The main reason The Salt Project even went to Monticello, was because of the Canyon Country Discovery Center. We'd been e-mailing back and forth and they opened out eyes to how much we were missing! We'd been to Moab plenty of times, but never further south on the eastern side of Utah. So you can thank them for all the awesome things we're going to post in the next few weeks.

They have a brand new building that's constantly adding new features, exhibits, tours, nature walks and things to do like crazy!

Here's Lyndie giving us a tour, it's quite the building, like a 8 Billion dollar building. The architecture is unique and definitely matches it's surrounds

For lunch, the Canyon Country Discovery Center brought in some delicious sandwiches and salads from a local place called Peace Tree. (Gluten free bread!) It was so delish, we went back for breakfast the next day.

Canyon Country Discovery Center is available to rent our for events, including their kitchen area. I'm pretty sure that a family Reunion/wedding/any event would be amazing.

Visitor Center

The Visitor Center has all sorts of cool exhibits. Above you can see the kid standing on top of the "Father Earth" in the middle of the room.

Up top is the "Mother Sky" as Lyndie called it. (Wind Tube: Design and build you own flying object and see how it preforms in the tube.)

Junior Loom: Explore color theory and traditional textiles techniques on our modern loom.

We spent about an hour playing with all the different hands on exhibits.

Even the men found the exhibits fun.

Augmented Reality Sandbox: Shape the landscape of the Colorado Plateau, watch as the screen changes the 3D image to a topographic map!

This is one of our favorite exhibits. A light shines down from above on the sand and shows you about erosion.

You can also place your hand and create a "cloud" that rains.

We tried to make a Salt Project shaped lake, but it didn't work out quite well.

We watched the world go round and round. We also threw the world around too.

Meet Ferro Fluid.

Ferro Fluid was created in 1969 by NASA to help move rocket fuel in space. I mean, it's pretty crazy.

Ferro Fluid: Discover the magnetic fields and what they look like with iron rich fluid, cranks and magnetics.

Above and below are two giant magnets. There's a wheel for each magnet that you turn that changes the positive and negative energy around.

So you can make the spikes grow, shrink and touch.

Monticello also has many wind turbines that can be viewed from the road up.

Nature Classes

Here's a list of all the other things you can do:

• 16,200 square foot building, with a conferences hall, seating up to 120 people, with 4 breakout spaces;
• Exhibit Hall with 30 hands-on learning stations;
• 48 acres of juniper, pinion, and sagebrush;
• Trails for leisurely hikes, snowshoeing, or cross country skiing;
• Full catering kitchen and 5 covered picnic pavilions;
• Observatory for night sky viewing;
• 5 culturally themed learning pavilions and 15 outdoor learning stations;
• Storytelling area;
• Bouldering Wall;
• Nature Playscape;
• Classroom and research lab;
• Wetlands and pond; and
• Gift shop

Ooooh, one of my other favorite things at the Center was the Rock Climbing wall. I'm determined to become a rock climber. I've always wanted to, but I just need to bite the bullet.

Be sure to explore the building and pay attention to the floors. You can find maps and all sorts of natural building products used.

So if you are heading down to the area, be sure to stop and visit the Canyon Country Discovery Center! They'll be adding new features throughout the year, but there is plenty to do! Stay for an hour or more, because you can book different kinds of tours too.

Check back later today, because we're going to post about our visit to Newspaper Rock and Family Friendly Hike with the kids that was hosted by Canyon Country Discovery Center.