Things You Should Know: Salt Lake City

As you hopefully know, Salt Lake City (and Utah in general) is made up predominantly of Mormons and so the laws very much reflect that. For example, their alcohol laws. There aren't "bars" because serving alcohol publicly is illegal. Instead there are "private clubs." The catch is, anyone can go into most of these "private clubs." But you have to pay an annoying "membership" fee. I think you may also have to pay a "membership fee" to drink at restaurants but my memory isn't so strong on that point because I was there on business and so most of our meals were paid for. Restaurants do serve alcohol, but they card quite strictly, so if you're under 21, don't count on drinking while you're there. But if you are old enough to drink, try some of the Polygamy Porter! (yes, that is really a beer)

Secondly (and probably most importantly) is that all the roads are named in relation to the temple. It's a bit confusing at first because 200 South runs East/West and 800 West runs North/South. Sometimes (particularly on Google Maps) they're listed as S 200 E, which makes it seem even more confusing. You have to ignore the first letter because that's just telling you you're going South on the road, so it's just going South on 200 East. It all makes sense, however, when you understand that 200 South means you're 2 blocks South of the Temple. and 800 West means you're 8 blocks west. Of course, blocks seem to get bigger and bigger the further out of the center of the city that you get, and the blocks have since been broken up so you get blocks like 4370 East. And some of the streets have names (though you will almost always see the number written below it).

Lastly, if you tour the Mormon temple grounds (which isn't as interesting as I'd hoped it would be because you're not really allowed to see anything) DO NOT give them your personal information unless you actually want them to contact you (because they will. for the rest of your life.). But do try to catch the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It is quite impressive. And if you're as lucky as I was, maybe there will be a temple opening somewhere in Utah while you're there (which is entirely possible since the Mormon population in Utah continues to grow and so they are built there occasionally to relieve other overflowing temples), definitely go tour a temple. Non-Mormons are not allowed in the temple (hence why the SLC temple tour wasn't very interesting) except for during the few weeks before it is consecrated and opened. Of course, because of the fact that I'm not allowed there, it was one of my life goals to see the inside of a Mormon temple and I was thrilled to find out that one was opening in Draper, not 20 minutes away (that's what the picture is from above). It's interesting to see the rooms where they perform things like "baptism of the dead" and their family "sealing" ceremonies (ie a couple gets married and are "sealed" to each other for eternity or new children who are born are "sealed" to their parents for eternity, etc). But I think you have to have a natural curiosity for religion like me in order to really find this stuff interesting.

The best way to see Salt Lake City

When I went to Salt Lake City for the first time in May of 2008 on a business trip (to film for a documentary), I was in awe of the mountains (it was my first time seeing real mountains in person). So naturally, my favorite memories from that trip were the ones in which we got some lovely views of them from on high.

Our second to last day we went to the Sundance Institute (an hour or so outside of SLC) and took the ski lift to the top (we're not wusses, we were just short on time so we didn't hike it). The views were amazing. It was also my first time being at that altitude and I made the mistake of running up part of the rest of the mountain, and could hardly breath. But the views were breathtaking. And the drive was beautiful too (the drive between Park City and Ogden at the Sundance Film Festival was equally gorgeous and one of the only positive things about that trip). If you're there in the non-skiing season, it's definitely worth taking the lifts to the top just for the views. You can also use the lifts to bring mountain bikes to the top and bike down.

Our last morning in Salt Lake City, one of the people we were filming took us up in his small 4-seater private plane. We flew around the mountains, dipping and swaying with their peeks (not for the weak of stomach mind you) and over the Great Salt Lake, which was so much more amazing than I expected it to be. We got to see Promontory Point, wild bison, old Native American caves, the Spiral Jetty (totally underwhelming btw), salt mines, red and orange water (different minerals in different parts of the water). It was seriously such an amazing experience and I got to see parts of the lake that I never would've otherwise. So if you can hire a pilot to fly you around Salt Lake City, do it. It would be expensive, yes (although probably not as expensive as you're imagining if you do it in a small plane for 4 people or less), but I think it's worth it. The best things that Salt Lake City has to offer you are its natural wonders, some of which would take days of hiking or hours of driving uninhabited dirt roads or boating through dangerously shallow waters to see. And some of which can only be seen from above. As proof, the slide show:

Why I will never again attend the Sundance Film Festival

This past January, I went to the Sundance Film Festival and I decided that I will never attend again unless I have a film playing in the festival. Here's why:

1. It's totally disorganized and completely confusing - everything from buying tickets to getting to the theater is incredibly confusing. Most volunteers didn't seem to know up from down (though they were all quite friendly and tried their best to help you). The online ticketing process is complicated and obnoxious. They don't tell you where the theaters are, so if you don't know that the Egyptian theater and the Egyptian theater- Ogden, are two different things and that Ogden is an HOUR or more away from Park City (though it is a beautiful drive), you make the mistake of buying tickets that have exactly an hour between shows thinking you can get there and then have to frantically sell them like a sketchy scalper on the streets. They also lost my freaking industry credentials, so it took me all day to sort that out (the only good thing about the whole situation was that they are so disorganized that they didn't charge me for them so I saved $100 - which is good since it turns out that the credentials don't get you much anyway).

2. You can't party. Period. Unless you're at least somewhat famous, you just can't get into any of the parties. You can't even go to a bar and hang out with your friends because all the bars are being used for private parties. Every single one of them (I suppose Utah liquor license rules don't help that). Really, it sucked. I even have so crazy amazing connections to the Utah film scene and I still couldn't get myself on any lists (or well, supposedly I was supposed to be on one but when I got there, we weren't).

3. It's freaking expensive. Tickets to the shows are $15, plus every single one that you buy online (which you basically have to buy them all online if you want to see anything good at a convenient time) has something along the lines of a $3 "convenience" charge. So that's $18 per movie.

4. The bus system sucks. You can't park in Park City, so they tell you to take the buses - but then the buses aren't running when you need them (screenings start as early as 8am at some places, to which you're supposed to arrive early, but then the buses don't even start running until 8am) or they take 20 minutes to arrive and you're standing in the FREEZING COLD. Plus you have to pay to park at all the park 'n' rides. And if you have to go to Salt Lake City or Ogden, well then forget it because that means you have to take a bus to your car and then drive a bunch.

The one and only good thing I will say about Sundance is that the movies were good. In fact, most of them were great. I only saw one that I didn't like. Most of them are now coming out in theaters, and I'm really excited about that. It will give me a chance to see the ones I didn't get to see and a chance to brag about already having seen the ones I did. But even the bragging rights doesn't make it worth it when I can see them all later in the year for $12 instead of $18 (plus the plane ticket, car rental and whatnot).