# 8 Ogden's George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park - Ogden Utah

August 17, 2018

 

My parents and I were visiting Ogden, Utah and on a Friday that was a rather hot day in the 90s we visited the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park. First we went inside and paid our admission fee. This park has an inside and outside part.  We decided to go to the outside part first and figured after we got hot outside we could go inside and cool down.   

 

Outside had a main path around with dinosaurs to look at including a T. Rex, a stegosaurus, a triceratops, a pterodactyl, a brontosaurus and my favorite the Ankylosaurus. There were also a bunch of grassy areas with trees and some shade here and there. 

There were also a few trails that went off the main loop. I went down one and I wish I hadn’t as part of it was a turn that was really steep and a little bit nerve-racking trying to drive down it. 

There were also dinosaur footprints that were fascinating to look at.  After a while outside we were hot so we went inside.  We walked through a decent sized room with dinosaur skeletons.  After checking that out we then went upstairs where they had a gem and mineral display. I really enjoyed this and especially the colored gems of various colors purple, green and orange plus some that looked fuzzy were interesting to me. After a while here we were tired so we rested a bit in the parking lot and then left and headed for dinner.

 I had quite a day at the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park although I wish it wasn’t so hot.  I really enjoyed looking at all the dinosaurs and being outside as well as checking out the skeletons and gems and minerals inside.

# 7 Frederick in Flight - Hot Air Balloon Festival

June 23, 2018

I thought it would be interesting to see hot air balloons and a balloon festival, but I wasn’t about to get up early enough to be there for a 6 am launch. So my dad and I instead went to the balloon glow they have at night. They event also had food trucks, music and a bunch of other things. When we arrived there were cars all over the place and we didn’t know if we would find a place to park until we found the handicap parking which still had plenty of spots left. The first thing we did was head for the food section and the Georgia boys barbecue stand and got a really good pulled pork sandwich. The whole place especially the food area was packed with people and difficult for me to get around in my wheelchair but I made it in and out. Then we found a spot to sit at the top of the hill and patiently waited. 

 

After a while they started firing up the balloons and then just as it was starting to get dark the wind started up and about that time the skydivers came down which was kind of interesting to watch. After that the wind kicked up even more and the show was canceled. This was a rather disappointing end to an adventure I was really looking forward to seeing.

#6 Denver Museum of Nature and Science

May 19, 2018. 

This adventure was supposed to be the Denver Zoo but because of a cold, windy and rainy day it became the museum. This was my first visit to the museum in ages and probably a middle school field trip was the last time. 

That morning I had to get up rather early to make it at 9 AM to meet the rest of the family and I slept most of the car ride. When we were there we got to check out the space section which I enjoyed quite a bit seeing the planets, moons and space station displays and so forth. We also saw the Colorado animal displays, the African animal displays.  I was also interested in seeing the creatures of light display. Inside of it was okay, but not as exciting as it sounded. It was still all right to see the jellyfish, fish and various other creatures. I also enjoyed the gems and minerals area and I think it was the same as it was years ago. 

 

But my favorite part I think were the dinosaurs which I’ve always been interested in. After we saw this and even though there was so much more to see we left to go have lunch at the Blue Bonnet Cafe. 

Although we missed out on the zoo we had quite the day and I had a lot of fun spending time with my family at the museum as well as lunch. The zoo will have to wait for another day.