Tuesday morning we awoke bright and early, Ok it was like 7:30, but this was a VACATION. After a delicious breakfast buffet we were off on our adventure at Hogle Zoo, just up Emigration Canyon in SLC.
I realize that random pics of the animals we saw are not really entertaining for anyone else but this display at the elephant enclosure helped give us an idea or how massive these animals really are. One of the female elephants had just given birth the day before so there wasn't an elephant show that day.
We did however enjoy the "Birds in Flight" Show. The doves, hawks, owls, and eagle all flew right over our heads, skimming just above our hair. Leah was fascinated. My favorite animal is the giraffe and I love Hogle Zoo because they have giraffes whereas our zoo doesn't. This little baby is only a few months old and was sleeping out in the open. His mama was watching close by.
Abi of course loved the monkeys the best. Tal likes the big cats like the tigers. Leah was mostly thrilled with all of the animals, they are all new to her but at the meerkat exhibit she stood right up straining in the stroller to press her face against the glass and look at the little meerkat eating just inches away from her. None of us liked the prehensile tailed porcupine though, his scent drove mom right out of the exhibit. Pheeyew!!! Abi, Tal and Leah enjoyed climbing on this huge elephant sculpture and had to have their picture taken. 
One of our last stops was to ride the Wild Kingdom Train. I remember riding this train when I was little and visiting Hogle Zoo on a Utah vacation with my family. Too fun.
After Hogle Zoo we drove downtown to Temple Square to see some of the Latter Day Saint Church sites. We were melting in the August heat so we made a quick stop at a Utah favorite, 7-11, to get slushies. Yummy!!! We strolled around Temple Square and the Joseph Smith Building. A cute young couple took our picture in front of the SLC temple. Crazy that it's been almost 10 years since Kris and I were married here and took our pics in almost this very spot. 
The kids were amazed by the number of pipes in the Tabernacle Organ. And Tal commented that the Tabernacle benches were very hard. Having sat through a couple sessions of General Conference on them, I can attest to that. ( Saturday Afternoon Session Standby Line - it's the easiest to get into.) Abi and Talmage enjoyed seeing large representations of pictures they knew from Primary in the Visitors Centers. But their favorite was seeing the Christus. My heart did the little mommy melt when they both just sat and looked quietly for a minute. Mind you, it was only a minute, but I could tell they were feeling the Spirit.
After that we went across the street to see the Conference Center. It is exciting to be in the building that we see on TV when we watch General Conference. Abi said that she loved being up on the roof and seeing all of the plants, waterfall and gardens that are up top. I am always blown away by the sheer size of the Auditorium. Kris and I attended the Saturday morning session there the first time they had General Conference in the Conference Center. We were way up in the 3rd balcony and still when the prophet came in, the room was electric, and you can feel the power. 
Tal loves the Book of Mormon heroes, especially Captain Moroni and Samuel the Lamanite. So it was sooo fun to walk through the Arnold Friberg gallery of the Book of Mormon paintings and have Talmage tell me about each one. After that we went to dinner at the Red Iguana on North Temple. The Red Iguana is Kris's favorite Mexican Restruant; no one else is even close. He craves their Mole Verde. The kids' Killer Nachos were yummy as well. To top off the night we went to the Clark Planetarium in the Gateway Plaza and checked out all of the free exhibits. Tal was mesmerized by the perpetual motion machine and we all had fun "visiting" the moon and Mars.
Soon it was time to get my little Martians back to our hotel for another quick dip in the pool and then off to bed so we could be ready for another big day.
3 comments:
Soooo much fun!! Thanks for sharing all the fun you had. What a cute little family you have.
Looks like a fun getaway. Glad you got to do it!
What a special get away. I am so glad that you got to do this! So much fun!
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