Utah Site: Salt Lake City Library

This is another post on things to do in Salt Lake City. You can see our other visits by going here: http://samandbrodi.blogspot.com/search/label/Tourist

I used to work downtown, right across from the Salt Lake City library until we moved on to the East bench last summer. Brodi and the boys would often join me down there after work to hang out at the library. It is a great library and for those of you who were/are fans of Archie Comics, they actually did a comic book storyline on the library. So, for all of those preteens and teenagers of Archie comics, our library is famous.

The boys and I headed down to the library a couple of weeks ago. We try to get down there a few times every summer. The cool part of the library is that there are a ton of things to do just outside. There are several water features spread throughout the side and back of the library as well as bridges, benches and lots of open space to just hang out and read or relax.





Inside, the architecture is very cool. The basement is where all of the kids books are and they have big rooms where kids can hang out and play around in while they read. There are also computers set up in the basement to play computer games or reading games, etc. It is a great setup.







You can roam around the top of the library and get sprawling views of the entire city. You can also head down the big stairs on the outside and continue to get the great views.

If you have a few hours and you haven't been down there with your kids, do it...it is worth a few hours.

Utah site: This is the Place state park

It has been a while since I spotlighted something we did in Utah, usually a touristy type of spot, so here you go (if you are interested in seeing past 'adventures', click on the Tourist labels on the left side of the blog and you can see some of the things we have done. I took the boys and headed up with my sisters and their families up to This is the Place state park. I don't know what it is about that place, but it always feels about 10 degrees hotter there than it does anywhere else in the city.







We had a great time. We saw them light off a canon filled with candy...it was literally raining candy down on us. And because it was fired by a canon, all of the candy was slightly burned and had a nice smokey taste to it. The boys rode horses, saw how horseshoes were made, saw old time back robberies, had tug of wars.








Becks also competed in a watermelon eating contest. Halfway thru, he looked up at me and said 'All done.' I had to give him a stern look as I told him, 'No way, keep going, bring me home that Watermelon eating title.' He sadly shook his head in disgust and kept on eating. It is not a cheap park, but you can have a fun day hanging out there.

Utah site: International Peace Gardens

We went to the International Peace Gardens this past weekend. You can go to this site to learn more about it: Click Here. I was surprised. I really did not know what to expect, but it was much bigger than I thought. It was prettier and well maintained. It is a bit on the west side and the park backs up against the Jordan River.

Different countries throughout the gardens are represented. Sweden, Korea, England, United States, etc, all have small gardens and ornaments. There is a main walking path that will take you all the way around it and then smaller walking paths that lead up to each garden.









The boys had a great time because they could run and run. We went early enough on a Saturday so that there was nobody there and they could laugh, scream and run all they wanted. Just outside of the garden, they had playgrounds and the boys hung out there for a while as well. If you have a chance, it is worth an hour or two to go and check it out.

Utah Site: annual Alta to Brighton hike

We did our annual Alta to Brighton hike this past 24th of July. My family has done this hike now for 30 years, so since moving back to Utah, its been fun going with the family again. We had 29 of us on the latest trip. All of us brothers/sisters/nephews/nieces and 1 grandpa.








It is not a totally easy hike. It is about 4 miles with some good steep climbs and great views. Becks did a good job and hiked probably 80% of it. In fact, on the backside, he ran down the mountain the entire way urging me to keep up with him. He fell about 10 times, but we would dust him off, put on some imaginary bandaids (thanks to his cousin Brigham) and off he was running again.






Carter had a great time leading the hike with his grandpa Frank. Carter had to either stay 1 step ahead or 1 step behind Grandpa Frank the entire way.







Anyway, look forward to next year's hike.

Utah Site: Donut Falls

We took the boys up this weekend for an afternoon hike to Donut Falls, which is up Big Cottonwood Canyon. It is a nice 1.5 roundtrip hike up a trail to see a nice little waterfall. We thought that going up in the afternoon on a hot day (though rather cool in the mountains, around 80 degrees) would discourage others from going. We were wrong. There were cars parking for a half mile down the road, but we kept going to see if we would get lucky and find a car space. We did. Right at the trail beginning. How much do we rock?



It is a popular hike because it is short and very pretty. There is a little river, wide hiking trails, little animals running around and the trail is easy to follow and well maintained.









You can tell though who hikes quite a bit and who doesn't. There is very little etiquette on these hikes as people will basically be climbing over you in narrow areas or down a little rock wall. Sorry our 2 kids are slowing you down about 1 minute.








