Salt Lake City

Hey there! I live in SLC. The great thing is it is so family friendly, so there are lots of cheap and free things for kids to do.

Some ideas: Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. Sandy is on the south end of the valley, so it would not be a horrible drive from Provo. There is a stingray pool where you can feed and touch the stingrays, and you can see an octopus, sharks, turtles, all sort of tropical fish as well as fish native to Utah, there is also a new area with a cayman, tarantulas, snakes of all kinds.

If you are in downtown SLC, The Gateway is a great place for shopping and dining. It is an outdoor mall and there is often live music and a splash pad for the kids. While you are there, you could go to the Children's Museum which has so many fun and educational activities. You could also choose Clark Planetarium which has free admission (although you would pay if you went to a laser or light show). You could also tour the temple grounds which are beautiful.

In Ogden the Treehouse Museum is our favorite. It has so many fun things for kids to do. There is a fire engine with firefighter costumes, puppet shows, teepee, old schoolhouse, doctors office with bassinets and babydolls etc. It is a great place for imaginative play. They also do craft projects and reading and singing time.

In North Salt Lake (10 min north of downtown) there is a free splashpad and wonderful new park. Just get off freeway on 2600 S. and head West, go through Redwood Road and keep going a few blocks. The South Davis Rec Center is cheap admission as well and has great indoor and outdoor pools with an indoor waterslide and playsets built into the pools. It is in Bountiful about 15-20 min north of downtown SLC.

I know of 2 great parks- 1 in Kaysville which is between Ogden and Bountiful but you could stop at it as you are heading south, it is called Castle Park and it is on Nicholls Rd (right off Highway 89). It has play castles and drawbridges and is just a wonderful park in a beautiful area. There is a similar one in West Jordan which is in the salt lake valley on the way to Provo.

In Salt Lake City, our favorite park is Liberty Park, about 900 South and 500 West. It has a few playgrounds, tennis, a running track, a huge pond where you can rent paddle boats, feed the ducks and geese, also a splash pad, a swimming area (free), lots of trees and grass, an aviary (about $8.00 a person to get into aviary), a few carnival rides like a merry go round, airplane ride, swings and ferris wheel ($1.50 per ride). Definitely recommend.

Thanksgiving Point is near Provo, I have never visited but heard good things.

Lots of great places to hike as well. Park City has a huge farmers market on Sundays.

I would suggest you get on Salt Lake City groupon and keep your eye out for deals. For instance, I was able to get 4 tickets to Tracy Aviary for $20.00 rather than $8.00 each. It might give you some more ideas on fun things to do. Let me know if you have any questions.

**Not sure about star shows. I know I went to an actual star show there when I was a kid, but that was like 20 years ago. It looks like they have "light shows" which might have stars but I think they are like laser designs or something set to music. they also do educational movies there too.

I loved my visit to SLC. The sidewalks are huge! You can fit a family of 5 and still have room to pass. The Great Salt Lake was a must! Antalope Island too! It was fun to hear the Morman Tab. Choir. I'm not of that religion but it was so beautiful to hear. I took a tour of the church but they only allow outsiders in certain areas (odd) but still fun. I went in April so the weather was chilly. Never made it to Yellowstone, I was out on Business when I worked for AAA as a Travel Agent.

I'd go up to Park City. It's only about a 1/2 hour and is WONDERFUL and beautiful. I was there 2 summers ago (summer is amazing in PC) and I loved every minute. Google Park City to learn more about what is going on when you will be there.

Enjoy your trip!

My family visited Salt Lake last summer and we had a blast! We bought Salt Lake City Connect passes and they were really worth it, we did many activites each day. You can buy them here if you are interested: http://www.vacationsmadeeasy.com/SaltLakeCityAreaUT/activ...

We went to: Discovery Gateway (children's museum), Clark Planetarium, Snowbird Tram (we rode up the mountain and hiked down), Tracy Aviary, Natural History Museum of Utah, The Living Planet Aquarium (this one is not on the pass anymore for some reason), and Hogle Zoo. We also visited Temple Square, which is fun even if you are not a Mormon, and we ate at the Lion House, the connect pass gave us each one free meal.

We also went on a tour of Sweet's candy factory, which was not a part of the pass, but it is free; you just have to schedule your tour. http://www.sweetcandy.com/factorytour It is really fun to see them make the candy and you get free samples, plus they have a shop at the end of the tour where you can get the candy cheaper and fresher than in regular stores. We went on my daughter's birthday (two kids, same birthday 3 years apart) and they were allowed to pick any one thing from the store for free!

One place we ate at in Salt Lake was really good, it is called Bruges Waffles and Frites http://www.brugeswaffles.com/main.php and it is really yummy! It is just a little tiny place, you will want to eat outside since there is almost no room to eat inside, but there are tables outside you can sit at. They make the tasties fries you will ever eat and the waffles are amazing too! Get a waffle with chocolate and ice cream as a treat, you will love it!

We had a great vacation there last year and I hope that you will too!

**The planetarium is just "OK," not that spectacular, they do shows, but I was not impressed. That's probably just because I was comparing it with bigger planetariums though.**

The mall close to temple square is so much fun. My husbands grandfather was a baker there once upon a time. The last time we went I had to stop at one of the candy kiosks and get caramel pecan clusters. They melt in your mouth and taste like....I am getting hungry now!

Wish I was going with. I love the whole region of the USA.