Wednesday Wanderings is back! Sorry it’s been a while, but we’re here now, and I hope you will link up! (ps your “wandering” didn’t have to take place on a Wednesday, neither does your “Wednesday Wanderings” post need to have been written on a Wednesday – just link to a post where you went somewhere, and tell us how it was!)
(disclaimer: I fully intended to bring my relatively nice point-and-shoot camera and let Little E take pictures of the tulips to enter into the photography contest they were having, but I took the camera out of my other bag to put it in the bag I was taking, and ended up leaving it on the kitchen counter instead. So I took a few pictures with my iPhone – which is only a 3G, so not nice at all – bummer. E didn’t get to enter the contest, but at least you have pictures!)
We went to the Tulip Festival with some good friends of ours, and we really did enjoy ourselves – so much that we forgot to apply the sunscreen that was in the bottom of my bag, and ended up a little roasted!
There were so many displays of tulips, and I really loved how they were arranged. It gave me a lot of really good ideas for our front flower beds – which are in serious need of some renovations – I’ve got lots of tulips out there, but they are growing up in the middle of a bunch of weeds! Here are pictures of some of my favorites:
These with pointed petals where everywhere, and I had never seen this type before! When they are open really wide, they look like stars. They were gorgeous.
These tulips looked more like roses with all of their petals. But they were definitely tulips. These ones are like having roses early – or in our case, having roses at all – most people had to prune their roses back farther than normal this year due to a early warm up, and a late freeze.
These were probably my very favorite. They just looked so… spunky! They had the pointed petals, and the yellow/red combination was something else! These pictures of course don’t do the colors justice, but the colors were amazing (not to mention the very pleasant aroma)
Walking around the garden was really nice. They had acres and acres of grass, and when we first got out into the gardens, one of the attendants asked E and his little friend (who is about the same age) if they would be sure to run around on the grass! I’m sure it was more to make sure they knew the grass was for running in, and the gardens were just for looking at.
We stopped to take a few pictures, but mostly the kids just loved running around. The gardens survived Baby pretty well. She managed to remove a staked sign that was naming one of the trees in the garden, but other than that, and a few “gently” stroked flowers, we didn’t have too many pruning accidents on our hands.
Of course, the water features are always a hit. There was a quaint little broke running through the gardens which we had to cross several times. It was all we could do to keep the kids from jumping in!
Thankfully, after we stopped for a picnic lunch, we found the Discovery Gardens with a little pond and stream for the kids to play in. The first thing they did when we got there was to remove their shoes. at least they take them off when they know they’re going to get wet, right? Little E liked going up to the top of the stream and watching these little plastic toys float down the stream into the little pond at the bottom. 
Baby was content to throw stuff into the pond. Both of them got sufficiently wet without even having to get in the pond, so I think they enjoyed themselves. The wetter the child, the happier, right?
And of course, the obligatory “brother and sister” picture. I loved these Italian fountains. The kids wanted to play in this water, too, and it was all we could do to keep them from falling in head first.
The last place we walked on our way out of the gardens was the waterfalls. The waterfalls at Thanksgiving Point are, according to their website, “the largest manmade waterfall in the Western hemisphere.” They were certainly large, and beautiful. The kids were mesmerized. Don’t worry, I’m holding Baby in the picture – no risk of falling in!
Ratings:
Value – 
It was a little pricey at $10 for an adult ticket, and $6 for a child (under 3 was free), but the gardens were so beautiful, and we were able to spend a lot of time there, plus picnic on the lawn in front of that gorgeous waterfall, so I don’t feel so bad about it. You can get a family pass to Thanksgiving Point (the museums, gardens, and farm) for $125/year, which is pretty good, in my opinion. Maybe we’ll ask for a pass for Christmas this year from the grandparents.
Location – 
It’s right on I-15, smack dab between Provo and Salt Lake City. Which is actually kind of a remote part of Central Utah, but hey, it’s probably for the best, because that means it is equal travel distance for folks from Utah county and Salt Lake county. It only took us about 15 minutes, which is why a pass would be such a great value for us.
Fun Factor – 
It really was a lot of fun. And the fact that the kids could run just about anywhere was nice. It was definitely a kid-friendly garden. Plus, the kids were so worn out by the end that they passed out for naps. I say that’s a pretty good way to rate an activity!
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