Olympics, history and urbanity boost Salt Lake tourism

Temple Square, the NBA's Utah Jazz and the Wasatch Range are just a few things to love about Salt Lake City. The traditional yet hip metropolis keeps one foot firmly planted in history, the other on the cusp of innovation. Utah's capital is a flourishing educational, financial, technological and cultural center with a population that is predominately under 40.

Buoyed by the success of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, Utah's largest city has turned into a top vacation destination. Skiers can get off a jet at Salt Lake City International Airport and be on a slope in less than an hour. The snow is something to shout about — light, dry and plentiful. Ten resorts in the Salt Lake area receive more than 500 inches of snow annually.

Year-round, the Wasatch and Oquirrh ranges provide recreation. During our visit, we come expecting to tour historic sites and get a good look at the Great Salt Lake, but quickly we discover that this city offers so much more.

The motor coaches of the And 1 touring basketball squad weigh down the entranceway of Hotel Monaco. While the bell staff unloads our luggage, we hear music playing in the next block. The band, Saliva, headlines a festival at Gallivan Center. Throngs of fans surge down sidewalks, while a few blocks away, participants in Utah Pride Weekend gather to party.

Hotel Monaco's lobby is upholstered-and-fringed luxury beginning with a sumptuous harem bed positioned at the door. Each guestroom defies cookie-cutter design with great flamboyance. A goldfish in a bowl, leopard-motif bathrobes and Snickers bars on pillows are whimsical touches, distinguishing marks of Kimpton Hotels. The hotel's restaurant, Bambara, makes good use of the space once occupied by Continental Bank.

We walk to Temple Square, Utah's top tourist attraction. Riotously blooming flowers, sculptures and fountains embrace the six-spired Salt Lake Temple and the Tabernacle. Temple Square is the heart of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Only church members may enter the temple. Visitor tours are available for the other buildings, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs for free two days a week.

Mormon history dominates Utah history. Church leader Brigham Young and his followers arrived here in 1847 and built a settlement in the wilderness. The city maintains the founder's checkerboard grid with the temple as its center.