Swaner EcoCenter | Field Trippin' | Park City

When we were in Park City last week, we found the Swaner EcoCenter. The older kids were all at the Olympic Oval, so I decided to take the toddlers on their own little adventure. I was super impressed with them. It's like they knew this was just for them!

I should have known the Preserve would be beautiful even if it is in a weird spot of town. It’s located at the end of this brand new shopping/food court area. Beautiful streets lined with hanging lights and brand new buildings. I bet it’s quite lovely at night. One wouldn't really expect to find a nature preserve hiding out in the back.

We found a place to park, pulled out the giant 2 person stroller (that would now carry three toddlers) and made our way to the building. As we walked up to the door you could see a group of kids what looked like a “summer camp.” Park City is super kid friendly. When I asked the locals what kids did in Park City, everyone said “they go outside.” Oh, okay. So this isn’t like home where there are a bazillion places for inside activities. Everything is outside.

The Preserve is a good mix of outide and inside activities. We took a quick potty break which included 3 toddlers screaming at the top of their lungs in the bathroom, listening to their echoes.

We headed outside first, mainly because I was worried it would get to hot. 

We walked to short boardwalk to see if we could see any animals. We saw quite a few birds and Aiko claims she saw a snake. (doubtful) 

After exploring every nook and cranny of the boardwalk we headed inside.

We came into a room with lots of tables and lots of STUFF to touch. 

We played with animal pelts, snake skin, feathers, and all sorts of fun things. The kids also loved exploring the coyote and beaver habitats.

There is also a super cool climbing wall that has a 3D effect.  Had the kids been a little older I’m sure we would have loved trying it out.  ($5)

While I was letting them run around exploring whatever they could touch a group of kids showed up. I noticed that a lady had brought in a large wagon covered with a bunch of blankets.

I didn’t even think that it would be live animals…but it was! We timed it just right.

We ended up joining the summer camp group and touching the boa constrictor, bearded dragon, and another animal I can’t remember what it was called. It wasn’t a lemur, but it was related to a raccoon.

So we headed out, but not before Orion put the fake tadpoles, pollywogs and frog eggs in his mouth.

The animal lady was quite thorough (which was great for the slightly older kids) but my kids only wanted to touch the animals. She had a whole bunch of other animals, but the three toddlers had had enough.

As we were heading out I realized that we didn’t go up the tower! We took the elevator and heading up the building.

The view was pretty amazing and ever so lovely.

The littles got super excited pointing out the little water fall below.

We didn’t spent much time up there, just enough to get the view and breath in all the fresh air. You can also see the Olympic Oval Area in the background. That's where all our pals were!

It was basically noon at this point, so I knew they were getting hungry and tired. Luckily, I found My Liquid Garden! I’ll be posting about their delicious cold-pressed fresh juices next!