Thanksgiving Point: A Few Thoughts

During our trip to Utah, we visited Thanksgiving Point twice...and I was reminded what an interesting beast of a place it is. For those of you not in the know, Thanksgiving Point is a large complex located near the Point of the Mountain in north Utah County. It's a garden/museum/farm/events center/golf course/park amalgam, and consists of a series of loosely affiliated buildings and grounds in a sprawling multicomplex.

Long story short, it's got a little something for everybody, especially if the "everybody" in question is a bunch of kids. My generous sister Jocelyn, who has a membership to Thanksgiving Point, has helped us get in to many of the different exhibits/events on her card. I visited Utah last October, before Aurora was born, and my girls had lots of fun at the Museum of Ancient Life, as seen below...

Lorelai & Celeste rode on a baby dinosaur;

looked at a bunch of wildlife dioramas;

tinkered around with several science experiment stations;

checked out a bunch of dinosaur bones;

and narrowly escaped being eaten by a huge shark, among other things.

Flash-forward now to this summer. We're back in UT, and have some time to kill. The Museum of Ancient Life is a blast, but it's warm outside now, and there are many more activities to do outdoors. As a result, we took not one, but two more trips to Thanksgiving Point, visiting a different location each time.

First, we visited the Children's Discovery Garden, a kid-friendly park adjacent to Thanksgiving Point's sprawling "themed" gardens. There was a lot to do here, too, but due to cranky kids, the experience was something of a mixed bag:

Here's cousin Simon, separated from me by a splash pad (hence the wet sidewalk). Behind him is a small hedge maze, which all the kids loved and solved (maybe a little too easily).

Just beyond the maze area was the Bear Cave--yes that's right, the Bear Cave. It's artificial, of course, but it includes a neat little tunnel that kids can use to get underground to see the bears...

...or, in this case, used by Daddy to get aboveground after visiting the bear statue:

the girls loved to ride on the bear!

There were lots of nice landscapes to explore & climb around on throughout the garden, such as this "rock face." There were also a few climbing sculptures:

Celeste enjoyed this "climbing centipede" a bit too much; she started crying when we pried her out of it, and basically didn't stop crying the whole rest of our stay. SIGH.

There were a few water-based exhibits on display too, including a lily pond (complete with oversized goldfish), and a man-made stream, in which the kids could build their own boats & float them down with the current.

While a nice concept, the stream was very muddy; there was a ton of dirt & sediment in the water, and there were lots of kids all along the stream tracking in more dirt. Jocelyn said that there used to be wood chips piled up alongside the water, to prevent the muddiness...sadly, they were absent that day. Worried that our kids would become a huge muddy mess (and wearied by their crying), we called it a day...but not before cooling off a bit at the large splash pad at the entrance of the garden:

It's a giant metal Noah's Ark surrounded by a shallow pool. Theoretically, the animals & windows are shooting out streams of water. Sadly, the Ark was broken that day too. At least the water was available to splash around in! Oh, well, better luck next time, I hope...

A few days later, we had a few hours free. This time, Jocelyn recommended the Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point, which included a large petting zoo. We were game to try again, so off we went.

Farm Country isn't just a farm--it's a museum too! Just past the admission desk, there's a series of exhibits that help teach kids about where their foods come from...

like this exhibit on milk pasteurization, for instance. Lorelai wanted to watch this mock conveyor belt all day long!

Certain animals were also being offered for sale--mostly fowl, like these baby chicks! We weren't in the market though, so we moved on to the "petting zoo" portion of the farm:

There were cows, donkeys, miniature horses, and sheep in this large barn, all waiting to be petted by happy little kids.

From there, it was on to the pony ride! This type of ride is often made available back home in Sahuarita (pony rides are a common offering at many community events), but hey--this time it's in the shade! Besides, a ride ticket was included in our admission, so it was "off to the races" for our girls.

Here's cousin Simon, winking for the camera--cute!!

The next portion of the farm may have been Celeste's favorite--it was time to feed the animals! Each kid had a handful of corn feed (for a small additional fee--again, thanks, Jocelyn!), and then proceeded to give it to the many hungry farm animals--especially the goats:

It was lots of fun, and boy could those goats eat! The girls also got a special treat, because while we were there, a mama goat actually gave birth to two baby kids. It was neat to see such tiny baby animals, even though they mostly kept close to mama in the safety of their pen:

There were other animals besides goats to see on the farm:

Llamas;

pigs;

ducks; and geese too!

There was also a random set of miniature "frontier" buildings; it looked an awful lot like Tiny Town, in fact. Luckily for the kids, there was a jailhouse among the small village, so they could play in the pokey:

The last stop on our farm tour was another indoor exhibit called "Soil to Market," which details every step of the planting & harvesting process. The whole thing was very detailed, but also VERY interactive and very accessible for kids. I was impressed...and so was Lorelai...

...especially when she got to learn about bugs in this interactive display. She also got to create her own "harvest," by planting food of her choice on the artificial trees and shrubs throughout the room.

Here she is, picking her "pears." All in all, it was a fun day--the farm was both a lot more informative and a lot more fun than the Discovery Garden. However, as a whole, I think Thanksgiving Point is a great place to visit on a trip to Utah; there are lots of visiting options available, and lots to keep your youngsters busy. I'm slightly envious of my sister's membership there, but grateful she was able to share the experience with us. We'll be back!