I'm a Jet Setter

I was asked to teach a few audition masterclasses in various cities around the country, which meant I got to travel to places I'd never been before. This winter it was Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. The trips were super fast and I mostly only had a couple hours to explore the highlights between my arrival and my class but it was still fun to wander.

Salt Lake was pretty cool. I stayed at the Peery Hotel, which is the only hotel on the historic register in Utah. It was apparently THE place to see and be seen in back in the 1920s and definitely has the old mining/railroad businessman feel to it while still being updated to modern life. That's one of my favorite combos - history + modern conveniences.



That kind of seemed to be a theme in downtown SLC - brand new buildings sat right next to buildings that felt like they'd been there for 100 years and hadn't changed much. Kind of cool. Like these old buildings - they were surrounded by newer brick structures.


The thing that struck me about the downtown area was that you were in the middle of the city, but if you looked down pretty much any street, oh, look, there'd just be some huge snow capped mountains. No big deal, just the Rocky Mountains there in pain view. I couldn't get over it - to have mountains so close to the city. Very cool to this east coast girl.



There was also a cool tram that ran right down the middle of the streets. Way cooler than a bus.


I didn't have much time downtown, and my friend Natalie, who is from the area, had actually recommended a bunch of fun options to check out including a place that had a super famous dessert apparently, but I couldn't make it everywhere and I knew I wanted to see Temple Square.


After passing by the good ole Joseph Smith Memorial Building...


And my good friend, Brigham Young (little Book of Mormon lyric reference there for ya)...


I found myself staring up at the Temple - pretty beautiful architecture....



And the Angel Moroni on top..


I also went briefly into the Tabernacle, which was open and is (obviously) where the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings. I will say, there was something about it that creeped me out a little - I think largely because I was in there by myself and it was eerily quiet, and I have a little bit of a "omigosh, I'm breaking the rules!" complex, so I scooted out pretty quickly. But it was still cool to see. And I bet the acoustics in there are AWESOME.

I feel it's almost insulting to say I've learned more about the Mormon religion from the Broadway musical, which I work on, but I have. And because I work on that show, it was extra cool to see the center of the Mormon Faith, even though it's not my own. I know there's more to SLC than the Mormon religion and I would've liked to have seen more of those parts too. But after my big adventure downtown and at Temple Square, I had about 90 minutes before my class and I was starving - so after many attempts to locate the cool restaurants Natalie recommended, I finally gave up 'cause my boots that day were not exactly made for walking and I had a lovely scallop and spinach salad and a glass of sauvignon blanc at the bar Macaroni Grill right next to my hotel. It was kind of heaven, if less adventurous than I originally intended.

A few weeks later, and just for something COMPLETELY different, I was off to Sin City.


I mean, they start you off the moment you step off the plane. Didn't realize there would be slot machines in the airport, but it makes sense...


Vegas virgin that I was, I thought it was super clever that the airport shuttle tickets looked like poker chips. Oh Vegas, you're know how to be cool...


I stayed at the Luxor hotel, which kind of has an Egyptian thing going on. It looks like this from the outside:



And like this from the inside of that pyramid - I'm standing on the hallway to my room on the 21st floor, looking down.


Crazy right? This was the window in my room...


Also, its true about what they say - if you're inside (and really the hotels are so big you can feel like there's no need to go outside) it's dark and kinda feels like night all the time. I had a lunch and wandered around the hotel and casino, contemplated a massage or pedicure and as I approached the spa, I noticed it was near the pool, so I popped outside briefly. It.was.gorgeous.out. And I'd had no idea - I'd been in the hotel for almost 2 hours and had forgotten it was a gorgeous day. So I promptly went up to my room, put on my bathing suit and sat by the pool for an hour. Um, it was pretty great. Especially since it was the beginning of March.


I attempted to gamble a bit, since I never have and it felt like a "when in Rome" sort of thing.


But mostly, I wasn't into it. I tried to play a few slot machines and mostly I just put my money in and then nothing happened. I only tried twice, but both times, I put my money in, the wheel spun like once or twice and then it was over. Not worth it. So then I figured i could play blackjack 'cause I can count to 21, but those tables were intimidating. It was all very fast with lots of hand signals and I didn't want to piss anyone off by not knowing what I was doing, so then I just wandered around and watched a bit and that was plenty fun for me.




I also spotted this T-shirt in a gift shop that made me laugh out loud. This may be offensive to some, but I thought it was a riot. I was tempted to buy one for Geoff.


Then after my class I got a mini tour of The Strip. Which was pretty fun. Some of these pictures are lousy out the car window but it was fun nonetheless.





Vegas was fun, though it wasn't as fun to do on my own. I really wished Geoff had been there and also thought it could potentially be a fun girls weekend place, but only because the pool was so great and sitting around a pool with cocktails and girl talk is my idea of a good time. But they have pools and cocktails a lot of places. Was glad to experience it though!