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It is time to announce the winners of the Bear World giveaway. This was a fun one and we hope to offer it at the beginning of the season next year! Remember that there are two winners to this giveaway!
Congratulations to winner #1 – Beth W.!!!
Watch for your emails on how to claim your tickets!
We did a review of one of the most memorable quick vacations we have had as a family to Yellowstone Bear World. Well…. how would you like to experience it for FREE?!?! You have the chance to win one of two Family Car Load passes which will allow up to 7 people in one car to enter the park and all of the regular ticket admission experiences for FREE!! This is a $55 value! This is a quick giveaway and the tickets will need to be used in the 2010 season which ends on Oct. 17th. We will run this giveaway until September 29th and your tickets will be sent out ASAP to have three possible weekends to take advantage of the FREE tickets before the season is closed! Yellowstone Bear World is approximately 230 miles from downtown Salt Lake City, which is about 3.5 hours on the freeway. This could be a cool day trip (arriving late morning/early afternoon, staying for a couple of amazing hours – which you will experience it all and coming home), or overnight trip and getaway! There are two winners to this giveaway and there are 6 possible ways of entering:
You can do 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 possible entries. You can do one or all of the above – just leave a separate comment for each! Maximize your entries by doing all 6! A couple of additional points: 1. Leave a separate comment for each of the above things you do, each comment and activity you complete is an entry. 2. Be sure to leave your comments for entries here on this post to be counted as an entry. This giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. MST on Wednesday, September 29th! One winner will be randomly selected (via randomizer.org) and then contacted after that deadline. Make sure to check back though in case we can’t contact you!
We must say that every Utahan must go to Idaho….. that is at least Yellowstone Bear World as they are passing through Idaho to Yellowstone National Park! We had a recent visit to Yellowstone Bear World and this has been a place that we have wanted to go for a very long time. We finally had the opportunity and can’t believe we didn’t go before now! Cassie was most excited as bears are her favorite animal. Also, as Human Microphone sleeps with his “brown bear,” these creatures hold a special place in his heart too! But it wasn’t just those two that were excited and it wasn’t just bears that we saw. It was an up close, personal and quick mini-Yellowstone- at least in terms of the animal sightings that we were all excited to experience! Bear World is located between Rigby and Rexburg Idaho, near Idaho Falls, ID and on U.S. Highway 20 heading out to the West Yellowstone park entrance.
First, you will pay an entrance fee to just enter into the parking lot. Why? Well because your ticket costs gets you and your family into almost all of the sights and the sights begin as soon as you enter. We thought the cost was more than worth the experience. I guess growing up around Yellowstone and have been there dozens of times and really yet to see a bear officially makes it quite nice to finally say we saw a “Yellowstone” bear – the price was worth it!
Here are the prices to enter into Yellowstone Bear World:
Here’s what your fee covers:
You are guaranteed to see a bear, or two, or a dozen! In fact, you will see animals up close and personal in their natural habitats just as if you were in Yellowstone. We have heard about Yellowstone Bear World for many years, but really had no idea that they had many animals there! The wildlife that you will see are:
To see the wildlife, you will drive along a paved road and encounter each of the wildlife in their “areas” of the park. The first wildlife that we saw were the Mountain Goats. Shortly after, you will come up on the Rocky Mountain Elk. The Elk viewing was a sweet surprise as Yellowstone Bear World is home to a couple of rare White Rocky Mountain Elk (1:6,000,000) and they were very beautiful creatures and so amazing to see!
We did see all of the animals above, which was very cool, but…….. after seeing the goats, elk, bison, deer…. you enter a gated area where you are strictly required to keep your car windows up and restrain your temptation of rolling them down to get a closer view/touch of those cute adorable fuzzy things. Why? Well, they are bears of course! Safety comes first. The first part of the bear habitat is where you will find the Grizzly’s. There were three Grizzly’s living there when we went: a sister and brother (who is huge!) and the papa bear. They are in the grassy areas behind an electric fence, so they do not walk all over the roads like you hear bears are doing at Yellowstone Bear World.
