Salt Lake City

Sitting in a Cabela's parking lot in Billings, MT is as good a time as any to play catch up and go back to when we were in Salt Lake City. We did A LOT in Salt Lake City. We arrived on Saturday, 4th August and stayed until Thursday 9th August. Here's a summary of everything we did.

Swam in the Great Salt Lake

All the travel blogs and tourist info told us to go to Antelope Island if we wanted to swim in the lake. But that was over an hour away from where we were staying and we didn't want to spend that much time in the car. So we opted to swim in the lake at Great Salt Lake State Park as it was only 20 minutes away. I read a lot of reviews which declared the lake to be disgusting, covered in brine shrimp and swarming with brine flies. I was determined to still go so we could all experience floating in the water and I was expecting the worst. But either these reviewers expected pristine tropical beaches or they have different ideas of what is gross. Yes, there are brine flies. They don't bite. Yes, there are brine shrimp floating on the surface of the water, but if you walk about 6 feet into the water, the water is clear. It's salty and there's definitely a smell. But we floated in the water!

 

Clark Planetarium

After swimming, we washed off and headed to the Clark Planetarium in downtown SLC. This planetarium is free and has a ton of interactive exhibits for kids. We were there for hours. I would highly recommend this even if your kid has no interest in space. 

Loveland Living Planet Aquarium

The first thing to note about this aquarium is that our bike trailer that doubles as a stroller did not fit through the doors. I have no idea how people in wheelchairs fit through the doors. I had to take the wheels off of it to get into the building. After my initial annoyance at not being able to get in, this aquarium was really awesome. I've been to plenty aquariums in my life and this was one of the best. It also has a 4D theatre and we saw a Splash and Bubbles show (which Avery loved as it just happens to be his new favorite TV show).

Wheeler Historic Farm

We went to the Wheeler Historic Farm on Monday after Jared got off of work. We enjoyed a picnic dinner in the shade near the playground, rode in a wagon pulled by a tractor, milked a cow, bought their honey, saw all their animals, and walked the grounds. It was such a beautiful and peaceful place. It was free to get in and had very small fees for some of the activities ($1 per person to milk the cow, $2-3 per person for the wagon ride). I imagine if we lived in Salt Lake City, we would come here often to enjoy the nature hikes, playground, and all the animals.

Tracy Aviary

I'll be honest and say that I thought I might be bored at the Aviary. After all, we go to zoos ALL the time and birds aren't a general interest of mine. The Aviary is nestled in a huge city park; it was annoying difficult to get to the parking lot with the park only having one one-way loop and no signs saying which side of the park you had to enter to get to it. Since I have a Milwaukee Zoo Pass, we received half off admission here. The Aviary had immaculately kept grounds and really awesome habitats for all the birds. We went to a 30 minute bird show which showcased a lot of the birds and we were able to see some really close up as they flew over our heads to land on perches just a few feet away. It was another super hot day but we were able to rest in the shade often enough. We all really enjoyed the Aviary and would have spent more time here had it not been for the heat.

Temple Square

After Jared got off work on Tuesday, we headed downtown for dinner and to walk around Temple Square. There were many beautiful flower beds and tidy lawns between all the buildings. We saw the building that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir practices in as well as a chapel that's mostly used for concerts. Then we entered the North Visitor's Center where we were kind of creeped out by the cosmic Jesus statue. I'll let you decide for yourself.

Living Room Hike

Let me start by saying that hiking 1.25 miles up a mountain with two children walking and one on your back when it's 98 degrees outside sounds like a terrible idea. We realized this. We also realized that we really wanted to go on this hike and Wednesday was our last night to attempt this. We were originally going to go on this hike Saturday or Sunday evening but due to the forest fires in California, the air was so hazy when we got to SLC, you could barely even see the mountains. By Wednesday, the haze had mostly cleared. I planned to do nothing with the kids all day so they would hopefully have more energy for the trek. We left around 6:30. Everything I read said to give yourself 2 hours to get up and back. We wanted to be sure we'd be mostly back down the mountain before sunset. Scrambling down rocks and gravel in the dark was not in our plans. We started with Gryffin walking, but after 10 minutes and only making it 100 yards because he wanted to collect every single rock on the path, I put him in the ergo on my back. 5 minutes later, Ophelia was whining that she was tired. We had barely rose 30 feet in elevation. It was going to be a looooong hike. To be fair, we did not anticipate how steep this climb would be, how slippery it would be with lots of loose gravel. The elevation affects my breathing a lot, and carrying a 25 pound child in the 98 degree heat wasn't helping. Jared ended up carrying Ophelia on his shoulders part of the way. Avery on the other hand declared, "I was born for this hike!" and didn't complain one bit. We did finally arrive at the top to find a lot of flat rocks formed into what looks like couches and chairs, hence the hike's name. You can sit up there and see the entire city. Once we were at the top, Ophelia was suddenly able to climb up some steep rocks way above us with no problem (however getting down was another issue). We stayed at the top admiring the view for maybe 20 minutes before deciding we should head back. The sun was beginning to set and we didn't want to risk getting stuck in the dark. The walk back down, while easier, was rough going due to the rocky path. It was really slow going and about halfway down Ophelia fell and didn't want to walk anymore. Jared had Gryffin on his back for the way down, leaving me to deal with Ophelia. Luckily, I was able to convince her to keep going as there was no way I could carry her down without falling myself. Overall, the hike was worth the trouble. But I think we'll stick to more level paths in the future.

Thursday was spent packing up and relaxing during the day. We left at 4 to head to Soda Springs for the evening. If you've been following along, this is when the tar melted to our tire. But we eventually made it safely to Idaho. Salt Lake City is a great place to visit with kids and we would go back again for sure. We're really thankful for Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, their generosity and hospitality. We stayed in their parking lot during the week and the kids were able to play on their playground and with the teachers' and pastor's kids throughout the week. Their members were friendly and helpful and we enjoyed a great evening at the parsonage the night before we left. I think next time we won't go in the summer though!

Up next on the blog: Grand Tetons and Yellowstone

Where you can find us this weekend: Devil's Tower and Rapid City, SD