Secret Garden at Thanksgiving Point

It’s that time of the year when a family man’s fancy turns to… gardening?

Up here in the north country, we wait patiently all winter for spring to come so we can get back into our yards to push dirt around in our neverending quest for the perfect landscape.

We took a family vacation last year to Utah, where I found inspiration for my backyard projects in an amazing place called Thanksgiving Point.

Located in Lehi, Utah, about 30 minutes south of Salt Lake City, Thanksgiving Point is a sprawling complex that features a wide variety of activities for the whole family.  But the highlight of the place is the 55 acres of gardens, with 15 themed areas, such as the Monet Garden, the Butterfly Garden, and, my favorite, the Secret Garden.

Largest man-made waterfalls

Oh yes, and don’t forget the largest manmade waterfall in North America.  My kids wondered why I can’t build something like that in our backyard.

The gardens are stunning, and immense, and you could probably stroll along the 4 miles of paths all day, exploring and reveling in nature’s splendor.  But that’s not going to happen when you have kids, and it’s certainly not going to happen when you have so many other things to do at Thanksgiving Point.

Like gawking at dinosaur bones inside the Museum of Ancient Life.  You’ll find plenty to gawk at, as this museum offers up the largest display of mounted dinosaurs in the world.  If it’s not enough to look, there are hands-on displays for your kids, including real fossils and bones.  It’s rather humbling to touch something that was walking the earth 50 million years ago.  Does that make me a science geek?

Dinosaurs rule at Thanksgiving Point

The collection impressed us so much, we walked through the museum twice just to soak it all in.  After that, we sat down in the XanGo Mammoth Screen 3D Theatre (it’s like IMAX) for a fun movie about ancient sea creatures.

When you’re done with the extinct animals, walk the kids over to another part of Thanksgiving Point called Farm Country.  Yes, the place has more themed areas than Disneyland.  At Farm Country, your kids are going to get hands-on experience with farm critters.  They’ll get to milk a cow, gather eggs, groom a goat, go for a hayride, and call the pigs to dinner.  If you live in a city and your kids have never seen a farm before, this will be a chance to teach them just exactly where their food comes from.

Next, you’ll want to run your kids through the hedgerow maze in the Children’s Discovery Garden, just in case they’re not completely worn out yet.  And make sure they pay a visit to the bear cave for a little scare.

After the gardens, dinosaurs, mazes, and agriculture lessons, there’s still much to do.  There’s a complex of shops, restaurants, and movie theaters.  There’s also a beautiful golf course that was named best public course in Utah by Golf Digest Magazine.   If you’ve run out of steam, perched right on the edge of Thanksgiving Point is a Marriott Springhill Suites that has the most comfortable hotel beds I’ve ever slept on.  Seriously, I can’t remember the last time I had a more refreshing night’s sleep.

Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point

Although our ultimate destination last spring was not Thanksgiving Point, it certainly was a welcome diversion on our road trip through the state.  In the future, we’ll include a one or two-day stop there in our vacation plans.  Utah has an incredible number of National Parks.  Five in all:  Bryce Canyon, Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef.  Not to mention its close proximity to Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde National Parks.  At some point, no matter where you live, there’s a high probability you’ll find yourself in Utah, driving down I-15 from Salt Lake City, thinking about how far it is to Arches or Zion.  And then you’ll remember that Phil told you to make a stop at Thanksgiving Point with your kids.  You’re welcome.

The best time to visit is when the gardens are open, which is from the end of March through the end of October.  Spring is, of course, one of the more colorful seasons at Thanksgiving Point.  Their Tulip Festival runs from April 17th to May 2, when over a quarter million bulbs are in bloom.

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

Italian Gardens

Children's Discovery Garden

Museum of Ancient Life

All photos by Phil Corless, except the tulips (courtesy of Thanksgiving Point)

Spectacular Double Arch, at Arches National Park

It’s a dream of mine to take my kids to every National Park in the United States.  Obviously, I’ll never be able to do that, as there are just too many of them and too little time.

But at least we can visit the parks close to us in the west, like Yellowstone, Glacier, Yosemite, Olympic, and Arches.  Last spring, we planned a family vcation to see that last one, Arches National Park, in Utah.  The place surprised me with its uniqueness, beauty, and kid-friendliness.

The best part of the park, especially for families with young children, is that most of the major features are in a relatively small area, and none of them are too far from the road.  That means short hikes that won’t wear anybody out.  The park contains over 2,000 arches, but you’ll probably only see a dozen or so unless you take longer hikes into the backcountry.  Highlights include Double Arch, which is an awesome place for the kids to climb on sandstone formations.  Yes, they let you climb just about everywhere except on top of the arches themselves.

Through sandstone fins to Sand Dune Arch.

Our hikes were mostly a half-mile to just under two miles, on trails that were easy to traverse and, in some cases, paved.  There was one exception, which I’ll get to in a minute.  There’s such a wide variety of arches and formations in the park that at no time are you going to hear, “Oh, it’s just another arch,” from your kids.  They were excited to get out of the car and explore at every stop.  One of my favorites was the half-mile trek through sandstone fins and deep sand to the isolated Sand Dune Arch.  It felt like we were in another world.

At the end of the main road through the park is one of the longest trails, The Devils Garden.  You’ll see ten impressive arches on this 7-mile loop.  Or, you can do like we did and walk as far as Landscape Arch, about a mile in.  Landscape Arch is the longest span in the park at more than a football field in length.  Parts of it collapsed in 1991, so you might want to hurry before the whole thing comes down.  In fact, another arch a few hundred yards down the trail collapsed completely last August.

Running to Delicate Arch

We didn’t walk the entire Devils Garden loop because we were saving our energy for what I think is the must-do hike in the entire park, the 3-mile round-trip trek to the iconic Delicate Arch.  This is the arch you see on Utah license plates.  It’s a free-standing sandstone arch that reminded my son of a giant pair of pants.  You can’t see the arch while you’re on the somewhat strenuous trail, which includes some steep sections of slickrock.  Because it’s out of view the whole way, it’s something of a treat to have it come into view as you round the final corner of the trail.  My tired kids found a burst of energy when they saw it and took off running to the other side of the “bowl” so they could walk underneath the arch.

It’s an absolutely stunning scene, with the La Sal Mountains in the background, and plunging cliffs on either side of the arch.  There are plenty of nooks and crannies along the cliffs above Delicate Arch where you can lay out a blanket and enjoy some snacks before heading back down.  It took us about three hours for the entire hike, so you’ll want to start it in the morning or early afternoon.  Of all the arches you see in the park, this is the one that you’ll remember best.

We stayed in nearby Moab, Utah, where there are plenty of inexpensive hotels to choose from.  If you’re looking for a great place to eat after a day of hiking, seek out some carbs at Pasta Jay’s, an Italian restaurant that made every member of my family happy.  Best Chicken Parmigiana I’ve ever had!

If you want to start visiting our incredible National Parks with your young kids, Arches is the perfect place to begin with them.  They’ll see and experience nature at its most weird and wonderful.

Winding trail through Park Avenue Canyon.

Arches National Park

Climbing near Double Arch

All photos by Phil Corless