Maren Solis

Retirement gets very real when every monthly expense starts competing for the same fixed income. Housing matters, but…

By Maren Solis · Sep 20

Longevity is the restaurant flex that cannot be faked. A dining room can chase trends for a season,…

By Maren Solis · Sep 19

Smoke should reach the parking lot before the menu ever reaches your hands. That is the first clue…

By Maren Solis · Sep 18

Pierogi have a talent for making an ordinary Tuesday feel more interesting than it had any right to…

By Maren Solis · Sep 18

Some places make a weekend easier by refusing to complicate it. Here, the formula is obvious: water for…

By Maren Solis · Sep 17

Where else can one weekend jump from river water to dinosaur bones still locked inside stone? The contrast…

By Maren Solis · Sep 17

Dessert is a perfectly respectable reason to rearrange an afternoon. South of Provo, a farm stop turns that…

By Maren Solis · Sep 16

Crab cakes in a mountain valley are already a conversation starter. Add jumbo lump crab, herb buttermilk sauce,…

By Maren Solis · Sep 16

A road trip gets more interesting when the best stop is the one you almost drove past. Beyond…

By Maren Solis · Sep 15

Treasure hunting gets dangerous the moment “I’m only browsing” becomes your opening lie. Give yourself 10,000 square feet…

By Maren Solis · Sep 15

Some art asks you to stand politely in a gallery. This one asks you to drive into the…

By Maren Solis · Sep 14

Country stores earn their keep by solving three problems at once: hunger, groceries, and the sudden need for…

By Maren Solis · Sep 14

Bargain hunting gets interesting when the shelves refuse to tell you what comes next. This warehouse-style stop mixes…

By Maren Solis · Sep 13

The ground can look perfectly ordinary right up until you discover there is an adventure hiding underneath it.…

By Maren Solis · Sep 13

Barbecue has a funny habit of becoming the destination, even when it was supposed to be a quick…

By Maren Solis · Sep 12

The smartest fall drive might be the one everyone else forgot to crowd. Instead of crawling behind brake…

By Maren Solis · Sep 12

Some grocery runs are errands. Others make you wonder why buying yogurt ever became so complicated. This farm…

By Maren Solis · Sep 11

A great burrito can rescue a weekday faster than carefully planned lunches will. No elaborate dining room is…

By Maren Solis · Sep 11

Some small cities make weekend planning easier simply by giving you several good reasons to stay put. Here,…

By Maren Solis · Sep 10

Some road trips hand you scenery. Others hand you a town that seems to have stopped answering the…

By Maren Solis · Sep 10

Some nights are more fun when the theater ceiling is the sky. Forget assigned seats, crowded aisles, and…

By Maren Solis · Sep 9

A shopping day works best when nobody needs a map, a spreadsheet, or three separate parking plans. Here,…

By Maren Solis · Sep 9

Crowds are useful for concerts, not always for campfires. When the goal is a quieter night outdoors, the…

By Maren Solis · Sep 8

Roadside attractions are at their best when your first reaction is, “Who decided to build that?” Here, the…

By Maren Solis · Sep 8

The strongest restaurant recommendations rarely start with advertising. They start with somebody leaning across a table and saying,…

By Maren Solis · Sep 7

A great scone does not need drama to become the thing you remember most. It just needs the…

By Maren Solis · Sep 7

Some weekend plans are better when the only agenda is seeing what catches your eye. Rows of small…

By Maren Solis · Sep 6

Red rock gets the postcards, but some of the most useful trip planning starts where the scenery turns…

By Maren Solis · Sep 6

Some outings give you one reason to visit. The really dangerous ones give you five and somehow convince…

By Maren Solis · Sep 5

Trendy bakeries come and go, but the ones people remember usually have flour on the counter and decades…

By Maren Solis · Sep 5

Dinner changes character when the view is doing half the entertaining. Beside a mountain reservoir, this waterside spot…

By Maren Solis · Sep 4

Daylight can make a city look perfectly sensible, but darkness has a talent for changing the story. Wide…

By Maren Solis · Sep 4

The best autumn mornings are the ones that feel planned without actually requiring much planning. A drive out…

By Maren Solis · Sep 3

A quick roadside pause can hold more history than an entire afternoon of sightseeing. Here, a sandstone panel…

By Maren Solis · Sep 3

There is real joy in a meal that lets you skip the debate and start eating. When everyone…

By Maren Solis · Sep 2

Some buildings impress you with size. Others make you notice the details you almost walked past. That is…

By Maren Solis · Sep 2

Ghost towns are what happen when history leaves the room but forgets to take everything with it. Across…

By Maren Solis · Sep 1

Fabric shopping is one of the few hobbies where “just one quick stop” can end with three new…

By Maren Solis · Sep 1

A town does not need to become fashionable to prove it has a future. Sometimes the comeback starts…

By Maren Solis · Aug 31