The State of Utah boasts a lot more than magnificent national parks, excellent skiing and the Great Salt Lake. For some real adventure with your tiny tot, you can dig for dinosaurs that roamed the land millions of years ago or catch a glimpse of one of the rarest creatures of our time. On a weekend getaway to visit friends, Alex and I opted to do both!We rushed immediately to Utah’s Hogel Zoo in Salt Lake City to discover the Ghost of the Bayou – a rare white alligator on special loan for a limited time only. Discovered in 1987 southwest of New Orleans, there are only 18 white alligators known to exist worldwide. Alex raced by the gator at warp speed, but if you can get your kid to slow down, the zoo is also home to red pandas, nose-to-nose views of white rhinos, peccaries and other exotics.
To take a giant leap back in time, we headed about 30 minutes south of SLC to the Museum of Ancient Life to see a Supersaurus, an ancient sea turtle, and the bones of a pre-historic gigantic sloth. Zooming up and down the museum’s Jurassic Hall, Alex dodged Brachiosaurus, stegosaurus, and even eluded a couple of T-Rexes. While other junior-paleontologists excavated at erosion tables complete with sand, flowing water and mini-dinos or dug for bones in the museum’s own mini-quarry, we tried hard just to not climb into the exhibits.
We’ll probably have to repeat this trip in a couple of years when little Alex is not seeking to set new speed records, but he did learn a new word this weekend – “awesome.”
