One of the huge draws to moving to Utah was how much easier it was to have a fun family life for significantly less money than in Georgia. In Utah it seems like there are endless amounts of things to do that are either really cheap, or even better, FREE! We have a very long and extensive list of things that we want to do over the next few years, but since we're very motivated to pay off debt fast with this move, we're going to be tackling the long list of free things first. I'm also excited for what this will mean for the blog. One of the things I loved most when I first started writing was sharing the things we did as a family. We didn't do much the last few years because of cost restraints, but I'm excited to share more of our real family life over the next few years.
1. Liberty Park: Liberty Park is the second largest park in Salt Lake. Has over 100 acres, and several playgrounds, exhibits, and even a splash pads for the hot summer days!
2. Wheeler Farm: Visiting the farm and seeing everything is free, but if your kids want to ride the wagon ($2 per person), or milk a cow ($1 each), then those are small affordable extras to do as well.
3. Salt Lake City Library: Not only is the building beautiful, but they also have tons of fun activities for kids going on all year long.
4. Clark Planetarium: The exhibits and everything are free, but watching the show in the theater costs extra.
5. This is The Place Heritage Park: Not free all year long, but offers free days twice a year. Check site for details.
6. Utah Museum of Fine Art: Free the first Wednesday and third Saturday of each month.
7. Natural History Museum of Utah: Free December 11th
8. Temple Quarry Trail: Stroller friendly hike.
9. The Gateway: An open area shopping center that is not only fun to walk around, but there is a little splash area that kids love to play in during the summertime and there are events throughout the year.
10. City Creek Center: Another outdoor shopping center, but they have a kids area to play, and you can help feed this fish every Saturday morning at 10am!
11. Temple Square: Home of all the Latter Day Saint church history. You can view all the museums and exhibits for free!
12. Joseph Smith Memorial Building: A beautiful building on Temple Square!
13. Alpine Loop Scenic Byway: A must see drive through the fall. It's a 20 mile loop with the most beautiful autumn views!
14. Bean Life Science Museum: Aside from this being the place where Derek and I got engaged, we're excited to see the new one after all the renovations.
15. BYU Museum of Palentology: Because what kid doesn't want to see dinosaurs?
16. Hobble Creek Canyon Drive: Another beautiful drive to take with the kids during the fall.
17. Hill Aerospace Museum: We're an aviation family, naturally this is on our list.
18. Fat Boys Factory: Makers of the FatBoy and Casco ice cream treats. The factory includes a retail malt shop and product sales. 11805 North 200 East, Richmond, Utah, 84333, 435-258-5219, www.fatboyicecream.com. Open Monday-Thursday noon-9pm, Friday-Saturday noon-10pm. Open one hour later during summer.
19. Goldfish Factory: The Richmond production facility of this national cookie and cracker brand owned by the Campbell Soup Company is not open to the public, but it includes an outlet store that sells factory seconds. Believe me, a misaligned Mint Milano cookie tastes just as good as a perfectly formed one, and your kids won't be able to find a thing wrong with the Goldfish Crackers. Available products vary day to day. 1027 East 11600 North, Richmond, Utah, 84333, 435-258-3618
20. Great Salt Lake Nature Center: Lots of trails to walk along and view the great salt lake, and a new nature center was just built this year! All free!
21. Layton Duck Pond: Near our new neck of the woods, I'm excited to take the kids here to feed the ducks with our leftover bread each week!
22. High Adventure Park: Located in Ogden, I'm excited to take Jay here on some mother son dates before the weather gets too cold!
23. Cox Honey Land: See how honey is made and visit the gift shop for a little treat!
24. Bank Tour Layton: Another fun thing I'm excited to do with the kids! I know Jay will be fascinated to see the ins and outs of how banking works!
25. Spiral Jetty: A large spiral jetty created by an artist on the Great Salt Lake! You actually can walk onto the jetty, and I imagine this being breath taking around sunset in the summer!
26. Eccles 2002 Olympic Winter Games Museum: I'm a sucker for all things olympics, so I'm all over this!
27. Fifth Waters Hot Springs: This is probably for older kids that wouldn't mind doing a 5 mile out and back hike, but I went to these hot springs with some friends in college and it was so much fun! I'm sure this will be a date night for Derek and I until our kids are older.
28. Splash Pads: Here's a list of 60 splash pads. One of them should be near you.
Ok, this sounds fun even for me
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