My wife and I traveled to Utah recently to attend a friend’s wedding.  We had a wonderful time at the wedding and all of the events and festivities that went along with it.  It was fantastic to spend an extended amount of time with friends I haven’t seen in years, especially when they are all incredible, inspiring, motivated people.

The hotel we stayed at happened to be within walking distance of the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum.  I didn’t book our hotel because of this, but was pleasantly surprised when I saw it on Google Maps while doing a little research after-the-fact.  With free time available to us the morning of the wedding we walked in a snow storm to go check the place out.

I have an appreciation for Toyota 4WD vehicles, having owned some form of Toyota truck or SUV my entire driving life (going on 18 years now), including the modern FJ Cruiser, so it was not a stretch for me to get excited about a museum dedicated to Toyota Land Cruisers.

The museum itself is a totally unassuming brick building on the outside.  The only evidence of it’s existence is a logo sticker on a solid metal door.  Once you step through the door though you’re greeted with the awe inspiring sight above.  Whether you’re a Land Cruiser fan or not it is jaw dropping to see in person.  Even more impressive is that the majority (98%) of the vehicles in the building are one man’s private collection – Mr. Greg Miller.

Since we braved the snow, Amanda and I were treated to a private tour of the place with Dan Busey, Land Cruiser expert extraordinaire.  His knowledge of all things Cruiser was as impressive as the collection itself – the man knew his stuff.

It was amazing to me the effort that was put into the collection – the various models of Cruiser over the years and the foreign models that most Americans will never see in their lifetime – to have them all in one place is pretty special.  You can find the first Cruiser ever sold in the U.S. here as well.

Also on site is the only vehicle to have ever been driven on every continent (Antarctica included) – it was part of the Expeditions 7 global adventure.  A short web series of that accomplishment is available on the Expeditions 7 site, I’d recommend checking it out, I can’t even wrap my head around the logistics of such a trip, I have a tough enough time planning a Cutt slam trip.

The museum really was about all things Land Cruiser, they also host an extensive amount of toys, models, and pedal cars based on Land Cruisers.  The pedal cars looked like little death traps for children, I’m not quite sure they’d meet consumer manufacturing standards today.

If you find yourself in Salt Lake City with a bit of time to kill I can honestly recommend going visit the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum for yourself.  Budget minded travelers will like to hear that admission is free, so go check it out and tell Dan or Kyle I said hello.