Winter time activities in Salt Lake City

Avery, if you like Christmas lights, Temple Square in December is an incredible sight. It's located at the center of downtown Salt Lake only steps away from a major mall (you mentioned shopping), and it's free and open to the public... even non-Mormons.

Even if you don't ski, it's worth taking a drive up one of the canyons in the area. Head up to Snowbird or one of the other ski resorts and sit at the lodge and just enjoy the mountain air. Park City's Old Town -- the historic mining town that's become the heart of a ski mecca -- is a great place for strolling, eating, drinking, and shopping.

For ice skating, check out the Utah Olympic Oval. It was built for the 2002 Winter Olympics, of course, and offers a lot of activities for the public. http://utaholympiclegacy.com/figure-skating/

Well, if you head out of SLC to Park City, you will find a crazy amount of winter activity. The Canyons has some of the nicest snow I've ever skied on. I also did some Nordic skiing there for the first time (awesome workout!). There's also snow tubing and, if you have some extra cash, you can take a ride on the bobsled at the Olympic center. If you're a craft beer person like me, the state of Utah brewing has improved since the repeal of the archaic beer laws.

This is a fun idea: http://www.thegallivancenter.com/ice-rink.htm. I am actually making a website that has some ideas but doesn't have a ton of content yet. Feel free to get what you can out of it: http://venturiffic.weebly.com/