Super-Dooper Utah Vacation

We recently spent six days traveling through various parts of Utah as a family. That was certainly our longest family vacation, and definitely our funnest. Here are some of the highlights:

Capitol Reef  National Park

Of course we couldn't have a vacation without a bike race, but at least it gave us the excuse to visit a new place. Capitol Reef National Park is located in south central Utah and we passed through several small towns (including Circleville, boyhood home of Butch Cassidy) to get to Bicknell where we stayed at the Sunglow Motel. We arrived on Thursday, and Alex did two races on Friday. While he was racing we explored the town and went into the National Park. I thought it was a good history lesson due to the fact that all the little towns were originally pioneer settlements and before Capitol Reef was a national park, there was a pioneer settlement named Fruita near where the park visitors' center is now. The orchards those settlers planted are still there as well as one of the original homesteads. It was called the Eden of Wayne County. Saturday Alex did an 80-mile race and we arrived at the finish line just in time to see him cross. Here is some of what we saw on the first leg of our trip (Lance was the photographer that day.)

At the Capitol Reef Visitors' Center

One of the herd of buffalo we saw on the way to Capitol Reef

Lovely scenery

Rock formations in the National Park

Provo/Orem
For the first three days the kids kept asking when we were going to the hotel pool. So when we arrived at the Travelodge in Provo on Saturday, all they wanted to do was swim in the pool. I think if all they had done for the whole vacation was swim in the hotel pool with their new life vests, they would have thought it was the best vacation ever. It was a good idea to get the vests, actually, because wearing the vests made the kids more confident in the water. But before we let them into the pool we went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant called Gloria's that had an accordion player who played Disney songs to keep the kids entertained. Bless him!

Sunday we had a quick but fun visit with Aunt Mary Lou and Uncle Jeff. Then we went to Provo Canyon for a picnic in Vivian Park. I have been to Provo Canyon before, but this time it took my breath away with how beautiful it was; so green, so inviting. The only thing that dampened our great day was that Luke got stung by a bee while he was playing on the playground. He said through his tears, "It's not fair that a bee could sting me for no reason! I was just minding my own business and the bee stung me." But he forgot all about it when we got back to the hotel pool. We had dinner at the Los Tres Amigos restaurant right by our hotel, and we were lucky that my brother Austin could join us for a little bit.

Temple Square

Monday we went up to Salt Lake City to visit Temple Square. We first went to the South Visitor's Center and saw displays about how the temple was built. Then the kids threw pennies in the fountain and made wishes.

Lance said,"I know I can't go inside the actual temple, but can I just go in the lobby?" I said I wasn't sure but we could go over and see what they say. When we got to the entrance of the lobby a greeter said that we could go to a certain point, but then a gentleman at the check in desk waved us in to the lobby. He gave each of the kids a silver token and said, "Now you have proof that you have been in the Salt Lake Temple." They all had smiles from ear to ear.

Luke, Lacey, Lia, and Lance on the steps of the Salt Lake Temple

After that we went into the tabernacle, and it's true: you can hear a pin drop from the podium and it also looks bigger on TV than in real life. From there we went to the Assembly Hall for a quick peek inside. The Seagull Monument is in front of the Assembly Hall and I told Lance about how the pioneers were about to lose their crops to a cricket infestation, but then miraculously the seagulls came and ate up all the crickets. Lance was impressed.

We then went to the North Visitors' Center where there are a whole bunch of paintings depicting scenes from the scriptures. But the best part was seeing The Christus statue. Of that Lance said, "I feel like I'm in Heaven," and Luke said, "This is like being in space!"

Church History Museum
After a yummy lunch at Blue Lemon, we went to the Church History Museum. I could spend a day on each floor there if I were all by myself. The bottom floor had an exhibit of childrens' art. They also had a station where kids could color or draw their own pictures and they would be shown on the "wall." 

The main floor has an exhibit of the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from it's early beginnings to the settlement of Utah into the modern age. I wanted to read every detail about every display, but we had to keep moving to keep the kids engaged.

This was a great place to visit the week before Pioneer Day.

The top floor of the museum has an exhibit dedicated to all the prophets since the restoration from Joseph Smith to Thomas S. Monson. I went to the bathroom and Lance looked at the exhibit but the other kids were starting to get restless. Alex thought we should call it a day, but I knew the best was yet to come: the quilting exhibit! Just kidding. There was a quilting exhibit but we passed it up to go to the childrens' Book of Mormon exhibit. This area was very child-friendly: interactive displays in English and Spanish that told a story from the Book of Mormon and a related story about a child's real life. The first display was Mexican dancing. A how-to video showed the children what steps to do and they could dress up in skirts or vests and follow the video. Well, my little dancer, Lacey,spent the whole time doing that. She was in heaven with the twirly skirt and the dancing. I had as much fun watching her as she had doing the actual dancing.

The boys and Lia tried the dancing for a little bit but they went to other displays also. There was the one with the boat that had to do with the journey to the promised land. Lia got in the little truck which had to do with the family who picked up people for church in their truck.

We had to drag the kids away when it was time to go.

Our final stops of the day were at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and Deseret Book. Lance wanted to stay longer but the baby was getting cranky.

Seven Peaks Waterpark

Tuesday we went to Seven Peaks Waterpark in Provo. It has big water slides and a lazy river, and a wave pool. I thought the kids would be too scared to go in anything but the "tadpole" area, but with their life jackets the boys had enough courage to go on the big slides and Lacey and Lia went in the wave pool and lazy river several times. We rented a cabana and were able to stay the whole day without getting burnt to a crisp. So.Much.Fun!!

We left the waterpark and drove to Beaver to stay the night. We have discovered that it's not a fun trip if you have a crying baby for more than an hour or so. So the last leg of our trip from Beaver to Henderson was about three and a half hours and just about right to prevent a major toddler meltdown. After we got home Alex said, "We should do that more often." To which I thought "It took you nine years to figure that out, but better late than never!"