
I wanted to cook Indian food for them, so that’s what I did the first day, and we enjoyed a lovely evening of gossip and food that first night. Before then, I took them on my favorite hike just near my house, so they could see the beauty of the entire valley, surrounded by snow capped mountains. They were blown away by its beauty. I feel that way every time I go up there, and I’ve done it almost weekly the past decade.
The weather was absolutely lovely the entire time they were here, thank gosh. So, over the few days they were here we went hiking, to a spa, on a walk around an island and hit up some fantastic restaurants and bakeries.
I’ve had so, so many locals ask where we ate, and what we did, so for all of you locals reading this, and for those of you hoping to visit our great city one day, here’s a list of the places we went, and the places we ate at, which are some of my very favorites in town, that I’ve made my regulars over the past 14 years:
Outdoorsy stuff:
-Antelope Island (gorgeous right now, terrible in hot weather, as it's covered in mosquitos)
-Donut Falls (a simple, leisurely stroll, with a gorg pay off)
-Cliff Lodge (The rooftop pool and hot tub has the most incredible view. My favorite place in SLC)
-Bonnerville Shoreline (for an unobstructed view of the whole city)
Cliff Lodge
Restaurants:
-Hub & Spoke (great brunch)
-Ruth’s diner (A classic. The boys loved it there)
-Lone Star Taqueria (their fish burritos are so good)
-Arlo (amazing Sunday brunch)
-Valters (beautiful Italian food in a lovely restaurant)
-Les Madelaine (get their Kuoign Aman. Just trust me. The best pastry I’ve ever had. Ever)
-Banbury Cross Donuts (Their Cinnamon is my fave)
Other than food and chillin, the fact that the boys stayed in our home, meant we got to stay up late chatting, and spent lazy mornings catching up. I loved it so much. Also, Ismail got to meet his uncles and love on them, which melted my heart. He was a little shy around them, but that meant that he wasn’t fussy, which I’ll take any day!!
All in all, I think we got them to fall in love with Salt Lake, which means they’ll visit again. We’re actually planning another trip out here for them sometime in the Spring. I can’t wait.
See you next week!
x
