July 20 - 24, 2006, we took what we called a “mini-vacation.” We went to the North American Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point and spent some time doing some fun activities in Cache Valley, Utah where we lived until 2003.
North American Museum of Ancient Life
Thursday morning, our first stop was the “Dinosaur Museum” at Thanksgiving Point, which is about 15-20 minutes south and east of our house.
This was our first time at this museum and we felt as if we were the last people to ever visit there. Just about everyone else we knew who had young children had been there and raved about it.
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | The landmark water tower at Thanksgiving Point. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Here we are in the parking lot at Thanksgiving Point before going into the museum. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | The North American Museum of Ancient Life (AKA The “Dinosaur Museum”) at Thanksgiving Point. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | 3D dinosaur on the outside of the museum building. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Christine poses near dinosaur about to be eaten. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Doran poses near about-to-be-gruesome scene. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Eli and Christine near a dinosaur puzzle activity. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Lucy uses a graphite stick to create a rubbing of a fossil impression. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Doran with a dinosaur head. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Maya with a dinosaur head. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Eli with a dinosaur head and Lucy with a dinosaur tail. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Maya with a spike on her head. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Lucy sits on a docile dinosaur. |
486 x 648 1944 x 2592 | Eli sits on a docile dinosaur. |
486 x 648 1944 x 2592 | Maya sits on the docile dinosaur. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Lucy and Eli sit on the amazingly docile dinosaur. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Lucy plays in the wet sand. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Maya playing in the wet sand. |
Cache Valley
After leaving Thankgiving Point, we headed north to Cache Valley. We checked into our hotel, got some dinner, and went to the Willow Park Zoo. The kids had lots of fun feeding the ducks and collecting bird feathers they found around the park.
We went back to the hotel and went swimming at the hotel pool before heading to bed.
Friday in Cache Valley
Friday morning, we had the continental breakfast provided by the hotel and then went to Aggie Ice Cream at USU. While at USU, we visited the Taggart Student Center and Old Main. While we were at Old Main, we dropped in on Computer Science department head Dr. Don Cooley and chatted with him for a few minutes.
Our next stop was the Cache Valley Fun Park in North Logan. We played some arcade games and the played in their soft play area. Maya and I did ten minutes of laser tag and she kicked my butt.
We had lunch at The Olive Garden in Logan and then went out to a trout farm west of Smithfield to do some fishing.
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Doing some fishing. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Doing some fishing. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Christine snaps a picture of Eli at the trout farm. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Christine asks Eli to show his teeth. |
For our evening activity, we went to my sister’s house in Hyrum and they took us out to Hyrum Dam for some boating and water sports.
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Eli on the boat. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Eli on the boat. |
486 x 648 1944 x 2592 | Eli holding the orange flag. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | My niece Annabelle on a wakeboard. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | My niece Annabelle on a wakeboard. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Eli poses as Annabelle rides the wakeboard in the background. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Lucy reluctantly takes a dip in the water off the back of the boat. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Lucy riding on the boat. |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Riding the weenie! |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Riding the weenie! |
648 x 486 2592 x 1944 | Allison helps Maya try waterskiing. |
Saturday
Saturday, we went back to the Cache Valley Fun park to do some bowling before heading back to the Salt Lake Valley.
On our way out of town, we stopped in at the cheese store at Gossner Foods on the west side of Logan. There, we got some shelf-safe milk (as seen in the film Napoleon Dynamite, but that’s not really important.) and cheese. You can get fresh cheese at the Gossner Foods store for around half the cost of buying it at your local supermarket and it quite often tastes better too.
