Stacy and Allison's Trip to Utah - June 2026

During the 2nd week of June, Allison and I took a quick trip to visit family in Utah. Tyler had young men's camp that week and Oscar needed to work, so it was just the two of us. I was able to get us cheap flights out of Denver on Frontier. Oscar dropped us off at DIA around 8am on June 9th. The flight went well with lovely views of the Rocky Mountains on our way out of Colorado and lovely views of the Wasatch Mountains as we were arriving in Salt Lake City. 

Allison and I were tired after waking up before 6am, so I went to rest in mom's bed and Allison fell asleep on the couch cuddling with grandma. I spent the rest of the day talking and walking with mom, going through all of her old photos and getting copies of the ones I care about, and playing a disc toss basket game with Mike and his kids. You can purchase it online if you look up "Kan Jam disc toss," but Mike has a do-it-yourself version of it made out of laundry baskets and frisbees.

The next morning we went up to Layton for Cousin Club. Melissa puts together a Cousin Club with her kids and Julia's kids, Jane and Deacon, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout the summer. It was fun to see them again after only about a week and a half after they'd come to see us.

We first met up at the park, then everyone came back to their house to hang out and play. We had lunch, visited Grandma Hatch, then some of the kids watched a movie while the rest of us played Rat-a-tat Cat. We had a fun time. We'd given them Rat-a-tat Cat and Sleeping Queens for Christmas, which are popular with our kids and seemed like good games for their family too. We'd managed to teach them Sleeping Queens while they were visiting us, which was a big hit! We didn't get around to playing Rat-a-tat Cat with them then because they kept wanting to play more Sleeping Queens. Tyler had taught Lily a brief game of Rat-a-tat-cat, but they didn't play it long enough for her to really learn the rules well. This time we played multiple games of Rat-a-tat Cat, which was also well received. Jane joined in and learned the game too.

We'd brought along some headphones for Samuel that hadn't worked out for us. I'd found them on the clearance rack at King Soopers and bought them for Tyler, but they were too thin for his head. They were also too small for Allison. They fit Samuel just right! Melissa tells me he likes to put on her girls' headphones just for fun without any music playing on them. Now he has a pair of his own!

After our fun day with cousins, we went back to Mike's house for about an hour then took mom up to Snowbird where my aunt Kathy has an every other year timeshare week. We were hoping to ride their mountain coaster and do their other summer activities, but unfortunately, most of it was closed. Normally the summer activities open around Memorial Day, but they were doing a LOT of construction this year, so they delayed their summer opening June 20th. Even in July now that they have reopened, the alpine slide remains closed due to construction.

But we made the most of it. There were some lovely views, and we enjoyed spending time in the crisp mountain air. Aunt Kathy took us down to the resort restaurant for dinner that evening along with her grandson Nolan. Later Allison and I played Dominos with Kathy, and I sat in the hot tub on our balcony that night after mom and Allison had gone to bed. 

The next day Allison and I took a hike to Gloria Falls. I'd found it suggested on a site for "kid friendly hikes in Snowbird," but it ended up being poorly marked and much more strenuous than I would expect for a kid-friendly hike. At least the waterfall was lovely, and we made a friend along the way who helped make sure we were on the right path. She was a new mom hiking with her baby in a baby carrier, and she was super encouraging when Allison was struggling.

We got back from our hike and had some lunch at the resort. Uncle Lane had come up (he hadn't stayed in Snowbird the previous day due to a doctor appointment), and he brought Papa Murphy's with him. After salad, pizza, and garlic knots, we went swimming and hot tubbing at their main pool with lovely mountain views behind us. The outdoor temperatures were only in the high 50's but the water was delightfully warm. The pool couldn't have been more than about 10 degrees cooler than the hot tub.  

That evening I took mom on the lookout hike. It was also listed under kid-friendly hikes, and this time the description was accurate. It's a short paved trail from the resort that takes you along the base of the ski hills out to a lovely lookout. We saw some deer along the way.

Here's the beautiful view, though it would have been better to do this hike a little earlier so the brightness of the sun isn't obscuring the scenery in the distance. It was the perfect hike for mom, though. That hike plus swimming was a big day for her.

The next day was our Lagoon day. Julia and her kids met up with us there in the afternoon. Allison hadn't been to Lagoon since 2021, and she's since become a true roller coaster enthusiast. She was too short for Cannibal back then, but she's watched videos about it and knows it's a one of a kind coaster with a beyond vertical drop. We got to the park at rope drop, found a pavilion to leave our stuff, then ran to Cannibal. To no one's surprise, she loved it! We rode it 3 times with barely any wait before trying anything else. 

