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Backyard Tourist: Hogle Zoo

Over Memorial Day Weekend we decided to head out to the Zoo – Hogle Zoo to be precise. Located at the base of Emigration Canyon in Salt Lake City, it spans 42 acres and contains over 800 animals. Although pricey, we truly enjoy making it here at least once each year. The kids especially love seeing all the animals.

Sadly, we went on a day it decided to rain, but it did mean less people crowding around the glass and fences – so it was one of those give/take moments. Our first stop was in the gift shop for some umbrellas since we forgot to bring ours, and then to pick up a covered double stroller. We were planning on renting a red wagon, but they don’t have umbrellas.

Our first stop on the way in, were the Elephants. We arrived just as mom and baby were coming out. They walked around for a little,but quickly returned inside. I’m guessing they didn’t care much for the rain either. In 2009 Hogle Zoo had their first African Elephant born to momma Christie – Zuri.

I love the Elephants, but we decided to continue on when they went inside. So off we went to the monkey house. My pictures here didn’t turn out too well, I think a setting was changed on the camera – but there are a good number of primates hanging in branches and jumping around in here.

After leaving the monkey house, we found ourselves facing a pretty fun looking kid area – perfect for an early break. With a lighthouse slide, wrecked ship, and wading pools, there’s plenty for the kids to have fun with. When it’s not raining, I’m told there is a spout that will also spray water periodically – so on those hot days you visit, you can cool down.

We had to cut the kids time there short when the need for a restroom arose. Thankfully a quick consult on the map, and we found 2 restrooms within a quick walk. We possibly missed an animal or two on our way, but we made it. After that pitstop we decided to hang out with the harbor seals. I think they are my personal favorite to watch as they glide through the water.

They were a bit hard to catch on camera too. The seals are found in the Rocky Shores Exhibit along with Polar Bears, River Otters, and Sea Lions, and Grizzly Bears. As part of the exhibit 400,000 gallons of water are filtered and recycled into the exhibit pools. That’s a LOT of water!

We headed up a hill and got a glimpse of the Tiger hiding out in his hut, but then found we wanted to head back down the hill to avoid missing the indoor wildlife center – housing amphibians and birds.

Sadly, I’m sure due to rain, the bird show was not going on. If you do make it to Hogle Zoo, though, you have to check out the bird show. Its pretty awesome.

On our way though we had to stop and get some pictures with the many statues around the park, and drink out of the lion’s mouth.

We of course couldn’t help ourselves when it came to the Apes. I mean really now, you’ve got to see just how far you can puff your cheeks out when standing next to this bust.

And you know you’ve got to make some grunt a bit when comparing your height and arm length to that of a Male Gorilla!

It was interesting as I read up on Hogle Zoo, to see all the information they provide about the animals. You can learn quite a bit just from their website. They go further though and encourage you to get involved, to help animals in the wild, and really learn what is happening to the different species.

For example, Gorilla’s biggest threat is Bush Meat – meat that villagers hunt for their families to live. By educating us, we get to learn more and do our part to help sustain the animals around the globe. Pretty cool huh?

Finally the zoo is not complete until you’ve ridden the Conservation Carousel featuring 42 hand carved animals. A great place to regroup, let the kids be kids for a minute, and take a break for your feet.

On our way out we realized we missed the Lion. What’s a visit to the zoo without seeing the Lion?? There was quite a crowd around him though, so we stood afar off, and held the kids up to see as best they could. It’s no wonder he’s the King of the Jungle – so much pride as he sat there allowing everyone to view him – very regal indeed.

As we left the Zoo, we ran into none other than Molar Man – the sole reason we went on a day of rain. A big shout out and Thank You to Burg Pediatric Dentistry for being the coolest dentist around, and sponsoring a patient appreciation day at the zoo. I don’t think my kids will ever be afraid of the dentist again.

June 3, 2014
Backyard Tourist: Provo Spring Festival

Saturday night we headed out to Provo’s Spring Festival at Rock Canyon Park. Our first impression was to not even try and find parking, but I was determined to get out of the house as a family and have fun! So slowly we drove through the myriad of parked cars looking for some place relatively close. We managed to park right next to the playground – complete luck there!

Princess C loves to let her voice be heard outside. She’s not scared here, just letting out a good ole scream of joy that slides can bring to kids.

