Paul asked if I had ever been the the Bridge in Draper. Bridge? What bridge? I have never heard of one so we decided to check it out.
It was a beautiful day! We could see clear across the valley and see the snow capped mountains.
We started out at the Orson Smith Trailhead and headed up the mountain. This hike is a short 2.3 mile loop.
Almost there! It’s only the beginning of April so the terrain is quite dry and dull. The spring leaves haven’t come out yet, but it was still an enjoyable hike.
We did see some colorful wild flowers.
Made it!
This bridge was very popular with lots of hikers. More than I expected. Even with being the first of April, the sun baked the mountain and was quite hot out. But seeing the bridge out in the middle of the mountain was kind of fun and worth hiking in the heat.
We started out the day with a bike ride through the river bottoms.
It’s a fun little trail with lots of bridges.
That afternoon we colored eggs.
We used fresh eggs from a neighbor. It’s hared to see in the picture, but we had a mixture of white, light blue, and light green eggs. We already had nature colored eggs 🙂
Eli really enjoyed this. Not to turn eggs a different color, but to play in water. Colored water!
We showed Eli how to use a clear crayon to draw on the egg. He thought it was pretty fun to be secretive on what he wrote on the egg, dunk it in colored water and reveal his secret message.
We purchased a spinning thing. I don’t know what it’scalled. You put a few drops of dye in the bottom, put the egg in and spin it. It’s supposed to make the egg look tie dye.
Lots of egg dying, and lots of fun. Lots of memories made!
Today’s lunch we drove to Ogden and went to Brixton’s. It’s a baked potato place. You name it, it’s on a potato.
Eli enjoying the view while eating lunch.
I had a veggie potato. Lots of cheese, broccoli, carrots, and corn. Very tasty!
Aaron did’t want a potato. He went with a breakfast sandwich. Egg and bacon.
After lunch we went to Topper bakery. A little sketchy neighborhood 🙂 We were in and out quite quickly. We have been here before and that is why we have been back. Their mint brownies are wonderful! We tried their donut holes this time. They were so good, not one made it home for Paul to try.
Every year we go to Hardware Ranch to see the elk.
We ride on sleighs pulled by clydesdale horses. They take us around through a field of hundreds of elk enjoying themselves grazing on hay.
Very quiet and peaceful.
Beautiful bull elk.
On our drive home we always stop off at Maddox for a coconut cream pie. I can only have coconut cream pies from this restaurant. They know how to make them!
Every year for Christmas we make Riskrem and krumkake for dessert.
To make Riskrem you first need to make the porridge, Risgrot. The key to this dish is to use Arborio rice, not long grain rice. Risgrot is a lot like risotto, but you use milk instead of broth.
Start out with boiling rice in water.
Boil until the water has reduced.
Just like risotto, you add warm milk slowly a 1/2 cup at a time like you would broth.
When all the milk has been added, let it cool.
To make the Risgrot into Riskrem, add real whipped sweetened cream. Delicious!
We eat our Riskrem with Krumkake. A delicate almond cookie.
I use a krumkake maker. It has some Scandinavian patterns on the iron. I love it!
Add just a little batter. It spreads into a very thin round cookie.
We use this cone thing 🙂 to roll the cookies into shape.
Finished Krumkake.
I make a sweet red sauce to go with our riskrem. Add a krumkake and there is dessert!
I have been here so many times growing up, I grew to dislike Disneyland. So, when Eli started to show interest in Mickey Mouse, I really didn’t have a desire to go. But Eli changed my mind.
That smile! That smile right there is why we decided to go. We also thought this is the magical age so we didn’t have a choice. And I’m so glad we did!
Trying to keep a six year old with ADHD, an emphasis on the HD, boy in the same line for an hour. We thought many times if it was worth it. But then seeing that smile and listening to him laugh! Right there, it was worth the long lines.
His imagination went wild in Toon Town.
Mormor couldn’t walk very far due to her knees so we rented a wheelchair for her. That was the best thing ever! We didn’t have to wait in the line for some of the rides.
We would go to a ride, and the employee would put our name on the list. That spot on the list saved us a spot in line without standing in line.
With our name on the list we were able to leave, walk around, and eat ice cream while waiting for our spot to reach the front of the line. The lines were long. We had to wait about 2 hours per ride. It was crazy!
When it was time, we would come back to the ride, and get on.
A lot of time waiting in between attractions.
Seeing Mickey Mouse was like Eli seeing a celebrity walk down the street.
He had a few minutes to talk to him. He was so excited!
He is so cute dancing, ha!
This is the scenery from the Cars ride. They did a fantastic job making it feel like you were out in the dessert of Utah. Out of all the rides in the entire park, this one hands down was the best. Also had the longest line.
I’m not sure what deal was made, but Eli sure was happy 🙂
We all got a chance to push Mormor 🙂
Experiencing Disneyland during the holiday’s was new to me. Everything was lit up. It was a fun experience.
This was new to me. I have never seen the tree lighting.
He played hard. Pretty tired as we left the park.
It didn’t take Eli long to get to bed each night. Three days at a theme park, I was pretty tired as well.
Next on our little vacation is SeaWorld. I haven’t been here in a long time and a lot has changed. For starters, the whales.
Growing up my parents took all of us to SeaWorld every year. So, I have been at this park about 22 times. I remember the trainers swimming with the whales and it was fun to watch.
Now they just swim around and pose.
And do a few jumps out of the water. Eli thought it was pretty fun to watch and he doesn’t know the difference. It’s always incredible to see how big they are.
They really didn’t do anything….
We were soaking wet from the dolphins splashing us.
Still wet 🙂
The petting mini sharks was crazy.
I love Eli’s laugh! He was pushing my hand in the water and wouldn’t let me pull it out. I did not like those little fish feeding on my dead skin. Too weird for me.
We purchased the food option so all our food was included in the ticket price. If theme parks offer this, we always purchase it. This food deal was pretty amazing. We ate a lot! The vouchers were good for certain hours of the day and had to be used or loosed. The first hour we weren’t hungry so we all grabbed drinks. The second hour we grabbed lunch. And then dessert. And snacks. And by the time dinner came, I didn’t use my voucher. The food was definitely theme park quality, but it was good.
This was only half of what we received with one sitting. I’m not sure if this is normal or the employees that day didn’t pay attention to food portioning. I left the park stuffed!
I had fun every year my parents took me, and I definitely had fun bringing Eli. Eli LOVED the park. He is at a perfect age to enjoy all the animals.
We were supposed to find a place to rent golf carts, but we couldn’t find it. We ended up walking to the other end of the island and taking a bus back.
The other side of the island was windy.
Yup, windy this direction as well.
We played in the water and mud. Eli was looking for sea shells.
The shore and rocky beach was beautiful.
Still playing in the sand. Just another part of the beach.
We did some shopping on the island as well.
After Paul’s conference we went to the island for the second time. This time we drove.
Again, playing in the sand.
For dinner we went to Tartine. It was okay, but there isn’t a lot to choose from on this little island.
