Day Trippers: Jill Perkins
Photography by Colton Morgan
Welcome to Day Trippers - a series of travel guides brought to you by Sun Bum. In this series, we get a local’s perspective from some of the raddest people in action sports about their home towns - from Noosa Australia to Salt Lake City USA.
‘We did the best we could considering the broken ankle,’ is a hell of a way for Jill Perkins to preface her Day Trippers Guide to Salt Lake City, and it’s true, they did great.
For those who aren’t familiar with the glorious and beautiful city of Salt Lake, first of all, I don’t blame you. It’s okay, you’re not out of touch. There’s just nothing to surf there so it doesn’t pop up on your radar very often. Don’t beat yourself up, let us give you a brief. Population: 204, 657. Elevation: very high up. Sprawl: somewhere between ten and ten thousand miles, it’s hard to tell where it ends and begins. Founded by the mormons in 1847 and is famous for its aptly named, incredibly buoyant Salt Lake, it’s beautiful temples and architecture, the highest-rated Denny’s in America, and a mountain range which holds some of the best snowboarding and skiing slopes in the world.
No wonder, then, pro snowboarder Jill Perkins lives there. You get it. It makes sense. SLC is a bit of a massive and much-adored world hub in snowboarding, even hosting the Winter Olympics some years ago, but there are no good breaks so you were completely ignorant to it. It’s okay. Now you know, and that’s all that matters.
Doing press - especially press like this which requires being quite active and out there on the town - despite a broken ankle is quite an admirable thing. No easy feat. Imagine you break your ankle and some dunce hits you up to show them around your city, and you sort of get pressured into it. Not that we pressured, more so begged. Luckily and thankfully, Jill delivered. Here are a few of professional snowboarder and one of our personal heroes, Jill Perkins’, favorite places in and around Salt Lake City, Utah.
SOMETHING YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR HOMETOWN?
I love the access to the mountains, the local music scene, the abundance of skateparks, the friends, and the fact the airport is 15 minutes away.
SOMETHING YOU DON’T LOVE ABOUT YOUR HOMETOWN?
The never ending construction yet constant bumpy roads.
Little Saigon
‘Best Vietnamese in SLC. A slice of comfort before and after every trip. Supporters of the community and flat out good people.’
We asked all of the participants of DayTrippers to show us their favorite place to eat in the city, but Jill’s the only one to pick a Vietnamese place. One doesn’t think of quality Vietnamese when thinking of the culinary strengths of the American (mid-) west, and yet, Little Saigon SLC - like all unrelated-yet-aptly-named Little Saigon restaurants around the world - is good.
Vantage Vintage
‘Owned and operated by people near and dear. Local friends doing cool shit <3’
Reduce, reuse, recycle your clothes. You will not find Jill Perkins filling up a virtual shopping cart of tediously-sloganned, poorly manufactured, meaningless garments from the fast fashion giants. You will find her here, in the vintage section, buying ironic T-shirts, saving the planet.
DUFFY’S TAVERN
‘I love a good sleepy dive bar where the lights are on, a pool table, a late night grilled cheese and cozy company.’
Here we are, inevitably: a bar. Not only a bar, but a bit of a sleaze bar. A dive bar. Our happy place. Oh, if only the smoke-stained walls of Duffy’s Tavern could talk, they’d whisper stories of kissing and debauchery. (Side note: isn’t it strange how every town in every state in America has a bar called ‘Duffy’s’ or ‘Duff’s’, and they are all kind of shitty, and all kind of perfect?)
Picnic Coffee
‘I would put money on the best bagel in salt lake. A place where everyone can exist; I clock a lot of hours here.’
Where would any of us be without proper coffee and a bagel? Definitely not showing up to work. Definitely not going pro as a snowboarder. Definitely not doing anything, really, because the crush of a hangover would be simply too much to overcome. Picnic Coffee, then, is a vital community resource, and the best bagel in SLC.
Grizzly Gulch
‘A spring time staple in the Wasatch. Bring your chair, bring your friends, leave with laughs.’
We love anything with ‘Gulch’ in the name. Sounds like something that prairie folk once feared, and therefore, is very cool to us. Utah wouldn’t be Utah without a snowy gulch to post up with your friends at, and the introduction of the threat of a Grizzly bear only serves to spice up the hang.
Real Taqueria
‘The closest to California Mexican food I have found in SLC. Change my mind.’
You never know what you have until it’s gone. In this case, it’s good Mexican food. Ask anyone who’s moved from their comfort zone; they’ll tell you that the thing they miss most is the familiar cuisine. Food ties us to our homes, grounds us within our lives, unifies us with those we love, and satiates a hunger both literal and metaphorical. Tacos, baby. Tacos.
Fox Park
‘Sammy’s favorite part of Salt Lake so inevitably mine too. A nature walk with protected foxes, horses, a view of the mountains and fresh air.’
Who doesn’t love a bit of a walk at the end of a long day? Well, maybe not Jill, particularly, what with the broken ankle and all, but her dog Sammy sure does love it, and Jill’s loves what Sammy loves. Fox Park, lined with foliage and never too crowded, is the place for one to clear their (and their dog’s) head.
