Provo, UT

Yesterday we went to BYU campus and walked around with my husband’s family. This was something we hadn’t done in a really long time—since we first started dating, actually—and I’d forgotten how gorgeous BYU is.
We met at the duck pond, down on the south side of campus. My husband Mike’s brother and sister-in-law brought their two daughters and 11-month-old son, and Mike’s parents came too. We brought some bread to throw to the ducks, and the girls got really excited once they noticed the turtles in the middle of the pond. It was a little warm when we got there around 7:00 pm, but the weather was much nicer around the pond, under all the huge trees.

Then we walked up the terraced paths that lead to campus. These are also beautiful, but they are slightly uphill and there are a couple parts where the path suddenly gets very steep for about three or four feet. This was a little difficult with the stroller, but doable.
We stopped in the Eyring Science Center and looked at all the cool things they have in there—dinosaur skeletons, a mask of Einstein that looks like his eyes are following you, a table with lasers and magnet-controlled blocks, a giant swinging pendulum, PVC pipes that play music, and lots more. We particularly enjoyed an optical illusion that makes you see a dollar bill hovering above a pedestal where there really isn’t one (and which, incidentally, has the face of Cecil O. Samuelson, the President of BYU, pasted on where Washington’s face usually is); in fact, we discovered that if another person sits on the opposite side of the pedestal, you can see their face upside down in the illusion. 11-month-old Cillian really got a kick out of that. (For the record, the bathrooms are hard to find in that building, so go before if you can.)

From there we went to visit the fishtanks on the first floor of the Widtsoe building, which look like they could stand a good cleaning. The girls were thrilled to see the fish though, and they didn’t care how the tanks looked.
We headed across campus to the Museum of Art. The museum is very family-friendly; the girls loved the exhibits, there are elevators for moms with strollers, and we saw lots of other families there with small children. The Dismantling Geneva Steel photography exhibit is really cool—the walls are all black and we loved the photographs (the exhibit will be at the museum until November 1 of this year). Across the hall from that there’s also a collection of Victorian art which I thought was amazing (and which is only there until August 14, so you should go soon if you want to see it). I highly recommend it, and unfortunately you’re not allowed to take pictures in museums so you’ll have to just take my word for it. The museum is open from 10 am to 9 pm Monday through Friday and noon to 5 on Saturdays, and the Museum Café is open from 11:30 am to 2 pm Monday through Friday.

All in all it was a fabulous activity. It took two hours altogether, and could have been extended or shortened easily had we needed to do so. I definitely recommend bringing some water bottles, but if you forget, there are vending machines in most of the buildings on campus. We spent time with family, got some culture, enjoyed the beautiful outdoors, and unconsciously got in some mild exercise—a win-win situation all around!