Day 30 - Utah Olympic Park

Last day in Utah and last day for using our Visit Salt Lake Connect Passes. Our main event for the day was Utah Olympic Park in Park City, followed by a late lunch at The Lion House Pantry at Temple Square. We also ended up squeezing in an evening Aerial Tram ride at Snowbird Resort.

Utah Olympic Park has some great ropes courses, zip lines, and slides for people who like high adventure. The Connect Pass let us choose either a guided tour or ropes course, and since only one our 5 children might possibly want to do a ropes course, we chose the tour. It was pretty cool. They took us to the top of the bobsled/louge run and explained all about how the course works. We also got to go to the top of the highest nordic ski jump in the world. Besides the great views, it was amazing to look down the ramp and imagine what those skiers do. There is a free Discovery Zone area where kids can try a mini rope course and rock climbing. Right next to it is a ropes course that children as young as 5-years are allowed to participate in. Adults were doing it as well. We thought about buying tickets for Kid One and Dad to try it out ($15 each) but we were only wearing flip flops and you have to have closed-toe shoes.
Discounts: If you and your kids want to zips, slide, and climb all day long, you can buy a groupon right now for an all-day pass. Look for a groupon discount code for an even better deal.

This was the first time I have ever been to Lion House Pantry when there was not a line out the door. I guess the trick is to go at 2 PM. We had our choice of seats and didn't feel pressured through the line. The food was great. The kids chicken fingers were huge. The Connect Pass paid for $10/adult and $5/kid. Adult meals are $8.99 and kids are $4.99 so it worked out great. The fridge is now loaded with the kids extra chicken fingers which they will get to eat for lunch tomorrow on our drive to Reno. Kid Three was a real trooper today. He was not feeling well but didn't complain about being dragged around. We could tell he was really tired so we didn't stay to explore temple square, but headed back to our hotel.

With Snowbird resort so close to our hotel, I really wanted to try the Aerial Tram (included on our Connect Pass). Kid One is just getting to where she can babysit for a short time. She said she'd rather stay behind with sick Kid Three anyway. Kid Two decided to stay behind as well, so Hubby, Kids Four & Five and I headed over to Snowbird. The tram and Hidden Peak at the top provided incredible views of Little Cottonwood Canyon and the ski runs around the resort. It was a pretty neat experience and I'm glad we got to try it out.