 See the single electric fence line - the protection - even though you are driving with windows up! This was Sister Bear. The Brother Bear was swimming and Sister and Papa Bear were just hangin’ around. Shortly after the Grizzly habitat, you enter the American Black Bears habitat. There are more than a dozen of these cute cuddly’s roaming the grounds. The will walk down the road, walk across the road, lay on the road, lay on your car if you secretly planted fresh meat, swim in the little pools, attempt to climb the trees, wrestle, run, play, roll, and scratch their heads and backs with the trees around them! Jungle Book was telling the truth when it comes to those “bear necessities.” In fact, we caught one doing just that:  This bear has found a log to scratch that head itch! And then, wouldn’t you know it….one of the curators told us that Baloo from The Jungle Book (the real deal) lives at Yellowstone Bear World and we got to see him! They were all over the place roaming and doing what bears do. We had one that walked in front of us slowly, then walked to the side of our vehicle about 1 ft. away. We got several picks of him, but we liked this shot as he looked right at the camera!
And guess who it was…… Baloo! I (Cassie), just wanted to jump out and hug him! They have an area of the drive where the bears that just left the baby pen (when they hit 2 years old) hang out that you will see on the drive. These small American Black Bears are behind a two line electric fence to protect them from being hit by cars while they learn the ropes. The older American Black Bears are the ones roaming the wild. Also, keep your eyes peeled for the few resident Gray Wolves that live amongst the bears. They are right there next to you, but difficult to see as they hide in the tall grasses. The drive is around 20-30 minutes and going at a speed of around 5 mph. It is a very thrilling ride even at that slow pace. You can go through this drive as many times as you want with your 1 day pass. We went 4 times! There are extra things that you can see and do at Yellowstone Bear World that are not included in your admission:
You will need to make a reservation for either of the two, and they fill-up very quickly. The Curator Tours are where you will be able to stand up in the back of a truck and feed the bears from the top of this truck! You are standing for the whole ride and they will stop so you can first feed the elk. Then you will see the Grizzly bears from up high (but not feed them) and then you can start feeding the American Black Bears from the truck. The price includes the ride, food to feed the bears, a picture of your family taken by them, and the narrated tour/ride by the Curator. We loved driving the drive, but wanted to experience a family bear feeding and thought it was more than worth the $25 cost for the whole family to experience the feeding of the big bears. They come right up to the truck and you toss the food down to them. The Curator will also teach you how to get them to wave at you with their big bear paws for some yummy bear treats. And don’t worry, you will not be tossing them raw meat, but dessert! Donuts and breads are a treat the bears love!  He is a picture from the top of the truck and looking down at the bears we are feeding. And the additonal experience that you can pay for is the Baby Bear Feeding. Cassie had the opportunity to feed two baby bears. They were all American Black Bears. The feeding takes place in the baby bear pens that are visible near the petting zoo and food stands. You can watch the babies playing in their habitat and with each other. They were so adorable!
So for the feeding, they take groups of about 12 people into the baby bear pens areas. Then each person gets in line and they will get to feed an entire bottle to a baby bear (just a regular baby bottle) which is about a 30 second to 1 minute process. They rotate between six bears and about five bottles each. This means that the 12 people will get to feed around 2-3 bears. While you are feeding the babies their bottles, you will be able to pet them on the head. The whole experience is about 20 minutes. ” This was an AHAHAHmazing experience! It is quick, but quite memorable! They drink out of a regular baby bottle and each one had their own personality and feeding style. When I was petting them, I was very surprised to find out that their fur is not as soft as you would think (based on your many Teddy Bear encounters). Their fur was almost like dried stiff grass/hay. Not some much cuddly, but kinda prickly!” – Cassie The $35 covers the cost of the feedings, a picture that their photographer takes and memories to last forever! If this is something you want to do, you will need to call ahead a day or two in advance as they fill-up quickly! In addition to all of the wildlife sightings, your admission ticket includes FREE petting zoo entrance and FREE amusement rides.The petting zoo is a fun place for the kids to get out and roam and explore. They have many of the classic petting zoo animals: goats, hens, turkeys, pot belly pigs…. but they also had DEER. Something we haven’t seen at many petting zoos. They had both mommies and their babies when we went.
The amusement rides were definitely geared towards younger kids. They had five total rides;
We did the rides last to end our Yellowstone Bear World adventure. The kids (and adults with around a 180-230 weight limit depending on the ride) can ride as many as they want, as many times as they want. It was a fun way to end the day!
