Lagoon

This is the Richardson Family Raconteur's 

                            100th post!  

So, uh, well, anyways...

Back to Summer Vacation Blowout '09.  Upon arriving back to Salt Lake from our wonderful Western parks jaunt Pete and Henry caught a plane and flew home to California, ostensibly to attend summer school and put a little structure into the summer, but I think they just wanted to skip the 11 hour drive home across the Mojave desert.  This leaves me, Jack, Harriet and Jed with a week to hang out in Utah relaxing with friends and family and finding new places to explore. 

We have no problem at all.

One thing on the agenda was a trip to the amusement park Lagoon. 

Going to Lagoon was always the highlight of the summer when I was young. It was like the Disneyland of Salt Lake City.   Of course we always had Stake Lagoon Day when our stake members would go for one day at a discounted rate and share dinner time together in the pavilions of Pioneer Village, and we usually managed to fit in another trip or two with friends

before the fall came and it was open only on weekends.  

I honestly remember those days at Lagoon as some of the most fun, most wonderfully exhausting ones of my youth.  So, it had always been on my mind to take my own kids to Lagoon while they were still kids.   These are kids that have lived their whole conscious lives 20 minutes down the freeway from Disneyland, and even though we never held yearly passes or were certified Disneyophytes like many in our area, I worried a bit that Lagoon would not be nearly as enticing to them.  I had not been back in nearly 20 years, and was pleasantly surprised by what I found there.

We were there on a Wednesday morning as it opened, and were able to walk on to most any ride we wanted.  This trend would continue throughout most of the day - lines were short and once or twice the kids were the only ones on the ride.  The one exception was the water park Lagoon-A-Beach that was contained within the park - it was crowded and just got more crowded. The kids had brought their swimsuits with the plan to hit the water park, but ultimately we didn't spend any time there fighting the crowds.

near the opening gates, checking out the map to decide where to go first

the first ride we come upon is the first ride the 

kids jump onto - a transplanted Bulgy the Whale

riding the Kon-Tiki in the kiddie part of the park -

Jack can't wait for the bigger, better Tidal Wave

main street in Pioneer Village - 

fairly deserted at this early hour

(as always clicking on any photo enlarges it for better detail viewing)

Jack on the flying swings

taking a ride on the tamer train 

the train travels through a small zoo -

the camel has lost its hump 

The roller coaster at Lagoon is awesome,

a white wooded giant racer 

coming into the station

Jed is a tad too small to go on the racer,

 so I take turns riding with the twins while one waits at the exit with him

Harriet loves it

me too - I remember taking my grandma on this ride when I was younger

and it really shook her up. My dad loves this ride too.

the racer at the top of the first big hill

while the twins then take consecutive rides on the racer, I take Jed over 

to the smaller rides - no surprise he loves this spaceship with a gun mounted on it

I was glad he gave the boats a try and really enjoyed them

Skyride over the main midway of Lagoon -

something that hasn't changed a bit since the earlier days

brushing the tree tops on the Skyride

this ride becomes one of the kids favorites - lifts you up then drops you down, repeatedly

Harriet and me at the top 

Pioneer Village is in the back of the park - kind of a working museum

of early pioneer times in Utah. Also where some of the best water rides are.

Rattlesnake Rapids is new(er) to Lagoon -

tubing down rapids and going through caves and water falls

(our bishop's son was seriously bitten by a rattlesnake at scout camp earlier

this summer, so this ride is even more fascinating to my kids)

standing in the mist watching the tubers come out of a tunnel-

the actual ride was too wet to take photos on, but we had a fun time

We ride the Log Flume several times, becoming more soaked in the process

Jed waits patiently with me for the twins to ride the coaster a few more times 

the Terror Ride on the main midway

giant racer in the sunset

on our way out the gate at near closing time - the kids get soaked

playing in the interactive fountain

Summer night at Lagoon