We then walked over to Primordial. Primordial is one of their newer rides, so it always has a bit of a wait. It was already about an hour long wait when the park first opened. It's family friendly, so lots of families head there first. By the time we were there the line was a bit shorter, though it still took about 45 minutes. 

It's an excellent family coaster combined with a shooting game that goes through a mountain. The only similar ride I know of is Wonder Mountain's Guardian at Canada's Wonderland, which we'd just been on the previous year. That was a fun ride, but this one is better. The themeing and graphics are super impressive and immersive, and the game is less glitchy since it's only a couple years old. It has multiple endings too. You finish the ride either saving the owl or the dragon, and you either get the drop ending or the coaster rollback ending. On this ride we saved the owl and had the coaster rollback, and our other two rides later in the day had different endings. 

We then took the skyride over to Wicked. We'd hoped to ride their new ride Nutcracker, but it hadn't opened yet. It's new this year and is likely to have operating issues for awhile before they work out the kinks and get it running like a well oiled machine. Wicked was great, though the restraints were rough for Allison this trip. She loved it when she was younger. I still remember the last time we went to Lagoon she insisted on doing "Wicked first!" They have booster seats available so kids 46-50 inches can ride it safely, which is why she was able to ride Wicked in 2021 at 46 inches and not Cannibal, which has a 48 inch requirement. 

Julia and her kids got arrived around 1pm and brought Chick-fil-A with them. We ate, then I supervised the kids while Julia took a work call. They rode the Carousel a few times, then we all rode the Tidal Wave.

The kids then rode Puff the Fire Dragon. Julia met back up with us and we all rode Bombora. Deacon and Allison went over to the Jumping Dragon, then the 3 of us separated from the others to ride Cannibal. Isla is too short for Cannibal and Jane isn't interested in it. 

After Cannibal we took the skyride over to reunite with Jane. Julia took Isla on a few family rides while we rode some coasters Isla was too small for. We started off on Spider, then rode Colossus, then Allison and Jane rode Wild Mouse while Deacon rode the Music Express. 

After a break for some yummy Rita's Italian Ice, we went into Pioneer Village to ride the new steampunk rides. Rivets and Rovers is for little kids only, and Steamworx was closed, but we did get to ride Time Tinker. I don't have a photo or video here, but it very much looks like the ride vehicles are going to crash into each other. It's trippy how it works. 

I'd told Allison she might see a peacock at Lagoon, but up to that point we hadn't seen one. She had just asked "where are the peacocks?"and I'd just responded "I'm not sure if they still have them" when a male peacock walked right in front of us!

After reuniting with Julia and Isla we went over to ride Primordial. This time we rescued the dragon and got the drop ending. Julia's family had only been on it once before when the ride was brand new. They waited for 2 hours in the sun with wiggly kids, so it hadn't been the most experience for them. This time the line was much more reasonable at 25 minutes. 

They needed to get going, so we rode Dracula's castle with them then said our goodbyes.

After they left we walked back to Nutcracker, but the line was still crazy long. We decided to try for it a bit later figuring even if the line was still long, at least it wouldn't be so hot. Instead we walked to Air Race where Allison rode while I watched. This was another once she'd been too short for in 2021. I've done it before, but didn't want to risk getting motion sickness from it, so I opted out of it. 

After that we rode Cannibal again, then she rode Centennial Screamer before we both rode Primordial the 3rd time (this time we rescued the owl again and got the drop ending). We then walked back to Nutcracker, which was a lot cooler at that point in the evening, but the line was still very long. They only had one swing operating, and we've done similar swing rides, so decided to skip it and try for it whenever we make it to Lagoon next. Instead we got night rides on both Wicked and Cannibal, which were fantastic! We finished up our last ride at 10:01pm just as the park was closing.

After a huge theme park day, Allison and I were super tired. I came back to bed after breakfast and got a nap. Kathy dropped Mom back from Snowbird, and she literally made the bed with me in it! This is a photo I took of the bed all tucked in around me. Allison napped throughout the day too. That day was spent mostly relaxing, though I did show mom photos from this blog and went on a walk with her. Mike and family were doing a big neighborhood garage sale most of the day, but in the evening we played the disc toss basket game again. Mike dropped us off at the airport early the next morning, and we made it home around noon. It was a quick but fun trip!