They do have an outdoor cafe and sno-cone stand to enjoy a treat or a snack. Here is a picture of the menu so you can budget accordingly!
We just ate at our campsite before coming and then brought a few snacks with us for a snack break when needed. We did get a sno-cone treat. We recommend coconut for small kids as it is white and does not stain (but leaves things very sticky). Unfortunately, our sno-cones were drenched in sooo much syrup, that neither Alex or Cassie enjoyed theirs and the kids only ate a small portion of theirs, probably for the same reason! It could have just been the person that made ours that day, but it was actually gross because of it. It would have been a perfect refreshing treat if it had 1/2 to 1/4 of the syrup. So we recommend giving the sno-cone maker directions on your sno-cone! All-in-all, we highly recommend this pit-stop. It has ended up being one of the most fun and memorable experiences we have had has a family. We talk about it all of the time. Someone around here is always bringing it up! We look forward to our next trip to Yellowstone Bear World!
If you are looking for a few FREE things to do in Utah this weekend, well there is good news! On Saturday, September 25, it is both FREE Museum Day and FREE National Parks Day.
This is a great way to see some sites that you have not seen before or revisit some of your Utah favorites! Let us know which is your favorite and what you plan to see! It looks like the participating museums are found all across the state. From this list, we like the Ogden Union Station Museums. The Railroad one specifically is very fun for our whole family, but they do have quite a nice car and gun museum. It is also a fun place to go as you get 3 museums in one! Here are the Museums in Utah that qualify for FREE Day:
You will need to request your FREE tickets to one of the above museums by filling out the form on the Smithsonian website. You can request two for FREE. Many of the above attractions will let children 3,4,5, or even 6 under for free without a ticket all of the time. Thanks Money Saving Mom Here is the list of National Parks that you can visit on Saturday for FREE Public Lands Day:
Finally, don’t forget that Oktoberfest is still going on at Snowbird, UT! It is FREE to attend, just plan to spend money if you want to eat there, the food is good, but pricey! We heard about this event going on this weekend and this looks like an excellent opportunity to get some great deals for children’s clothing and items and maternity clothing at some great prices, all while helping out local and world charities as an added bonus! Here are the details for this event: WHAT: Children’s & Maternity Sale Come shop the best children’s sale in town Friday and Saturday, September 17th and 18th at Hilltop United Methodist Church! There’s a HUGE selection of gently used children’s things including high quality designer clothes, all hung up neatly and organized by size & gender. We have toys, books, and games for all age children as well as outdoor play equipment. And don’t forget the great deals on baby furniture and maternity wear. The Fall and Winter sale is sponsored by the United Methodist Women of Hilltop United Methodist Church and benefits many local and worldwide charities. The sale is Friday, September 17th from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday, September 18th from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Come early for best selection. All clothing is marked down an additional 25% on Saturday. Due to the large crowds, please do not bring strollers into the building Friday before noon. Don’t miss the Fall and Winter Children’s & Maternity Sale at Hilltop United Methodist Church, 985 East 106th South in Sandy. You may have seen this advertised on billboards across the State, but this was something that really intrigued us! We love educational activities and experiences for our kids, in fact, for us too
So this week is called Capitol Discovery Week and runs the 13th – 18th of September 2010 and is located at the Utah State Capitol. The hours of operations: September 13-18, 2010 Monday through Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (last orientation at 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. respectively) They can take 100 people through every half hour. You will find rare artifacts display from our nation’s founding. You can also meet history face-to-face with Founding Fathers! Here’s how the website describes this event going on all week: A very exciting and very rare traveling exhibit will also be at the Capitol during these events in which original documents from our nation’s founding will be displayed. Originals and reproductions will depict critical events in our nation’s history. Also, meet history face to face as the Colonial Heritage Foundation and Founding Fathers will be there to interact with the crowd. In addtion, there will be a concert on September 17 and 18 at 8:00 p.m. the Capitol Rotunda. There will be the setting for a special musical celebration of our U.S. Constitution presented by the Constitution Day Committee of Utah, Roots of Freedom, and renowned composer Lex DeAzevedo conducting a combined local choir and orchestra. Commemorating the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787, this patriotic celebration will feature elected officials addressing the theme “Stand for Our Constitution – The Contract for Freedom.” Finally, Capitol Discovery Day is Saturday the 18th of September where you will find many hands-on activities. This event runs from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in which the public can participate in fun and informative activities about our Utah Capitol. Here are the details: Capitol Discovery Day offers a variety