Bear Lake

Our family is going camping at Bear Lake, so I thought I would post some ideas of things to do at Bear Lake.

We will be staying at Rendezvous Beach. It is a State Park and has some great beaches. You can get a day pass and go in for the day or there are camp sites.

Minnetonka Cave
Most people don't know about Minnetonka Cave. It is a 9 room cavern on the Idaho side of the border. It is just a short drive up St. Charles canyon. The fee is $5 for adults and $4 for kids 6-9 or a family pass for $20. The tour of the cave is guided and is 1/2 mile long.. There are some beautiful features in this cave and the tour is packed with scientific and historical information. This is a great adventure for the kids, but take a jacket. Visit this website for information.

Pickleville Playhouse
This is another fun activity for the whole family. I played the piano at Pickleville after my junior year of high school and it is so much fun. Every year they do a melodrama. This year it is "Chuck Wagon's Wild West Showdown." If you haven't been to a melodrama, you should-and take the kids. You get to cheer for the hero, sigh for the heroin, and boo at the villain. This year, they are also producing "Thoroughly Modern Millie." They also have a delicious western bar-b-q where they offer lemon herb chicken, pork ribs, or rib-eye steak. This meal is always fantastic. Tickets that include both the show and dinner run at $16.50 for kids and $29.50 for adults. You can also purchase show tickets and dinner tickets separately if you wish to do one or the other. You can visit their great website at www.picklevilleplayhouse.com

LaBeau's Drive-in
One thing you HAVE to do if you go to Bear Lake, is get a shake and fries at LaBeau's!!! Their shakes are thick and over the top. Bear Lake is famous for its raspberries and the fresh raspberry shake is my favorite. I also love their french fries and fry sauce. They are home made and delicious. Expect to wait in line regardless of the time of day, but the line is even worse during regular meal hours. So plan well. Their address is:
LaBeau’s Drive In
69 N. Bear Lake Blvd.
Garden City
435-946-8821

Limber Pine Trail
This trail is located up Logan Canyon. It is a one mile loop trail and is easy enough for children and families. I hiked this trail with my second grade class. There is large limber pine tree along the trail that is incredibly old. The views along the trail overlooking Bear Lake are absolutely breath taking. Logan Canyon Website


There are so many other things to do: water sports (rentals are available), horseback riding, golfing, and Raspberry days are the end of August. So whether you are going for a day trip or vacation there are lots of things to do. Have fun. I know we will!

Drive In Movie

After a series of events that ruined my plans for yesterday's Friday Adventure, we decided to go to a movie at the Redwood Drive-In! My son wanted to see Kung Fu Panda and I thought that sounded like a great idea. Besides, my husband could go with us, too.

Here are some things you should bring:
*CASH-we didn't have enough and had to go find an ATM and come back.
*Snacks- I got each person an $.88 box of candy at Wal Mart, their own can of Pringles chips and a bottled soda.
*Pillows
*Blankets
*Camp Chairs
*Some people had dinner and coolers full of snacks

Things you should know:
Children under 5: free
Children 6-9: $1
Adults 10 and up: $7
*The first movie started at 9:30.
*Arrive early- we were there 45 minutes early and that would have been just right, except we had to go find cash. We ended up back quite far by the time we got back.
*Take something for the kids to do while waiting for the movie to start. My kids brought the game Catch Phrase to play-smart kids.
*When you pull in to a spot, make sure you can see over the cars in front of you. The people next to us had their mini van, but were sitting in camp chairs. Someone came and parked in front of them and they had to pick up all their stuff and move it so they could see.
*The drive in theater on Redwood Road is a double or even triple feature. We went for Kung Fu Panda, but stayed for Indiana Jones. Luckily, my little ones fell asleep. It was fun to stay up late with the older kids.

Here are some drive-in theaters in Utah:
Salt Lake City: Redwood Drive In
Ogden: Motor Vu Drive in and Swap Meet
Mount Pleasant: Basin Drive In Theater
Tooele: Motor Vu Drive In

Springville Museum of Art

I wish I had this information sooner, but I found it by accident Friday morning and decided to go. The art museum in Springville has an annual Children's Art Festival. They had booths, food and entertainment. Each of the kids got a punch card. As they visited each booth, it was punched and when they had visited 7 booths, they could enter it in a drawing.

The booths were so much fun. All of them were hands-on art activities. We created Styrofoam ink prints, puppets and books. My 2 year old had fun doing the fingerprint art. Her hands were covered with ink. My 7 year old loved making her own bracelet out of copper wire and beads. My 10 year old really enjoyed the leather stamping booth. And my 13 year old liked making the sun catchers out of sequins, glitter, thread and contact paper. There were also paper lizards, 'china' plates and face painting.

There were storytellers scheduled throughout the day as well as entertainers. I especially enjoyed the Native Americans that shared their heritage, music and dances.

They also had food available to purchase- hotdogs, otter pops, kettle corn, etc.

My kids came home with a bag full of art projects and I came home with a bunch of ideas for school. We will definitely go back again next year!

You can visit the museum for their regular exhibits year round. They also have great materials for school teachers. Their website is: http://smofa.org/

Golden Spike

For all you train and history buffs out there, this is a can't miss. Promontory Utah is located North West of Brigham City. It is out in the middle of nowhere. But it was worth the trip.
In 1869, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads joined tracks at this spot. A golden spike was driven to celebrate the event.
There is a lovely visitors center with a video presentation, museum and gift shop. The museum was very interesting and showed the steps for laying the track. My kids loved exploring the gift shop with all of the books and memorabilia. We had to purchase a train whistle before we could leave.
The best part by far, however, are the trains. There are 2 steam locomotives, the Juniper and the No. 119. They are replicas of the original engines at the golden spike ceremony. They demonstrate the engines and you can get right up next to them. My son and nephew loved getting up on the platform to look inside the engine. They are absolutely beautiful. There are no rides on the train. The only problem was the whistles are awfully loud and scared the little ones. But they got over it.
This is a National Park and if you have a National Parks pass, you can get in with it. If not, the cost is $7 per vehicle. We had such a great time, especially since my 4th grade son had learned a little about it in school.
Visit their website for directions and more information:
http://www.nps.gov/gosp/