Utah Travel Guide 2008 - (Page 124) METR0-WASATCH FRONT AREA Utah’s Metro-Wasatch area is the population hub for the state. Rather than divide the area into Metro and Wasatch Mountain areas, we’ve combined the two to underscore how close some of our finest worldclass resorts and recreation areas are to Utah’s population center. Where else can you get off your international flight and be hurtling down an Olympic ski run in less than an hour? Salt Lake City Utah’s capital city, Salt Lake City, was founded by Brigham Young and the Mormon Pioneers upon their entry into the Salt Lake Valley in the summer of 1847. Salt Lake is alive with new hotels, such as the five diamond-rated Grand America Hotel, as well as with attractions like the new Salt Lake City Library, selected Library of the Year 2006, and Clark Planetarium and IMAX Theater. Shopping is a delight at the Gateway Center or historic Trolley Square. Pubs, bistros, coffee houses, restaurants, and bars offer a variety of entertainments and cuisine. Whether your tastes run to an evening of Stravinsky at Abravanel Hall, a superstar concert at the Energy Solutions Arena, or a peaceful Sunday morning at Salt Lake’s Temple Square, listening to the celebrated Mormon Tabernacle Choir, there is always plenty to do. For those interested in shaking their family tree, there is no place on earth like the LDS Family History Library. For sports fans, well, Jazz isn’t just a form of music. It’s Utah’s NBA team! You’ll also find AAA baseball with the Salt Lake Bees, or professional hockey with the Utah Grizzlies. The spirit of the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Winter Games lives on at Olympic Cauldron Park, a stunning space set adjacent to Rice-Eccles Stadium, on the University of Utah campus, site of the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies. The park has preserved the very best of the XIX Olympic Winter Games, including the spectacular Olympic Cauldron and the intricate Hoberman Arch, used during the Awards Ceremonies. Of course, a pioneering spirit is still strong in Salt Lake and is found in the frontiers of science and technology where today’s explorers target new types of uncharted territory, striving to benefit society at places such as the Huntsman Cancer Institute, Evans & Sutherland or the Eccles Institute of Human Genetics at the University of Utah. Davis County During the mid-1800s, Davis County was a series of agricultural settlements started by Mormon pioneers with farms dotting the south end of the county. By the 1870s, the area was clearly the garden spot of northern Utah. These days the county is the state’s smallest in size, it is currently the third most populated. A seven-mile causeway across the Great Salt Lake accesses Antelope Island State Park, home to big horn sheep, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, coyote and a free roaming herd of more than 600 bison, as well as over 250 species of birds. The island also has 36 miles of trails for mountain biking and hiking, camping, beaches, and an educational visitor center. Lagoon Amusement Park, in Farmington, is the largest outdoor amusement park west of the Mississippi River and east of California. Lagoon includes a water park, an historic pioneer village, camping, and live entertainment. Summer fun in Davis County also includes a visit to Cherry Hills Recreation Park, with pools, water slides, fountains and batting cages, miniature golf, and camping. Davis County also offers hiking and biking in Wasatch Mountain Canyons, and numerous golf courses. Ogden Many people think Salt Lake City was the area’s first settlement, but in fact, Ogden was the first Anglo settlement in the Great Basin, predating the Mormon pioneers by some 22 years. You can still visit Fort Buenaventura Park and see what life was like back then. Ever since the driving of the Golden Spike in 1869 at nearby Promontory, Ogden has been both noted and notorious as a railroad town with its own Historic Union Station. Ogden’s famous Historic 25th Street once housed speakeasies and juke joints. These days, it is a thriving art and dining district. It hosts a summer Farmer’s Market and has been revitalized with a new Amphitheater and Arts Center. Ogden has garnered attention for its emergence as a national high adventure capital. With premier hiking, water skiing, kayaking, and biking, all available in the town’s surroundings, several top outdoor products businesses have taken notice, and moved their operations to Ogden. In less than 30 minutes from downtown Ogden, you can either be fishing in one of two trout-filled rivers, the Ogden and the Weber, hit the slopes at one of three great winter resorts, including Snowbasin, home to the Downhill and Super G races during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, frolic on a sandy beach at the Great Salt Lake, hike on 210 miles of trails, or climb and boulder the cliffs just east of the city. In Ogden proper, you can shoot the rapids at the Kayak Park, or huck the largest indoor climbing wall in Utah, ice climb, skydive or surf indoors at the Salomon Center. You’ll also find great events in Ogden: concerts at Weber State University’s Events Center and the Ogden Amphitheater, ski races at Wolf Mountain, Snowbasin and Powder Mountain resorts, rodeos and auto rallies at the Golden Spike Event Center, art exhibits at the Weber State’s Shaw Gallery and Eccles Community Arts Center, indoor skydiving, wave riding and bumper cars are among the many things to do at the Salomon Center, as well as curling 124 U TA H Tr a v e l G u i d e
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