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Salt Lake City's Airport Will Tear It All Down and Basically Start Over Again

Each week seems to bring more and more airport news, and this week is no exception as it looks like Salt Lake City International Airport is prepping for a major overhaul. We might be exaggerating just a little bit, but the plans and blueprints make it seems like they’re tearing down much of the place and starting from scratch. Airport officials better hope that their primary tenant—Delta—sticks around, as they wouldn’t want to spend all the cash for nothing.

The new additions and upgrades are going to cost around $1.8 billion, give or take a couple bucks, and if all sticks to schedule the cranes will be hanging out with the planes beginning in 2013. Airport officials as well as the city’s mayor have secured some funding from the airlines that call the airport home, so there’s quite a bit of momentum towards building the new place. However, it’s going to be a lot of work to get there, as the finished single terminal project won’t be complete until around 2018.

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Film Festivals / Sundance / Events / Utah Travel / Movie Travel / → All Tags

Watch the Best of This Year's Sundance Film Fest from the Comfort of Home

If you're bummed you're not in Park City this week for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival (like we are), there's good new.

For the first time, Sundance will be streaming several events and panels live throughout the festival at www.sundance.org/live and www.livestream.com/sundancefest.

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Film Festivals / Sundance / Events / Utah Travel / Movie Travel / → All Tags

Sundance Film Festival to Bring Special Screenings to Nine US Cities

Once again this year the Sundance Film Festival is taking their show on the road.

For one night only, the Sundance Film Festival USA will pay a visit to nine cities across the U.S. Filmmakers will travel from the festival in Park City, Utah on Thursday, January 26 to introduce and screen their films and participate in a Q&A with audience members in participating cities.

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Movie Travel / Utah Travel / Disney Travel / → All Tags

The 'Up' House in Utah is Finally an Actual Home

The real-life "Up" house in Herriman, Utah has found permanent owners.

The house, which is a full-scale replica of the home in the Disney/Pixar movie "Up", located at 13222 Herriman Rose Boulevard, was originally built by Bangerter Homes to be part of the 2011 Salt Lake City Parade of Homes but became a tourist attraction that has brought more than 1000 people a week through suburban Herriman.

The builders had to get special permission from Disney to recreate every detail of the cartoon house, from Carl's chair in the living room to the mailbox outside, and that is exactly what appealed to the home's new owners.

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Movie Travel / Thelma and Louise / Utah Travel / National Park Travel / Movie Set Travel / → All Tags

In Search of the Death Jump Location from 'Thelma and Louise'

The view from the top

Ah, Thelma and Louise. Not to beat around the sexist bush or anything, but if you’re a female, it probably means a little more to you than if you’re a bloke. The sense of right on, pre-Spice Girls girl power. The freedom of the open road. The idea that road trips aren’t the preserve of men – all things that, not to get all preachy about it, had a greater impact than we realized as we grew up. In fact, when, in our very first job, we said something to our very first boss about Monument Valley and she said “Monument Valley! I traveled all the way there from New York because Thelma and Louise went there”, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world.

Since then, we’ve hit the Thelma and Louise trail ourselves. In fact, this member of Jaunted made a solo roadtrip from LA to New York last year, thinking of the girls. In October, we hit up Monument Valley, for the sake of both the girls and our old boss. And every time we visited the Grand Canyon, we had a moment of silence for Thelma and Louise.

That was, until two weeks ago we went to Moab, Utah, and were informed on our last day by locals that the death scene of Thelma and Louise was, in fact, not filmed at the Grand Canyon, but right there, at a place called Dead Horse Point State Park. Wot? We felt robbed.

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Food Travel / Utah Travel / Holiday Travel / Tours / Best-Factory-Tours-Map / Factory Tours / → All Tags

Tour the Home of Holiday Sweet Stuff at Sweet's in Salt Lake City

When it comes to candy we just can’t get enough of the sweet stuff, so that’s why we’re off to check out another holiday factory tour. Even though the machinery is working overtime in preparation for Christmas, tours are still available at Sweet’s Candy Company in Salt Lake City.

The place has been cranking out the chewy and the crunchy for over 100 years, as things first got started all the way back in 1892. They might not be as well known as Hershey’s or Nestle, but they certainly have achieved their own candy pedigree.

To show off their skills, they welcome one and all on a free 40-minute tour of their factory. You do have to call first and let them know you’re coming, and tours are only available Mondays through Thursdays. They do ask that you leave the cameras at home, because they don’t want any wannabe Slugworths stealing their recipes of course!

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Movie Set Travel / James Franco / Adventure Travel / 127 Hours / Movie Travel / Hiking / Utah Travel / → All Tags

'127 Hours' Features Gorgeous Scenery and Gory Scenes

Today, 127 Hours, the new movie by Oscar-Winning director Danny Boyle, opens in theaters, but don't expect another Slumdog Millionaire. The movie stars James Franco as hiker Aron Ralston and chronicles the time Ralson spent trapped in an isolated Utah canyon, including the life-saving decision he made to amputate his own arm.

