Some FREE Activities This Weekend- Saturday, July 9, 2011

This Saturday, July 9th, 2011, there are a couple of FREE admission days taking place at some great attractions in Weber County.

The Treehouse Museum, a children's museum in downtown Ogden has a free admission day. This is a fantastic, interactive museum that lets the kids get hands-on with the exhibits. They can pretend they are the President of the United States and sit behind the desk

in a replica of the Oval Office, do fossil rubbings or complete a bone puzzle in the Dinosaur Discovery area, or discover interesting things about each state with the Great American Map.

For more information, check out the Treehouse Museum's website.

The Ogden Nature center is also holding a free admission day (as they are doing every Saturday during the summer). Come see a live bird program or participate in a nature craft activity. Walk around the 152 acre nature preserve and enjoy a picnic in the beautiful outdoors. Also see the "FOR THE BIRDS" exhibit of handcrafted bird feeders and bird houses.

For more information, check out the Ogden Nature Center's website.

The Hill Air Force Base Aerospace Museum is in the area as well and always offers free admission. If you have the time make a stop here to see a collection of great military planes, including an SR-71 Blackbird- the plane that holds the shortest time record for a coast to coast flight.

Get out there and have some fun in Utah this weekend!

Visit A State Park- For FREE!

Want to visit one of Utah's 43 state parks? Want to do it for free?

Try this out: Go to one of the following Utah libraries listed here (PDF file). Ask a librarian for the Utah State Parks Annual Pass and check it out with your library card. The pass will get you into any one of the 43 state parks for FREE day use (no overnight camping).

You can spend the day on Antelope Island exploring the unique habitat of the Great Salt Lake. Or, you might try This Is The Place Heritage Park and take a trip into Utah's late 1800's. Head over to Camp Floyd and Stagecoach Inn or out to Vernal to the Utah Field House of Natural History. If you have a little more time and stamina, visit the Territorial Statehouse in Fillmore, Goblin Valley or Dead Horse Point.

Here is a full, interactive map of all 43 state parks in Utah. Check out a pass today and begin exploring Utah's State Parks today.

Take Your Kids to the Wild West (Jordan) Playground

Playgrounds have gotten infinitely cooler since I was a kid. Most playgrounds that I enjoyed when I was younger consisted mainly of swings, slides and monkey bars.

The Wild West Jordan Playground in West Jordan City Park, is a playground themed around the wild west, or at least Utah's version of it. The entrance to the playground is marked by an old water tower which sits in front of an approximation of an 1880's Main Street complete with several different storefronts. Beyond and behind the Main Street facade, are areas that represent Utah in the 1880's and 1890's, all connected by bridges, tunnels and monkey bars.

The most impressive part of the entire structure is a multi-level playhouse built to represent the old Saltair resort in its heady days on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. From the top level of the playhouse, an enclosed twisty slide descends almost two stories.

Different walls of the structure are painted to look like the Bingham Canyon Copper Mine or the Wasatch Mountains. Built into the painting of the Wasatch Mountains are a small climbing wall with hand and footholds just like the big walls but not ascending too high, and safe enough for the kids to pretend they are mountain climbing.

There are two distinct areas of the playground, one for the tots, aged 2-5, and the bigger area for the kids from 5-12 years old. The Wild West Jordan Playground is limited to kids 12 or younger, is open dawn 'til dusk, and has cameras that provide 24 hour police surveillance.

And for those of you who crave the old fashioned playground from the days of your youth- yes, the Wild West Jordan Playground does have swings.

If you like Wild West Jordan, also take a look at Discovery Park.

Place: Wild West Jordan Playground (West Jordan City Park) 1985 West 7800 South, West Jordan, Utah

Time: Dawn to Dusk

Cost: Free

View Wild West Jordan Playground in a larger map