Saturday's without ABA scheduled means go do something and that's what we did. Luckily for me the kids love planetariums! And a new attraction at Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City is Newston's Daydream, a kinetic ball structure with bells, gongs, ramps, spirals, knobs, and lots of balls rolling all over the place making noise and going down the ramps and up conveyors. I also really enjoyed it! Whenever we were in the area the kids gravitated to it and we had to drag them away to our movies.
Space, the Final Frontier. Wish there was a way to get me up there!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Antelope Island July 2010
"So what do you want to do today? I don't know; what do you want to do today? Maybe we should go somewhere and have a picnic. Yes, but where? "
Normally we think to go east into the mountains or south towards redrock country for a picnic, but this time we decided to go to Antelope Island. The island is one of several in Utah's Great Salt Lake, reachable by way of a causeway from Syracuse. As you drive north on I-15 past Farmington and Layton you can see the island off to the west; it appears to be a barren, brown ridge.
The island is pretty dry, but the main reason for visiting the island is wildlife. A lot of birds stop off near the island during migrations, plus there is a herd ofbuffalo bison (the ranger told us that the animals on the island are not buffalo) numbering between 500 and 700. And if you hike to the upper areas of the island there are the namesake antelope, plus some bighorn sheep.
After letting the kids get their junior ranger badges by answering questions and getting quizzed by the ranger, we went to Bridger Bay and found an empty picnic table that had a very nice roof over it. I was expecting it to be hot and dry, but it was very comfortable at the table. We had a nice view over the beach and the lake, northwest towards the horizon. It was very clear and actually quite scenic. It was dry; but overall I was pleasantly surprised. Nearby there were bathrooms and showers and even an Island Grill.
We stopped briefly at Buffalo Point overlooking White Rock Bay (good views south towards Tooele) and even saw one of the bison. Every year in November they do a roundup of all the bison on the island; that would be quite a sight.
I would recommend Antelope Island as a day trip; I found the campground to be to exposed and barren to make we want to stay there. But the day use areas were very nice.
Normally we think to go east into the mountains or south towards redrock country for a picnic, but this time we decided to go to Antelope Island. The island is one of several in Utah's Great Salt Lake, reachable by way of a causeway from Syracuse. As you drive north on I-15 past Farmington and Layton you can see the island off to the west; it appears to be a barren, brown ridge.
The island is pretty dry, but the main reason for visiting the island is wildlife. A lot of birds stop off near the island during migrations, plus there is a herd of
After letting the kids get their junior ranger badges by answering questions and getting quizzed by the ranger, we went to Bridger Bay and found an empty picnic table that had a very nice roof over it. I was expecting it to be hot and dry, but it was very comfortable at the table. We had a nice view over the beach and the lake, northwest towards the horizon. It was very clear and actually quite scenic. It was dry; but overall I was pleasantly surprised. Nearby there were bathrooms and showers and even an Island Grill.
We stopped briefly at Buffalo Point overlooking White Rock Bay (good views south towards Tooele) and even saw one of the bison. Every year in November they do a roundup of all the bison on the island; that would be quite a sight.
I would recommend Antelope Island as a day trip; I found the campground to be to exposed and barren to make we want to stay there. But the day use areas were very nice.
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