Utah Vacation - itinerary for Zion / St George / Salt Lake City

Last week I took a trip to Utah with three friends and had an incredible time! One of my friends is from Utah and her family is still out there so we were lucky enough to have a place to stay in Salt Lake as well as St George. We flew into SLC on an evening flight from Newark that landed at 9:30pm and then had 4 full days to spend together.

Day 1

Breakfast at Beaumont Bakery was the perfect start to the day.

We toured SLC seeing “The U” (The University of Utah) and State Capitol along with downtown. We also took a drive to Park City where we walked the main street and could see people skiing right into town. The weather was very mild and the town reminded me a lot of Telluride in Colorado.

We ended the day with dinner at Kitchen 88 (so good!) and then drove about 3.5 hours to St George.

Day 2

We got a pretty early start at Zion and did the Emerald Pools and Sand Bench Trails which were both beautiful and not too strenous. The free shuttle system is so easy to use after we parked in Springdale. We then headed to Kolob Canyon which is in a part of Zion that is less crowded. It was an incredible view at the end of the hike and was definitely one of the highlights.

Dinner Angelica’s Kitchen - awesome Mexican

Day 3

We spent the morning at the Tuacahn Market which had so many great vendors and beautiful views. They have an amphitheatre there as well- what a cool place to see a show! We stopped at the Red Hills Desert Garden (free admission) before heading back to our friend’s pool. After all of the hiking we had done the day before, we all needed some downtime.

Dinner Aubergine Kitchen - there were so many things on the menu that looked amazing and healthy. I wish we had a location here in New Jersey!

Day 4

We spent the morning hiking the Elephant Arch trail which is such a hidden gem! It’s about 3.5 miles round-trip and has a big payoff with views

After lunch we made our way to the Kanarravill Slot Canyon about 35 minutes from St George. It’s a 4 mile round-trip hike through a river and then we went up a ladder that leads to the Kanarra Creek Waterfall. Permits are required and booked online here.⁣   Because they limit admission to 150 people per day, it was never crowded.

Dinner- Anasazi Steakhouse was the ideal place to spend our last night of vacation. I especially loved the chocolate fondue for dessert!

Day 5 and Day 6

This should have been an easy travel day home but turned into a complete nightmare. We left St George at 9am and our flight was supposed to leave Las Vegas at 12:45pm. When we boarded, the pilot said that it would take 4 hours and 4 minutes to get to Newark. But the weather didn’t look great in Newark so the pilot said he would update us on our route as we got closer which I took as a bad sign. Sure enough, we made it to PA and then the plane started to do circles in the air several times and suddenly the map switched the destination to Cleveland. The pilot said that Newark wasn’t accepting planes and we needed to refuel. After waiting several hours in the airport, we were finally told around midnight that we would not be leaving until 10:30am. Luckily we were able to get two hotel rooms for the night and got a Lyft to take us there from the airport.

The next morning we got back on the same plane (with the same passengers) and after we were all boarded the pilot said that they found “chips” on the exterior of the plane and they needed to determine if these were serious. He said it could take “an hour or two” so we all had to get off of the plane. It ended up being about 4 hours of waiting before we were allowed to get back on the plane (the pilot said it turns out the chips were just cosmetic paint chips) and we finally took off. We ended up landing in Newark 24 hours after taking off in Las Vegas!!

Despite the terrible journey home, I would do it all again for the fantastic time we had together in Utah!!

Bergen County designer - Home Office Transformation

I am so happy to share this home office transformation! My client needed more storage space and a pretty background for zoom calls and we created this built-in to go behind her desk.

Here is where we started with the space:

We used the same desk but you can see that there is so much more storage now and everything is neatly hidden in the drawers and cabinets. We went with a both color for the unit and brass picture lights and a light grey countertop. The leather chair is such a lovely compliment to the color palette of the built-in.