Anyway, if you are looking for a nice easy hike with kids which they will enjoy, head on up there. 1-2 hours and it will be a fun afternoon.

Utah Site: Midway/Homestead Crater and Springs

Over Memorial Weekend, we headed up to Brodi's parents condo in Midway. The weather was great and the kids played soccer, went biking, hiking, etc. We also took the kids to the Homestead crater. I had never been, but it is essentially a little hill in the middle of the Homestead. Even though I have been to Midway countless times, I never knew what that little hill was.



Inside is a natural spring where people go scuba diving and swimming. The water goes down over 70 feet below the surface. The natural spring inside continues to add and shed over 150,000 gallons of water a day which keeps the water somewhat fresh. The water stays between 92 and 95 degrees.




The kids enjoyed swimming next to the exterior cave wall and putting on their goggles to see under the water. It is not cheap ($11 for 45 minutes), but it was worth seeing it and playing in it.

Utah Site: Delta Center and the Utah Jazz

Back in 1991, one of my best friends from high school, Jia Yn, took me to the first ever regular season game for the Jazz in this arena (they had just left the Salt Palace). I still remember it and the Jazz played the Seattle Sonics (don't ask about the results, it was a bad game for the Jazz). I can't believe that this stadium is nearly 20 years old. This arena cost $93 million and was built in record time, 16 months, to have it ready for the basketball season. Couple of interesting things--the roof weighs 3 million pounds. There are nearly 2,700 panels of insulated glass on the arena. The arena holds around 20,000 people. It is now called the Energy Solutions Arena, but I have always known it as the Delta Center and I refuse to call it by its new name.


I decided to take the boys downtown to see the Utah Jazz have their annual scrimmage. It was a good time. On the outside of the Delta Center, there are 2 huge action statues of Karl Malone and John Stockton. A nice little remembrance of those two and all of those years in SLC. Right when we entered the arena, I said to the boys to get ready to take some pictures...and the cheerleaders were right there and they came up and started talking to the boys. Too bad that the camera was on the wrong setting (darn that Becks and his playing with the camera) but we still got a shot with the boys and the ladies.

There were a couple of pretty cool things that we got to see while we were in the stands. They filmed a couple of commercials with us sitting there...so when you see the Jazz commercials at the start of the season, look really hard and you may see us in the background. We also got to see the Jazz players have a dance off to show who was the best rookie dancer. Kosta Kofous won that very prestigious award.

We left the inside of the arena and wandered down the halls. We found a staircase that was not being guarded and the boys and I headed up to the top floor. Great views and we went to the doors to sneak back into the arena until Carter said, 'I don't think we should be here, should we?' We wandered for a bit more and headed back downstairs.

A nice downtown late stroll back to the car and Carter made me promise that I would let him stay up late during the season to watch some games of the Jazz. I love this pic except Carter is giving one of his absolutely hillariously terrible 'camera smiles.' If you need to get the kids out this winter, a Jazz game is very entertaining even if the kids don't want to sit much as they can just wander the crowds and the hallways.

Utah site: Ensign Peak

I went to West High School and I played for the basketball team there. Our coach, for whatever reason, decided he wanted his players to be in shape (how crazy is that?), so every Summer/Fall before the season started, we would run and run and run. In our training, we would run down 3rd West, all the way to Beck Street, then run up Beck Street until you reached the capital, then we would run all the way up the hill to get to the starting point of Ensign Peak and then up to Ensign Peak and then all the way back down to West High. Lets just say, this was a good 6-8 mile jaunt which left many of us either puking or near puking. It was such a good run, that even former Jazzman Thurl Bailey used to run this with us.


Ensign Peak is where the Mormon Prophet, Brigham Young, as well as several other leaders of the early church joined together on the hike to the top...2 days after they arrived from their trek across the United States. Brigham Young, upon reaching the top, then proclaimed "Here is the proper place to raise our ensign to all the nations." This site gives you a view of the entire valley from East to West, North to South.

If you haven't been, it is in the neighborhood above the Capital (and a neighborhood where I spent a good deal of my high school years hanging out with some families up there). Very easy to find the hiking entrance as they have added a nice little area to start the hike. Let me just say--doing this hike is pretty simple and short and much easier than having already run several miles to get to this point.

I decided to take my boys up to Ensign Peak. The boys liked it quite a bit because it has fabulous views of the entire city. Roundtrip, the hike is only about 1.5 miles or so, so not too strenuous. Carter likes to get up the hill as fast as he can, while Beckham moves just a tiny bit faster than turtle...as he scans the landscape. There is also a nice little monument at the top to read and look at while admiring the views of the Valley.