Park City

Our main destination for vacation was Park City, Utah. We chose this because there are so many outdoor activities, making it easier to social distance. Also, the temps are more than 20 degrees cooler than home! 

With four kids and not wanting a rushed vacation, we did one activity a day, then spent the other time playing exploring or hanging out. 

Day 1:

The first day we went and checked out the Olympic Park. We saw people practicing ski jumps into a big pool, which was pretty cool. We also realized there really aren't any activities for the little kids. So we went back to the house and I took the older kids back to have fun. The highlight for me and Connor was the zipline. I've always wanted to do one and it definitely didn't disappoint. The highlight for Isla was the alpine slide. The ropes course was a low for all of us, when we ended up needing rescuing by the workers. (insert face palm here!) We went back a few days later and I watched another lady and her kids being rescued on the ropes course and then didn't feel so bad. 

Day 2:

We drove into Salt Lake City to go to the zoo. It was actually a very pleasant experience. I was nervous about the crowds, which really ended up being a non-issue.  You have to pre-buy timed tickets into the zoo. And maybe because it was a weekday, there was not many people there. It was nice to get out and do something that felt relatively normal. 

Day 3:

We went to Jordanelle state park. I originally wanted to walk to the dam, but it was farther away from the parking lot than I thought. So instead we had a picnic lunch, then a small little loop of a hike before letting the kids play in the water. We packed up to leave just as a storm was coming, which was perfect timing. 

Day 4:

Connor really wanted to ride public transportation, so planned an outing for us in Salt Lake City with it. Funny story, neither Ian or I checked out Connor's plan. We just went with it. Well, he drove us way south of the city because he wanted to ride public transportation longer...haha! He mapped for us to go to a coffee shop, then to an ice cream place. Public transportation was basically empty. I don't know if that is normal or covid, but either way, it made the experience that much more enjoyable. 

Day 5:

We took the most beautiful and incredible little hike. Despite what these pictures show, much of the hike was covered in trees, making it a nice and cool hike. Connor passed his time telling ghost stories, Callum went between throwing rocks and filling his pockets with them, Isla collected wild flowers for a bouquet and Willa slept. 

Day 6:

We went back to the olympic park, as the kids really wanted to go back. This time Ian did activities with the kids. I stayed too, as I found a play area when I was there before. It was a little big for Callum, but he had fun. I would say the same activities were highlights for the kids. Connor went on the zipline at least six times. One time Ian took Isla on the alpine slide and Connor rode the zipline four times just in the one time they did the alpine slide. We took a picture with the bobsled track, as I am a big Cool Runnings fan...haha! You can pay to ride down it with a professional bobsledder, but I figured I would probably barf, so I didn't do it. But the younger, stronger stomach, me really wanted to do it. 

While in Park City, we stayed in an airbnb that was just perfect. The place had five bedrooms, which we really didn't need all those. We ended up sleeping in three. It had a hottub...which was the reason we booked it. We used the hottub almost every day. The nice thing about an airbnb is being able to cook all your own meals, though we did pick up take out two nights. After Park City, we headed south to Zion National Park. 

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Bonneville Salt Flats

We just got back a couple days ago from a week and a half long road trip to Utah. One of the highlights for me is basically a piece of land in the middle of nowhere, the Bonneville Salt Flats. It is just such a fascinating place unlike none I have ever been to. 

So I knew I wanted to stop at the salt flats, but was unsure how exactly to. Everything I could tell online is that there is an amazing rest stop on I-80 west bound. It has access to walk and drive on the flats, as well as foot washing stations. Unfortunately we were headed east and would not be coming back the same way. And it would be a huge backtrack to turn around for the rest stop. Well, after reading one thing online on a forum, it seemed we could just drive to the flats ourselves via exit 4. But again, I had no clue what to expect. Even the map on our iPhones could not comprehend what we wanted to do and was saying it was going to take over 2 hours to drive a couple miles. Anyway, in case you ever do this yourself, just follow the road off the exit and it dead ends into the flats. But another funny story about that...