Once we got the kids away from the playground we headed down the hill into the bowl of the park. I need to remember to come here to go running while the kids can also get some energy out. It’s so perfect! The hills make for great sledding in the winter as well (or so I recall from my teenage years).

We ended up wandering the food tents first, but since we had already eaten, we made a turn about to go find the activities.

First place we stopped was a series of tents with different activities and Easter Eggs for the kids. Each area inside the tent had a little spring history from a different country, and spring type decor. We loved the big butterfly. but the kids had a whole lot of fun coloring an Easter Egg, making Japanese paintings, and paper kites in China.

After leaving the Spring around the world tent, I noticed the May Pole! I’ve always loved may poles, and thought it was such a fun springy activity. The girls thought it was pretty cool too, and got a little more energy out. I have to hand it to the workers at this activity, 10ish little kids running in different directions with ribbons, they did pretty awesome.

Wasn’t that fun? Of course since it was the day before Easter, we got to meet the Easter Bunny while there as well, and even found a few extra special friends.

We had so much fun! Mark stood in line after these pictures to get balloon swords with the kids, and I took little Prince to the pony rides. Unfortunately we were told they were putting the ponies away soon, and would not get a turn. So off we went to check out the Humane Society and the dogs they brought. I’ve never been much of an animal person, but ever since we had to give up our dog to move last fall, I feel like we need a dog. My kids could use that little extra unbiased love from a furry friend. One day…one day.

Awe! Isn’t that the sweetest.

It was starting to get late, and although the kids really wanted to stay and watch Frozen outside – Mark and I decided we really need to get our kids to bed. So we compromised and let them set up beds on the couch and watch Frozen at home until they fell asleep. Maybe this summer we’ll find another outdoor movie to go to.

Thanks PROVO for a Kid Friendly Spring Festival! We really appreciate free events like this!

If you are going to be in Utah this year, here is a pretty comprehensive list of Utah Fairs and Festivals.

I plan on attending at least the Strawberry Festival and hopefully one of the Scottish Festivals this year.

April 21, 2014
Backyard Tourist: Ice Castles in Midway

Welcome to Backyard Tourist. This is new series I have been thinking about for some time. As we venture out of our home and visit our close surroundings, I want to share them with you. Perhaps you live near me, maybe one day you’ll visit, or perhaps you just want to see what you can do in the state of Utah. Backyard Tourist will be bringing you real family stories of things to do and see around the state of Utah.

These posts are currently not sponsored…but if they ever are, I will make sure you know (must take care of all that FTC and google rules). Now that we’ve got the details out of the way, let me take you on our first adventure!

Ice Castles in Midway

Location: Midway, Utah in the Heber Valley. There is also one in Breckenridge, Colorado and Lincoln, New Hampshire

Cost: $8 adults, $5 children, 3 and under Free

Family Friendly: Yes

Midway is located approximately 45 minutes north and east of Provo. Though the roads are winding, it’s an easy drive with some beautiful scenery of the Wasatch Mountains and Deer Creek Reservoir along the way.

Once in Midway you can turn west down Main Street and park about 100 West in front of the Town Hall – one of the most intriguing town halls I have personally ever seen, with a very European style siding, and dancing children that come out from the clock.

The actual Ice Castle was built behind the Town Hall in the city park right next to the tennis courts and ice skating rink. It was not at all where I expected to find it. In my mind we were going to be walking up into the mountains to this ice fortress. Although we were in the mountains, we were also in a city park. This picture makes it look almost like a wasted trip, but I promise it wasn’t.

Learn more about how the Ice Castles are build. It really is amazing!

Of course I did decide to choose a holiday, a day that Princesses from the movie Frozen were going to be there, and the LAST day they were going to be open this season. So what did we get? A very long line to stand in. However the line moved efficiently along, and we got to enjoy the outer edges of this Ice Castle a bit longer than we may otherwise have.

Thank goodness for my trooper of a sister! Sadly Mark had to work all day, and I was planning on taking the kids by myself. So glad my sister said she’d like to come too. Although this is a kid friendly place, you still need to make sure your kids aren’t climbing up the icicles or pulling pieces off. Also when the kids want to see different things having more than 1 set of hands for 4 kids was extremely helpful.

