Yes, Orlando sounds like a great place. Maybe I'll get there someday. I have, however, been to the next best thing: Ogden! (It's the Orlando of Utah!)
If you've ever been to Ogden, you probably think I'm joking...and I am--but not completely. Our family genuinely likes vacationing in Ogden! We like it so much we've actually vacationed there twice!!
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| Ogden: It's sooooo much fun!!! |
Why do we like to vacation in Ogden? One word: museums! What Orlando is to theme parks, Ogden is to museums. In fact, I'd say there are more museums in Ogden than there are theme parks in Orlando! (Sadly, the same can't be said for Olive Gardens.) What kind of museums, you ask? Well, there's the Hill Aerospace Museum, the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park, the Treehouse Children's Museum, and Union Station, which is the home of several more museums, including the Utah State Railroad Museum, the John M. Browning Firearms Museum, the Browning-Kimball Classic Car Museum, and the Utah Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. (That's a lot of museums!!!)
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| They even have post cards! |
The kids really liked the museums at Union Station, especially the Railroad Museum. There were fun train displays, train crossing play areas, and old train cars they could climb around in. (PopPop was enthralled by the Firearms Museum. We could have left him wandering around there for several days. In fact, I think we might have. Has anyone seen PopPop?)
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| It's an old train station and it's home to several museums. |
The Dinosaur Park was a thrill for the kids. They loved wandering through the dinosaur statues and the animatronic dinosaurs, too. And they played for quite some time in the playground and fossil-digging areas.
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| Rowrrr!!! |
However, for our kids the favorite museum, by far, was the Treehouse Children's Museum. It is an amazing place! Each kid had several things that they enjoyed, from the train-track tables, to the fire truck, the diner, the parachutes, the bear cave, the Oval Office, the milking cow, the bucking broncos, the bull riding, the arts and crafts, and more! My ten year-old daughter even got to walk right into the lead role in a play! We spent over six hours at the Treehouse Museum, and none of our four kids ever got bored. (The only reason we left was because the adults were getting exhausted and hungry.)
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| Choo! Choo! Choo-rific! |
In fact, there are so many museums that, despite taking two different vacations to Ogden, we haven't seen them all. (I've heard the Hill Aerospace Museum is fantastic, but we just haven't had time to get there yet. Maybe on our next vacation to Ogden.)
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| Just like Orlando! (But with more mountains and fewer swamps.) |
So, when you think of trendy, fun vacation spots, Ogden, Utah might not be one of the first places to come to mind. But, if you've got kids, it should. (Heck, one day they might even start calling Orlando the Ogden of Florida!)
The preceding was not paid for by the Ogden Travel Council--but I'd be willing to accept some money from them if they'd like to send any my way!
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