The road just ends. It ends with a big circle area for you to turn around and there were probably five cars parked there. So, it seemed one should stop there. But, there was a car in front of us and said car just flew out onto the flats. So we followed. And ohmygosh it was so fun. So freaky. So freeing. At this point, we had not gotten out of our car, so I was freaked out that we might sink or something. Spoiler alert, we didn't. 

When we finally stopped and got out, I could feel that the salt flats were totally hard. It was such a strange feeling. It's such a vast space of emptiness. Even cars driving that I would consider nearby were hard to hear. It was as if the vastness just ate up the sound. 

The kids got such a kick out of all this. They ran on it. They tasted it...it tastes way saltier than normal salt, if that's even possible. They looked at it through a microscope...because everyone happens to have a handheld microscope on vacation with them. There also was some beyblade playing on the salt. 

When we went to get back in the car, salt was stuck to everyones shoes and made such a MESS in the car. Like, I don't even know how that much salt could be on shoes. But the same for the car tires. We drove another 2+ hours to our airbnb and our car still spilled salt out all over the garage where we were staying. 

This was definitely one of those once in a lifetime stops on the side of the road, but was so worth it and so cool. I saw later online that there is an aqueduct that goes through the salt floats with brine water and people float on it. That looked fun too. This was just a great way to start our trip. 

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Copenhagen

When we started planning our trip last year, we knew we were going to go to Scotland for sure. Then London with Ian's family came to be. So for our last bit of time, I knew I wanted to go somewhere we had never been before, but didn't necessarily know where. One day while listening to the radio, they were talking about this cool lego place in Denmark, the home of lego. Now the cool lego place ended up being more than three hours outside of Copenhagen, so we didn't go visit. But that was what started me looking at Denmark, thus deciding on Copenhagen. 

The one thing I did not know about Copenhagen until we arrived was how insanely expensive it is. The exchange rate certainly wasn't in our favor. Plus, you have to even pay for tap water at restaurants! Think $5 for a pitcher of water. The food situation definitely created a huge sticker shock. And though the train getting from the airport into Copenhagen was super convenient and easy, I didn't find public transportation convenient, at least where we were staying. So, we did a lot of walking because, well, taxis be crazy expensive there too! Ian and I can handle the walking, but it was hard for the kids with the warm humid weather and the walking. But let's switch gears to some good things about Copenhagen. 

Obviously Tivoli was a highlight. Over a month later, my kids still bring it up all the time. Also, there was an epic park right next to the building we were staying in. I don't even know how to begin describing the amazingness of this park. It had several play structures. But there were also toys out during the day for kids to play with. Tons of different bikes that you could ride by yourself, or many even had seats to ride others around too. Also, there were so many trees. Which sitting under the trees with a little breeze, the heat wasn't even a bother. During the day, there was also a building that sold snacks, most notably popsicles. It was just a really great park. One that was visited more than once a day every day we were there. 

For the touristy stuff in Copenhagen, we walked Stroget, a super long pedestrian only street that is full of shopping and charm. The kids weren't super into it, well except for the neat lego store. But I thought it was a fun experience. Then we went to Nyhavn. Nyhavn is absolutely beautiful, and colorful, but to be honest, there really isn't anything to do except eat there. Well, it is also the start of boat tours, if one is going to do that...being stuck on a small cramped vessel with my children for a decent amount of time wasn't a priority of mine, so we didn't do one. I had seen on Pinterest months ago that there was a place that had trampolines in the sidewalk. I really, really wanted to go, but literally couldn't find anywhere that listed where in the city they were. I finally found someone mention what hotel they were across from, so we hunted them down. Callum absolutely loved them. We had to drag him away. Isla enjoyed them. And Connor was just hot. But they are right next to the waterway. It really was a beautiful setting. It would have just been more enjoyable if there were some trees and it was a little cooler out ;)

Another day we took a corny little train tour of the downtown area. I enjoyed it because it let us see quickly a few of the highlights that we really were skipping because the kids can only take so much. I should mention that there were also several coffee shop trips, because Ian was there. 

^^ proof that I was actually there

^^ Our airbnb was actually someone's primary residence. This was the first time that has ever happened in all the times we've stayed in airbnb's. It was sort of weird, but also super nice because there were SO MANY toys to play with. Including a swing installed in the ceiling and a jungle gym bar coming from the ceiling too that Isla totally loved.