of hands-on activities, tours, music and presentations to engage everyone in the family. Activities for families to learn about architectural crafts reflecting the skills used to build the Capitol nearly 90 years ago include: -Dome Construction: Build small geodesic domes with toothpicks and gumdrops. -Coloring Activity: Color copies of the murals with crayons -Gold Leafing: Use 6×6 gold leafing squares and paint with wooden cutouts. -Creating Mosaics: Glue paper squares on construction paper. -Sculpting Symbols: Beehives, wyverns, eagles, acorn, sego lily -Stencils: Use Capitol symbols to create wonderful stencils. -Shake Table Demonstration: See how an earthquake shakes a building while it is protected with base isolators and without base isolators. -Room Tours: Governor’s Ceremonial Office, State Receptions Room, House Chambers, Senate Chambers and Supreme Court I-Spy Treasure Hunt: Look around the Capitol for amazing art, architecture and artifacts. Receive a small goody-bag of school supplies. Capitol docents (volunteers) will be on hand to share the history, architecture, and art of one of the most important buildings in Utah. They teach how the recently completed restoration project stayed true to the vision of original architect, Richard Kletting. This sound like loads of fun and very beneficial to anyone wanting to learn more or appreciate more about our history. The best part is that it is all FREE! We might be there on Saturday to participate in the list of activities. Ms. Optimistic is totally into these things and her enthusiasm is very contagious to all of us so it should be quite a fun adventure for us. We hope you get to go. Please visit the following websites for more information, in addition to registration (that is recommended) for special events going on this week. One odd thing that we like to do as a family (we love to travel) is to visit the Capitol buildings in each Capital city in the nation. By far, the Utah State Capitol Building is one of the most beautiful ones we have explored. We love to go – best part is, this is a FREE “museum” tour no matter the state
We loved to explore all of the Capitol Building, but here were our favorites! From Alex: “I love walking into the empty House of Representative and Senate chambers. They are beautiful and by design seem to remind you of the importance of the matters that are decided there each year.”  The Girls Overlooking one of the Congress Floors From Cassie: “My favorite part of exploring the Capitol Building is seeing the courtrooms! They are unbelievable in splendor and stunning simple designs. Plus the awe of silence in a very elegant courtroom really gets you thinking.” (They did not allow pictures at the time, but the Chambers are really quite amazing – I guess you will have to see for yourself From the Girls: “The little castles inside are so cool, it was fun to go in and out of the entrances and pretend to play castle.”
They really did think that the areas underneath the staircases were perfect for two pretty princesses. The rest of the areas in the building were so ginormous that they spotted this area nearly as soon as we entered. They danced and twirled under the arches as the grandeur and elegance really made them feel like they were in a castle within a castle! So adorable! Even if you don’t make it to the Utah State Capitol Building during this event, there is still a lot of beautiful architecture, art and history worth going to see any time of the year! Don’t forget it is FREE and memorable (not counting your tax dollars)
Did you know that Grandparent’s Day is coming up on the 12th of September? Well, Old Spaghetti Factory is having a celebration for the wonderful Grandparents – they get to eat for FREE starting the 12th through the 14th of September. Basically, there is one FREE grandparent entree with the purchase of another entree. See the Old Spaghetti Factory site for the details. This is exciting news as this has been our family’s favorite restaurant when we want to have a nice dinner out or celebrate something. We will ask the kids, “where to do you want to go tonight?” simultaneously the response will ring out: “The Spaghetti Factory!!” They probably would love to take their grandparents. We will be doing a review of our most recent visit to the Old Spaghetti Factory very soon, including how we save. It is actually rare to find discounts and coupons for the Old Spaghetti Factory. But there is a little trick that we do to spread the pasta love and save some money. We will share this secret in our review post – so stay tuned…… In the meantime, it is time for a little story from Cassie – that is perfect for the upcoming Grandparents Day. “The atmosphere of the Old Spaghetti Factory is wonderful! It is like you are eating in an historic antique store, especially the location at historic Trolley Square, but the newer buildings like in Taylorsville do a very good job of recreating that same atmosphere. But this is so appropriate for me as my grandparents owned some famous antique stores and their home looked very much like the inside of an Old Spaghetti Factory. Not only that, but they used to own and operate an antique shop inside Trolley Square near the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant making me wonder if the restaurant’s decor came from my grandparents’ store! Eating at the Old Spaghetti Factory is filled with lots of emotions and joy for all, but especially the memories of antiques as both of my grandparents have passed away. Good times though and an awesome place to eat! I just get teary eyed thinking about this restaurant and Grandparents Day.” So, celebrate this Grandparents Day with a rare discount to this popular restaurant! Find an Old Spaghetti Factory location near you!