The highlight and main reason I decided we were going to go visit Midway’s Ice Castle is because I heard Anna and Elsa from Frozen were going to be there (not the actual characters or actors), and I knew my kids would never forget it. So after our line to get in, we stood in line to see the Princesses. This one moved a bit faster, though the organization could have been better. It was well worth the wait. Check out these happy kids!

Although Midway’s Ice Castle is now closed due to unseasonably warm weather, they will be back again next year! As far as I can tell though, Colorado and New Hampshire’s castles are still open. They seem to be getting all our cold weather.

On our way out, we just had to stop and let the girls climb through an ice tunnel.

Some cool things have happened at the Ice Castle including Lindsey Stirling’ song “Crystalize” and the Alex Boye and Lexi Walker cover of “Let It Go” from Frozen. If you haven’t seen these videos, go check them out!!

Have you visited one of the Ice Castles?

February 19, 2014
Salt Lake Comic Con with Kids

A week ago, Comic Con came to Salt Lake City for the first time. This was an event I thought I would never go to. I grew up loving Star Trek with my dad, and the original Star Wars movies. But for me it was just something fun to watch with my family. It wasn’t until the last few years with Mark that I’ve really gotten into some other shows, and superheros with the kids.

So when my sister purchased tickets to Comic Con, Mark started talking about how much he’d love to go. I did some budgeting, and decided the experience would be fun, and something the older girls would remember. We hadn’t done anything big for the family in a long time, and plus, the kids were completely FREE. So really why not go?

For the most part we let the kids decide how they’d like to dress up. We took Princess Peach, a Minion, a Japanese girl, and Avatar Korra.

We got to Salt Lake 30 minutes before the doors opened, and let me tell you, I’m so glad we did! Because we hadn’t pre-registered we actually got into a shorter line where we needed to get our wristbands. We met some fun people in line. Once we had our wristbands, the doors had opened, so we did not have to go back outside into the hot sun. We were able to just walk right into the booth area. After a little walking around some booths, we heard there was going to be a puppet show in one of the theater rooms. Well that did sound like fun for kids, so off we went.

The Adventures of Sancho-n-Rusimus

These guys were funny. The girls were entranced, and I had a good time sitting in a comfy chair. Mark was less than thrilled with the puppets though, so he took our little minion and went to browse more booths and see some celebrities.

There were a couple of celebrities I had wanted to go see, but lines were pretty long, and the kids could only stand in so many lines while keeping my sanity intact. So we did what was fun for everyone.

After the puppet show finished we went to find Mark and the Minion. On our way we stopped to say hi to a couple of our favorite characters –

This girl really had Avatar Korra’s outfit perfect. We were impressed.

Princess Merida was so friendly. While lost in a sea of people, and Peach begging to buy all the Mario figurines we saw, Princess Merida came up to us and told the girls how beautiful their outfits were. Then asked if we would like to take a picture with her. Well, I wasn’t going to refuse that.

Not the greatest picture, but I was fumbling, and somehow ended up with most of it in video instead of picture. Whoops!

Once we found Mark, the girls were pretty hungry, so we grabbed some slightly overpriced pizza for lunch, and sat with a couple of Gandolf’s. Then it was back to the booths, and my personal favorite, whole reason I wanted to go to Comic Con – The TARDIS.

While standing in line for our picture with the TARDIS, I told Mark that if I got inside that box, he might not get me out. He must have thought I was serious, because I never got to get inside. Not even a little peek. I rubbed shoulders with it though, so I guess that will have to be good enough.

After we saw the TARDIS, it was time to go. There was much more I would have loved to see, and people I’d have loved to talk to like Henry Winkler, aka The Fonz. But the kids needed to get out, so we headed home. As we left, we noticed the doors had been closed to more attendees, and there were A LOT more people outside waiting to get in. So much that they were starting to spill into the road, which in downtown Salt Lake City, not very safe. Unfortunately the building was at it’s max occupancy so the Fire Marshall had the doors shut. Next year, I’m sure the organizers will be better prepared for Utah’s huge fan base.

We are looking forward to coming back next year, but may stick to just Mark and I, and possibly the 2 older kids as well.

Have you been to a Comic Con?

September 16, 2013