The weather is getting warmer, the daffodils are popping up in our yard and the hopefulness of spring is stirring in my soul. It will soon be a perfect time to visit
Red Butte Garden in Salt Lake City. I first discovered Red Butte Garden a couple of years ago on Arbor Day. Admission is free on Arbor Day and I love to take advantage of free top-notch family activities. We have returned once as a family since then. That was a June weekday and the Garden felt like a peaceful, urban retreat. The gardens were beautiful and quiet (except around my children) and we had lots of room for exploration.
 |
| Splash Pad |
After passing through the main building, we encountered a patio and a large grassy hill bordered with hundreds of flowers. In April, they were beautiful springy daffodils. If your kids are like mine, the hill is perfect for running to the top and rolling down. Enjoy a seat on the patio while you wait for little rollers to get their fill. During our June visit, we visited the Children's Garden where the kids walked behind a waterfall, found their way through a maze and played on the splash pad. Farther down the hill, we visited a pond where we enjoyed a scenic waterfall and were delighted by a family of ducks. The ducklings were adorable and we stayed there awhile admiring the ducklings and admiring our cute kids who were admiring the ducklings... Anyway, who doesn't love baby ducks? One of my favorite parts of the visit was our picnic on one of the "treehouse" patios. The garden is set in the foothills of the Wasatch mountains and is quite hilly. In this section, the wide paved path moves up the hill in long switchbacks and there are two small patios with tables and chairs nestled in the trees that are growing from below. The garden wasn't crowded that day and we felt like it was all ours. Also, if you are a better photographer than me, great photo ops are endless.
 |
| Ducklings! |
Our favorite memories from Red Butte Garden do not cover even half of what you might find there. Perhaps the Rose Garden, the Fragrance Garden, or the Herb Garden will become a part of your cherished family memories. You could spend anywhere between and hour and a whole day in the Garden, but 3-4 hours was about right for us. Red Butte Garden is located just south of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The Garden opens at 9:00 am every day except Thanksgiving and the week between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day. Closing time varies depending on the season, with the earliest close time being at 5:00 pm during the winter and on summer concert days. Adult admission is $8. Admission for children (ages 3-17) is $6. There are discounts for seniors and military and University of Utah students get in free. Red Butte Garden is near enough the new Utah Museum of Natural History that you could use the same parking space for both. Between the two, our family could easily spend a full day.
The free days for 2012 are Arbor Day (April 27), Pioneer Day (July 24) and Labor Day (September 3). As you might expect, a lot of people like free days, so go early if you care about a close parking space. When we went, we did not get there early and parked a few blocks away. There was a shuttle, so Grandma and my daughter took that and I chose to push the big stroller up the hill rather than figure out how to get it onto the bus. When we entered the garden, it was crawling with families, but there was plenty of space for everyone. There was more of a festive community vibe rather than that of a peaceful retreat. They were giving away free scrub oak seedlings for Arbor Day. We took them to a nature trail near our home and planted them there a few days later.
Red Butte Garden also has a fun concert venue. It is an outdoor amphitheater where you can spread your blanket on the grass and enjoy a picnic during the concert. The acts are mostly folky/indie types that play well in that sort of venue. My husband and I attended a They Might Be Giants concert there before we had kids and we have our eye on one of the shows this year. The concerts can sell out fast and priority goes to Garden members. There was a show we wanted to see last year that sold out before tickets became available to the general public. The season for 2012 has been announced
here and tickets go on sale to the general public on May 2, 2012.
 |
| Children's Garden |
No comments:
Post a Comment