Christie Adams Design is a Bergen County NJ interior designer / decorator located in Wyckoff, New Jersey. Christie specializes in room transformations, design consultations and renovations, Christie works in towns all over Northern NJ such as Ridgewood, Glen Rock, Oradell, Montclair, Ho-Ho-Kus, Allendale, River Edge, Franklin Lakes, North Haledon, Oakland, Ramsey, Wayne, just to name a few.

Christie has a background in graphic design and photography and an eye for creating homes that are artistic and unique to each client. Her passion is creating spaces that are both beautiful and functional. Christie loves working in the classic modern rustic and modern / traditional aesthetic.

Bergen County Kitchen Designer - Renovation Details

I am so happy to share photos of this recently renovated kitchen. We started this process about a year ago with the planning stage and then in the summer the work began and finally last week we were able to photograph the finished space. It’s stunning!!

Here is where we started with the kitchen:

You can see we removed the wall between the kitchen and dining room and added more windows as well.

I really love the custom table which features an easy to clean Quartz top.

I am a big fan of open shelves in a kitchen (I have them in my own kitchen and after 8 years, no regrets!). We took the tile up to the ceiling around the shelves and the windows as well.

I absolutely love to decorate shelves - whether they are in a kitchen or in an office or built-ins by a fireplace- it makes me so happy to style a shelf. These were no exception and I really love how the wood stain came out as a nice contrast to the dark wood floors in the kitchen.

We went with a dark color for the island and the rich color goes so perfectly with the brass hardware.

Here is a closer look at the clock and pendants. Mixing metals and finishes in a kitchen really elevates the space.

The cabinets are all inset which I think is such a timeless and classic style. From this view you can also see all of the natural light that the kitchen enjoys from the additional windows and larger slider to the deck.

The pendant over the kitchen table is such a fun focal point from this side of the kitchen.

Leather stools are so practical, especially with kids for easy clean up. The legs of the stools are a similar wood tone to the open shelves.

I love the extra thick Quartz top used on the island.

Stay tuned for more from this home- we are working on the the living room now which will hopefully be wrapped up in the spring.

Christie Adams Design is a Northern NJ interior designer based in Wyckoff (Bergen County). Specializing in design consultations, room transformations and kitchen/bathroom renovations, Christie works in NJ/NY in Wyckoff, Ridgewood, Glen Rock, Franklin Lakes, Montclair, Glen Ridge, North Haledon, Oradell, Westwood, Ramsey, Allendale, Tenafly, Emerson, Teaneck and Ho-Ho-Kus to name a few. Christie also works virtually with clients all over the United States.

Basement Renovation - Basement Bar and Office- Bergen County NJ designer

Today I am excited to share this basement renovation in Bergen County NJ. I first started working with my clients on this space about a year ago and am so happy to see it finally finished. The basement serves several functions for their family and I will start with the main area which includes the TV/hangout area along with the bar. What a fantastic place for entertaining!

Here is a photo that I took during the construction phase:

I love these leather stools at the bar and the dark Quartz countertops.

The tile is so pretty too!!

To keep the space light and airy, we went with lighter tones on the wall and floor but brought in pops of blue with the sofa, the rug and in the bar area. The media unit provides lots of storage on the bottom for toys and games and it was fun to decorate the shelves on the upper half.

Next up is the bathroom. The classic wood vanity with marble countertop really lets the blue tile shine as the star of the show!

The champagne bronze finish is the perfect pairing with the tile.

Finally, the basement also includes an office which has a sleeper sofa to double as a guest bedroom as needed.

Bergen County Interior Designer, Christie Adams has a background in graphic design and photography and an eye for creating homes that are both beautiful and functional. Christie Adams Design is a Northern NJ interior designer based in Wyckoff. Specializing in design consultations (in person and virtually via Facetime), room transformations and kitchen/bathroom/basement renovations, Christie works in New Jersey / New York in Wyckoff, Ridgewood, Glen Rock, Franklin Lakes, Montclair, Glen Ridge, North Haledon, Oradell, Westwood, Ramsey, Allendale, Tenafly, Harrington Park, Emerson, Teaneck and Ho-Ho-Kus to name a few.