Harper's Trip to Utah

My cousin, Harper, is coming to visit me tomorrow! I am going to show her all of my favorite places in Utah. She is from California and wants to know more about where I live. I am excited to show her how great Utah is - I have some fun adventures planned for us!

Day One - Sand Hollow National Park

For Harper's first day in Utah, I took her to one of my favorite places, Sand Hollow State Park in Hurricane, Utah. My grandparents live in Hurricane, so my grandpa took us out on the dunes with his four-wheelers. After some four-wheeling, my Uncle Frank taught us how to paddleboard on the lake. We spent some time paddleboarding and swimming before heading to my grandma's house for the night. Harper loved her first day in Utah and can't wait to see more of what Utah has to offer. This is going to be a fun week!

Day Two - Zion National Park

Today Harper and I went to Zion National Park, just outside Hurricane, Utah. We took the tram inside the park to the 'Temple of Sinawava' and hiked 'The Narrows.' The Narrows' is a great hike in the summer because about half the hike is in the water, so it keeps you nice and cool. It is also an incredibly pretty hike where you are surrounded by high red rock cliffs. We were exhausted by the time we made it back to the tram. We headed to my grandma's house in Hurricane for the night, and we fell right to sleep.

Day Three - Thanksgiving Point

 There is so much to do at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah that Harper and I just had to include it on our list of places to visit. After our long drive up from Hurricane we needed to stretch our legs, so we started out by walking through the 55 acres of gorgeous gardens. There is everything from Italian gardens to a huge waterfall to little koi ponds to green rolling hills. It is a great place for walking and taking pictures.

 Our next stop was the Museum of Ancient Life - a dinosaur museum. This museum is amazing. They have 60 complete dinosaur skeletons, and some are huge! There are also a lot of hands-on exhibits, so it doesn't get boring. Harper and I spent an hour at the erosion table playing in the sand and water. There is also a sand pit or quarry dig at the end that is fun too.

My favorite part of Thanksgiving Point has always been the petting zoo. They have cows, goats, chickens, horses, pigs, peacocks, rabbits and more. You can even ride ponies or go on a wagon ride.

Harper and I ended our day at Thanksgiving point with an ice cream from the deli shop - yum! Then we stayed at the hotel right next door, Spring Hill Suites.

Day Four - Real Soccer

Today Harper and I went to see a Real Soccer game - it was awesome! We wore our Real jerseys and cheered on the team as they beat the Portland Timbers. Of course we cheered the loudest for our favorite player, Kyle Beckerman. After the game we had dinner at Sweet Tomatoes and stayed the night at The Courtyard Marriott.

Day Five - Park City

 Today we headed up to Park City to check out the Kimball Arts Festival. The Art Festival is held on Main Street and there are booths all along the street with cool, interesting art and yummy food. We even got our faces painted at one booth. There is music playing, and it is just a lot of fun.

 

I couldn't take Harper to Park City without taking her for a ride on the Alpine Slide. The Alpine Slide is over 3000 feet long and one of the longest slides in the world. We were both screaming and laughing the whole way!

After a fun day I took Harper to my favorite restaurant in Park City, Baja Cantina. Then we spent the night at Park City Marriott.

Day Six - Uinta Mountains

 

Today Harper and I headed north to the Uinta Mountains in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The Uinta Mountains are home to the highest peak in Utah, King's Peak. There are also over 2000 lakes in the Uinta Mountains. We spent our day hiking west on the Bald Mountain Trail. We passed several beautiful lakes and spent the night camping by Bench Lake. I used my awesome fire-building skills and we roasted some marshmallows for s'mores. Everything tastes better outdoors!

 

Day Seven - City Creek and Temple Square

Harper and I decided to spend her last day in Utah at the City Creek Mall for a relaxing day of shopping.  The City Creek Mall is the best. It is outdoors and has several water fountains and even a creek running through the center of it - It is beautiful! It also has some of our favorite shops and great places to eat.

Right across the street from City Creek is Temple Square. Temple Square gets about 5 million visitors every year - making it the 16th most visited site in the United States! So, Harper could not leave without seeing it. We took a guided tour and learned about the history of the temple, which was pretty cool. Temple Square is a beautiful, peaceful place with so many pretty trees and flowers. Our favorite part was the reflection pond right next to the temple.

We ended our day with some delicious Mexican food at Red Iguana. If you've never been, I definitely recommend it! After dinner we spent the night at the Downtown Marriott. I am sad our adventure-filled week has come to an end. I hope Harper will come back and together we can find more fun places in Utah.