^^ at the cool lego store on Stroget

If we went back to Copenhagen, I would definitely rent bikes ahead of time...they have cool ones all over with buckets on the front for kids. It would have made getting around so much easier. And I think having just known that every meal was going to be crazy expensive in advance would have helped with my sticker shock as well. Oh, and not having our departing flight canceled a couple hours before we were supposed to leave would have helped too. But those are just minor details...well the flight wasn't, but that's another story. 

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Tivoli in Copenhagen

Remember back, oh 5 weeks ago, when we were in Copenhagen? Yeah, I almost don't remember either. But here I am, finally getting around to posting about it. I'll be honest that I don't do tons and tons of research when we travel. I have a general idea of what I'd like to do and sort of fill things in as we go along. Our first full day in Copenhagen we went to Tivoli. I thought Tivoli was like Central Park in NYC, but with a few rides at it. No, Tivoli is more like a miniature Disneyland. And it was pretty dang amazing. 

Tivoli is 175 years old and is where Walt Disney got some of his inspiration for Disneyland from, which you can definitely tell as you walk around. Like, say, the striking similarities of a ride that looks like the matterhorn or it's a small world. The big difference, in my opinion, is there is much more beauty and green space, less characters and way, way less crowds. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day. 

Since I was expecting something like Central Park, I thought we would spend a couple hours there, then move on. Nope, we spent all day long, until it was bedtime, there. Isla got more brave with the rides as the day went along, but she spent the first bit of time in the park riding the carousel 6 or 7 times. Which, admittedly, it was a pretty dang cool carousel. Connor was adventurous and went on 3 different rollercoasters, riding a couple of them many times. Believe it or not, almost none of the rides had age/size restrictions if you had a parent with you. So, Ian took Callum on one of the rollercoasters with him and Connor. He took some video where Callum looks totally freaked out, but Callum says he had fun. So, who knows.

The kids had so much fun there that they have asked over and over when we can go back. Especially Connor. He asks every couple days when we can go back to Tivoli. I'm glad it's something we sort of stumbled upon and I'm glad we were flexible enough that we could spend the whole day there because it really was a good day. 

Tivoli was definitely the highlight of our time in Copenhagen, but I will get around to posting the rest of our time in Copenhagen eventually...like maybe before the baby arrives ;)

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High Tea in London

My mother in law and sister in law really wanted to do a high tea in London. Their thought was a tea with all the women in the family, but they weren't arranging it, so I looked into a kid friendly tea we could all do together. This high tea did not disappoint. It was an "old sweets shop" theme, and I would beg to say there were actually too many sweets...though my kids may argue with me on that one. 

All the kids were offered milkshakes or tea. All chose milkshakes, with Isla wanting to try some of my tea after it came. The kids were actually also each handed their own plates full of kid friendly sandwiches (think cheese, ham, pb&j) and a bunch of sweets. The adults got to feast on these three tiered plates in the middle. We actually all got so full, we came nowhere near eating all the food on the table. Side note, scones with clotted cream and jam are literally my jam. See what I did there?! But seriously, I ate them all the time when we lived in Scotland, so was basically in heaven engorging myself with them at the tea.

Then, when all was done, they brought each kid a goody bag (stuffed bear, coloring book, sticker book, crayons) AND each kid got to pick candy from the candy bar to take home! It was a little over the top, but honestly, I also think the over the topness is what also made it a super fun experience. 

I would label this as another highlight of the trip. Super fun (and filling!). Something the kids and adults (well, at least me) enjoyed. Definitely something I would do again, if we went back to London with the kids. 

^^ Callum got and quickly finished (like was the FIRST kid done) a full size milkshake. I wasn't sure whether I should be proud or fearful of the sugar high and crash to come.

In case you missed it, here are some other posts from our time in London - the London Eye, random things around London, and the Harry Potter Studio Tour...which was one of my favorite things of the entire trip. 

Eventually I will be done posting all the things from our trip. But now that I am sprinkling in some real life, in the moment posts, it may take a bit longer. 

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