Salt Lake City is a revelation. Throw in the Wasatch mountains, moderate weather, light rail that connects the city, an interesting food scene, robust history, Salt Lake’s place as Utah’s capitol, proximity to skiing and a major international airport, and you’ve got the makings of a rich urban getaway in the first of two new Big 12 cities — Cincinnati’s the other (see Shilo Urban’s story on that in this issue) — on TCU’s football road calendar this fall.

And let’s not leave out the bit of mystery you’ll find here. Even though it’s called Salt Lake City, it’s surprisingly difficult to get a strong view of the great lake, a vestige of the prehistoric Lake Bonneville that once covered much of the region with water. More on this later.

If you’re a foodie, particularly one coming from Texas, where beef and Tex-Mex rule, it’s hard to detect a local cuisine here. Because of the high salt content, no fish, for example, survive in the lake. Mark that one off.

In search of views, we found ourselves one evening at Mar|Muntanya, a tapas bar that opened nearly two years ago atop the Hyatt Regency Salt Lake City downtown. Among our outstanding noshes: Mormon Funeral Croquettas, the sort of cheesy hash brown fritters known to be routinely served at big parties in the city; Albondigas Basquaise, elk, bison and wagyu meatballs; crunchy Papas Bravas potatoes; and churros for dessert. And we washed it down with a refreshing Mormon wedding punch mocktail our server recommended. This brings us to another observation: nonalcoholic beers and mocktails on Salt Lake City restaurant menus are plentiful, a much broader selection than Texans demand. Nonalcoholic not your thing? Try the Polygamy Porter local brew, but, fair warning: you’ll likely want more than one.

Salt Lake City’s population is also nearly 20% Hispanic, and the city is surprisingly — at least for Texans — home to credible Mexican and Tex-Mex food. At the urging of locals, we trekked to the Red Iguana (but not Red Iguana 2 or Blue Iguana, the locals advised), a modest-looking joint with a short wait and what turned out to be a big dining room. Here, we were conservative in our choices, which included a very flavorful fajita dish.

We also wangled our way into the popular Takashi sushi restaurant downtown. Our appetite set for sushi, we instead mixed things up, trying three outstanding dishes: sashimi; Azekura-seared beef with tempura portobello and green beans; and crispy fried chicken served with teriyaki sauce and Asian slaw.

What to do in Salt Lake City besides graze? The outdoors beckons, no matter the season. The Salt Lake Temple, temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is under extensive renovation, but you can walk around and peer through windows into the construction pit. Across South Temple Street: the luxury open-air City Creek Center, with retailers like Nordstrom, Tiffany & Co. and Swarovski; restaurants such as The Capital Grille; and, for the family, The Cheesecake Factory and a central plaza and fountain. The kids can run around, and the fountain puts on an impressive water and light show at night.

Also nearby: we were in town for an exhibition at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts at the University of Utah, home of the Utes, who host TCU Oct. 19. This museum has two fall exhibitions Aug. 24-Dec. 29. “Photo-Secession: Painterly Masterworks of Turn-of-the-Century Photography” celebrates early 20th century photographers who sought to establish their craft as fine art equal to painting and sculpture; and “Blue Grass, Green Skies: American Impressionism and Realism from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art” showcases 17 paintings by American Impressionists.

Still in search of views, we took a short evening drive from downtown to Capitol Hill and strolled around the building. The nighttime views of the city and its lights are spectacular.

To finally get out on the lake, we drove an hour north of the city to the 28,000-acre Antelope Island State Park, where, on the first weekend of May, it howled and snowed on us. The park is also home to a herd of several hundred bison, but we saw none on our drive around the island. But we got to dip our hands in the ice cold water, which, they say feels differently than any other water.