The Utah State Fair beings today! We have gone as a family and has a date for just the two of us. It is always quite an experience to see, smell, hear, and taste what the Utah State Fair has to offer. We love to go and see all of the exhibits and commercial vendors. It is fun to try new products, and get a few FREEBIES that they are offering. PLUS who can argue with yummy, greasy, unique fair food?!?! Plus they have livestock buildings that kids tend to love (and you will love the smell Alex and Cassie like to walk around the commercial buildings. All of the kids find the animals to be quite cool. They espeically loved the chickens/hens and rabbits as they could see them up close and at eye level. Both of these are FREE activities and gives you quite a fair experience! Of course we mean FREE by being no additional cost to your fair admission. We have budgeted and planned to get some food. It is very pricey, but it is a once a year opportunity! Cassie’s favorite is the funnel cakes which are not super hearty, but they cost around $8 decorated with toppings. But oooooo so good! Alex loves the real dipped corn dogs that typically run around $5 each. The kids seem to love just the usual fair food – cotton candy which runs about $5 a bag. Also, don’t forget about the famous deep fried guy that has offerings only available at the Utah State Fair. He has had deep fried Snickers, deep fried PB&J, deep fried twinkies, deep fried brownie cheesecakes…… and I guess this year it looks like deep fried chocolate covered bacon! Wowza, I already feel 10 pounds heavier and 10 years closer to a heart attack! We have never participated in the actual carnival part of the fair as it hasn’t been worth the cost to us or horribly safe (heard too many traveling carnival accidents that will make one quite leery. We are sure it is perfectly safe, but it is also not the interesting to us as a family with young kids! Maybe one day, but we will enjoy the fact that they seem quite satisfied with the FREE stuff. The carnival rides are very pricey – buying a wristband is the best way to save and below lists some wristband discounts. The normal price is $21.00 or $25 and the carnival ticket booth. Details:When: Sept. 9th – 19th opening at 10 am everyday and runs late into the evening. Where: The Utah State Fairpark is located just outside Downtown Salt Lake City at 155 North 1000 West SLC 84116. The main driving entrance to the Fairpark is located at 200 North 1000 West. More Information: Utah State Fair Website Prices: If purchased at the Utah State Fairpark gates (see discounts below!)
A few tips when heading to the fair:
Ways to Save:
HAVE FUN!
This weekend, Sept. 9 – 12, you can head over to the Greek Festival in Salt Lake City. Honestly, we have never been and would love to hear any experiences that any of you have had. It looks like a fun, festive, and yummy time! Here are the details:When: Sept. 9 – 12, 2010. It starts at 5 pm tonight and then opens at 11 am the other days. Where: Greek Orthodox Church at 279 South 300 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 More Information: Salt Lake Greek Festival Website Prices: Admission is $3.00 UPDATE: You can print a coupon for FREE admission! YAY! Thanks One Cheap Chick Please share your thoughts, comments and experiences for this event. Thank you all for entering the first two giveaways here on More Utah For Less and being some of the first to participate and be a part of this community! We had a great turnout for the debut and had a lot of fun with these first two giveaways! On with the announcement of the winners. We use a website called Randomizer.org to decide who the winner is! For the Amazon gift card…..
Congratulations to Lona W. (lona728@)!! And the 4 Circus ticket winner is……
Thank you again and be on the lookout for a new giveaway to start very soon. Please continue to spread the word about our site!
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