Our Anniversary Getaway

Randy and I had our anniversary last week and decided to celebrate by having a little getaway. So Friday night, my mom came over to keep an eye on the kids (and spoil them a little!) and we drove up to Salt Lake.

Of course, once we got there, we realized that we had left the camera at home! But he got a few pictures on his cell phone, which I may add later. But the rest of these pictures I found online. Hooray for the internet!

We stayed at the Hotel Monaco, a funny little building downtown on Center Street and 200 South. It's a tall, narrow building, as you can see, and it used to be a bank.

When we pulled up, the first thing I noticed was the valet parking. Very nice in Salt Lake, not to have to worry about finding a parking place.

Here's the cool sign. And notice the little carved faces on the building.

This is a picture of the lobby, complete with fireplace and lots of comfy couches. They also have a pet friendly policy, but I really couldn't see our two cats enjoying a trip! If you left your pet at home, they have some goldfish you can borrow and enjoy in your room. But Randy and I figured we'd be fine on our own!


This is the very fancy couch right inside the front door. Wouldn't you love one like that? I can totally see our cats enjoying it. Hmm. Maybe we'll keep our plain couch.

This was what the rooms look like. Ours had only one bed, of course, plus a little sitting area.

When I was exploring where everything was, I opened the closet to find their own leopard print clothing line. Yes, we could have matching leopard print terry cloth bathrobes, sock, and boxers or nightgowns (for a fee, of course). How swell! But again, we decided to decline.

After checking in, we headed to the Gateway to the Clark Planetarium. Did you know that admission is completely free, all of the time? The only thing you have to pay for is the movies, and those are optional. We did want to see a movie, so we got tickets for the "Under the Sea in 3D" movie. It was really fun! Except I didn't really care for the sea snakes swimming right at my head. But the sea lions were very friendly. One even blew us a kiss!

You can't visit the planetarium without checking out the pendulum.

After that, we were hungry, so we looked around the Gateway for someplace yummy. It was Friday night, and every place we went was crowded, with outrageous waiting times. So we were relieved to find The Counter.

It's a burger place. The smell alone was enough to bring us in. I was starving! I was very diligent on my diet all day so I could indulge when we went out. We got a seat at the counter. When you place your order, first you pick your patty - beef, ground turkey, chicken, or veggie - then you pick the size. Then you get to pick out your toppings, your cheese, and a sauce. Randy went for horseradish and avocado; I went for ginger soy and pineapple. See the picture? They really are that tall. Then we got an order of sweet potato fries to split. They gave us a TON of fries and they were super good. They serve them with the horseradish and it is just fantastic.

The next day was fun too, but I'll post more about that later. Anyway, we had a great night.