We just returned from a week-long Utah trip a few days ago. It started with barf, ended with barf, and we squeezed in a whole bunch of fun in between. Yes, you read that right: barf. Of course. We were supposed to leave on Sunday morning, but Stevie was feeling sick. Not the first time this has happened. So I figured it was nerves or excitement and he’d get it out of his system and be fine. But the barf kept coming. We postponed indefinitely and I started to panic-plan a back-up. The only thing we couldn’t change was our weekend plans in Park City, so that gave him about 4 days to recover. We were determined to make it happen, however we ended up getting there. Luckily we didn’t have to postpone long…

Route

24-hours and a Covid test later, the kid was good as new. So we hit the open road. Paul flew in at the end of the week, so we were on our own those first few days. Stop number one was Hurricane. I got to visit my family and meet my nephew (FINALLY!) Then onto Lehi where I saw just a few of my many cousins, aunts and uncles. Finally, Park City for a long weekend with friends and their families. The drive went unexpectedly smooth, if you don’t count the are-we-there-yet’s. I know all kids do that when they’re excited to arrive somewhere… but Stevie is next level. I once used a clicker counter to track how many times he asked on a 6-hour road trip. It was easily over 100. Suffice to say my brain feels a bit discombobulated when we finally arrive at any destination.

Accommodations

We have so much family throughout Utah, we always have offers to stay with people. But most of the time, we end up getting a hotel. It not only keeps things simple for Stevie when it comes to his bedtime and early rising, (which stresses me out at someone else’s house) but it also helps to find somewhere with a pool and try to make more vacation vibes.

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Hurricane: my mom’s house is an exception to the hotel rule. We always stay with her. But if you’re in the area, I am happy to offer recs. They are not fancy hotels, but if you’re in Hurricane, you might not be fancy either. Haha. Most of the hotels in the area are pretty standard. I guess I would just steer clear of the Super 8 to be honest. I’m sure they’ve remodeled it since I last stayed, but the pink hot tub on a damp carpet was just… not my bag baby.

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Lehi: I have family near Thanksgiving Point, and since I’m a Marriott rewards member, that’s always my go-to. This time we stayed at the Springfield Suites and it was just what we needed. In case you missed it, Stevie even gave a little tour of our hotel on Instagram.

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Park City: since there were 14 of us meeting in Park City, we needed a roomy house. We found the Abode off Main, and the proximity to the cute little downtown area really had us sold on the whole thing. The room situation was perfect for families, and we were close to a couple little parks as well. Very helpful during the witching hour. We decided when we do this again, we’ll need a bigger kitchen and a better backyard. But otherwise, it was pretty awesome!

Eats

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By some miracle, we actually didn’t eat out that much on this trip! It was so nice to be hosted and eat some homecooked meals with all the hustle of traveling around. I usually come home from a road trip feeling like crap from all the fast food, but this worked out nicely. There were a couple foods spots I wanted to pop into since we don’t have them in LA (Zupa’s and Crumbl!) And while we were in Park City, we all contributed to a big food pile for breakfast and lunch. Then each family was responsible for a dinner. Here are links to dinner ideas: sloppy joes / nacho bar / egg roll in a bowl / french toast casserole.

activities

It’s been many years since I’ve been to Park City, and while my favorite part of any vacation is the downtime, happy hour, catching up portion, we obviously needed plenty of planned activities to keep the children busy. They had a good amount of downtime too, but having something on the schedule for them to look forward to (and frankly, tire them out) was a top priority. Stevie would’ve been happy parking his bike all around the neighborhood. But he really had fun doing the other stuff too, which was nice to see. At one of the pools, he even asked me to leave him alone. A far cry from the constant “hey mom, watch this!” I’ll take it.

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Lehi City Pool: I think we visited this pool on the perfect day. It was warm but not hot, a little overcast, not to crowded, and just as we were leaving, it started to pour big ol’ raindrops. My dry, drought-ridden California heart loved that. There were two water slides that Stevie loved and plenty of room to move around and keep an eye on the kids. It also has a beautiful backdrop with the mountains nearby. For $6 a person, it was a great way to kill a couple hours.

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Heber Valley Train: This activity came highly recommended, and with the beautiful lakeside views, I could see why. We did the shortest tour called Deer Creek. The live music was a pleasant surprise and overall it was a nice, relaxing ride. We packed a lot of snacks, though they do have a food car too. And keep in mind, the train is HOT. We were there on a moderately warm day, and while our car was toasty, someone in one of the other cars got heat exhaustion. It can be pretty brutal. Bring plenty of water and hopefully you’ll get a train car with big windows!

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Olympic Park: Definitely a highlight of the trip! The kids seemed to really enjoy it, and the adults had fun too. A perfect blend of activities for thrill seekers and little ones alike. It was very exciting to see the ski-jump training! We ended up buying 3-hour passes for everyone, so we could try different activities. I think the real winners for us were the giant tube slide and the alpine slide. The ropes coarse was way too hard for Stevie, but I might have convinced him to do the zipline if we had more time. I also just love that they’ve taken what could’ve been an abandoned Olympic village and made it into something so fun for people to continue enjoying. Well done, PC!

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Park Silly Sunday Market: An open-air market with food, beer, and shopping is pretty much the best thing you can ask for, especially during covid. Apparently I am not the only one who thought so, as the place was PACKED. Haha. But this was a good activity for our last full day because it gave the kids a chance to shop for souvenirs (many locally made) and walk around the cute little downtown area one last time. I didn’t do much shopping. I was pretty tired by this point in the trip and #spendfreesummer is still high on my priority list. But it was still an excellent stop and I tried on lots of pretty dainty jewelry just to tempt myself.

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MARC Pool: And finally, we wrapped up all the fun with another swimming day at the rec center. The pool looked huge in the photos, so it was smaller than we anticipated. Still perfectly adequate for a bunch of wild kids to burn off any remaining energy. It was a bit more expensive than the Lehi pool (I want to say $6/kid and $15/adult) but still worth hours of entertainment. We packed snacks — can you go anywhere with kids and not have snacks?? And we brought plenty of sunscreen and water. Oh hot tip: if your kid can’t swim without his goggles, and acts like he’s being murdered over the idea that his eyelids might touch water? The lost and found has some laying around. Ask me how I know. Go ahead, ask me.

packing list

Summer packing is usually a peak minimalist moment for me. I like to bring the basics and the clothes are much lighter than winter clothes. But it’s also harder to repeat outfits when you sweat like a banshee. So while I tried to keep it simple, I may have overpacked on this trip. I had TWO extra outfits that never saw the light of day. Very unlike me. But with such a mix of activities, and being gone so much longer than usual, I felt ok squeezing those extra things in my suitcase even though I didn’t use them. Sometimes you just gotta be prepared for any scenario! I also brought more shoes than I anticipated because I just couldn’t decide. A side effect of waiting until the morning you leave to start packing. Procrastination at its finest. You can see a short Reel of all my outfits here.

Thanks for visiting the blog and reading my wrap-up! If you like a short video format, I put together a Reel of our trip here. Have you ever taken a Utah trip? Do tell!

loves,
jaana