Even though the movie's graphic realism might make the audience queasy, the scenery is sure to inspire some to take a (safer) adventure of their own.

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Strange Scuba Spots / Utah Travel / Scuba / Scuba Dives / Active Travel / → All Tags

A Crater in Utah Is Certainly a Strange Scuba Spot

The weather outside might be frightful, but the water temperature within this strange scuba spot is always delightful. Homestead Resort and Spa is located in Midway—not too far from Salt Lake City—and that’s where you’ll find The Crater. It’s a beehive-shaped limestone formation which Mother Nature has sculpted throughout the years, and inside, a huge natural pool of water sits at a toasty 90-ish degrees year-round.

A tunnel takes adventurers inside the 55-foot tall mini-mountain, and that’s where you’ll be able to do a cannonball into the clear warm water. Local outfitters run all kinds of scuba classes, and some will even allow you to hone your skills or to finally get that dive certification that you’ve been putting off. Sure, there’s no fish or other underwater creatures, but you can head around 50-feet below the surface. Even better, there’s no need for a wetsuit.

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Celeb Travel / Sundance / Utah Travel / Tom Cruise / Katie Holmes / → All Tags

Katie Holmes Gets 'Romantic' By Herself in Park City During Sundance

Katie Holmes is the talk of the Sundance Film Festival this year, and not just because she's flying solo in Park City, UT, but also because she has two films in the fest that are getting a lot of buzz. Yesterday, Katie was spotted at the premiere of The Romantics at the Library Centre with co-star Josh Duhamel and his wife Fergie. Kate also took some time yesterday to pose for photos with one of the film's other co-stars, Elijah Wood, who reminisced about filming the movie last year on Long Island. "One lunch break," Elijah said, "instead of going to lunch, we decided to have a party at one of the holding houses. There was a little iPod dock, and we played very loud music and danced. And the girls were amazing."

The Romantics centers on Laura (Holmes), the maid of honor at the wedding of her former college roommate Lila (Anna Paquin ) and the love of her life Tom (Duhamel). The wedding provides the backdrop for a reunion of their friends who had the nickname The Romantics. But, The Romantics isn't the only film Katie's touting at Sundance this year.

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Offbeat Travel / Road Trips / Sundance / Utah Travel / → All Tags

Go Off the Beaten Path in Park City, Utah During Sundance

Most of the hipsters who attend the Sundance Film Festival spend the week on the slopes, in a movie theater, or mingling on Main Street, but there are some pretty cool, offbeat attractions just outside of Park City, UT that they're probably missing. Here's a look at a few of them:

Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Even if you're not Mormon (or a fan of Big Love) Temple Square is one of the most fascinating places you'll ever visit. Spread out over three blocks in downtown Salt Lake City, nearly 20 Mormon attractions, including the Salt Lake Temple, the Tabernacle, and the Family History Library, are open to the public for tours daily.

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How To Get Tickets To / Fim Festival Travel / Sundance / Utah Travel / → All Tags

How To Get Tickets To The Sundance Film Festival (It's Not Too Late!)

The Sundance Film Festival, which begins on Jan, 21 in Park City, Utah, is only a few days away but don’t fret if you haven’t gotten your tickets yet, you still have plenty of options. Individual tickets just went on sale yesterday, though most movies are probably already sold out, its worth checking out. Follow this link and register to search for available screenings and pricing.Tickets can be picked up at the festival box office prior to screening.

If you're willing to make more of a commitment, there are still plenty of ticket packages for sale.

Check out all your options after the jump!

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National Parks / Camping / Hiking / Great Outdoors / Utah Travel / → All Tags

The New York Times Goes Camping, Nobody Gets Hurt

In southern Utah the forecast this week calls for thunderstorms and possibly snow, but don't tell that to the New York Times travel section: Writer Tony Perrottet reminisces about last year's trip to the unmarked trails of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, little changed since John Wesley Powell and others traversed its canyons for the first time.

The sun-baked expanses peppered with friendly-enough locals are tempting even this close to spring, but the use of the word "outback" though is, for us, a little problematic: As we learned about from the end credits of "Australia," the land Down Under wasn't always so benevolent towards its aboriginal tribes -- but they managed to let them alone to the extent that they can still live on their tribal lands. Explorer Frederick Samuel Dellenbaugh had a Ute Indian to guide him through America's outback; Perrottet had park rangers.

Still, the lure of hiking these deserted locales, even in a few months, makes us want to get our hiking boots on posthaste. And in this economy, camping sites on national park land may be gearing up for the best summer ever as budget-conscious Americans dig out the tents and propane grills. Any national parks (American and otherwise) you think we should check out in '09?

Related Stories:
· America’s Outback: Southern Utah [NYTimes]
· Utah coverage [Jaunted]
· Making You Feel Bad About Not Going Outside [Stuff White People Like]

[Photo: vtveen]