What Do Alice in Wonderland and the Grand America Hotel Have in Common?

by Jyl Johnson Pattee on March 13th, 2010 | 5 Comments »

What do Alice in Wonderland and The Grand America Hotel in Utah have in common? I wish I could say Johnny Depp, but that would not be entirely true. And I'm certainly glad it isn't the Queen of Hearts with her obnoxiously big head, because that could have been potentially dangerous. What they both have in common is tea!

The Grand America is a 5-Diamond hotel in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City. Every experience I've had there has been exquisite. The rooms? Spacious! The views? Amazing. The duet massage? Pure bliss (best massage ever, in fact). The food? Delicious (especially their cheese selection, but I'm a bit partial to cheese). Conference rooms? Awesome. The service? Impeccable.

So, adding another high quality experience to my already long list of amazing experiences there was nothing less than expected.

Afternoon tea! Have you enjoyed the tradition? I hadn't until yesterday. Joined by Larissa from The Grand America and three blogging friends, we started with tea—Rooibus Chai for me with no less than 5 sugar cubes. What tea would you have ordered?

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Then, we had a selection of finger sandwiches and scones. My favorite? The smoked salmon with caviar. Mmmmm! Of course, we enjoyed all this yumminess while chatting a lot about travel, learning that we all had ties in one way or another to Europe. Who knew?

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But wait! There's more. The afternoon tea also comes with dessert. Awesome, right? Chocolate cake, cheese cake, French pastries. Sound delicious? Not for someone who doesn't like dessert. It's true! I don't really like dessert, so the beautiful chocolate cake didn't call my name at all. A travesty, right? But, The Grand America had me covered and instead, offered to bring out cheese and crackers. Three selections of gourmet cheeses to be precise with a variety of crackers and berries. I was in heaven!

After tea, we all headed to see Alice in Wonderland, which was deep and sometimes dark and illuminating all at once and left me with far too many insights and questions and feelings to capture in this post. Let it suffice to say that Tim Burton is a true visionary and Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter never disappoint. The story? Well, I hope to sit with Lewis Carroll after this life and have a long conversation. His creative mind and ability to capture meaty matters in a nonsense sort of way fascinates me. Have you seen it? What did you think?

But tea isn't the only thing Alice in Wonderland and the Grand America hotel have in common! They both have rabbits! Alice in Wonderland with its white rabbit and his famous pocket watch and the the Grand America with its Easter Eggstravaganza complete with visits from the Easter Bunny himself. Who wouldn't want to have springtime tea with the Easter Bunny? You won't want to be late for this very important date! Check out the details here and if you happen to be in Salt Lake City between March 21 and April 12, hop on in and enjoy Easter at the Grand America.

Thanks to the Grand America for treating us to Afternoon Tea and Alice and Wonderland. And thanks to The Daily Blarg for providing photos.

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Jyl Johnson Pattee

An active part of the Mom It Forward team, Jyl primarily writes about parenting, social good, and all things travel related. In a past life, Jyl was an award-winning copywriter and designer of corporate training programs for Fortune 100 companies. Offline, Jyl is married to @TroyPattee; a mom to two teen boys and a beagle named #Hashtag; loves large amounts of cheese, dancing, and traveling; and lives in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. Topping her bucket list is the goal to visit 50 countries by the time she's 50.