Park City, Utah

7/6/26 - Longest stop yet! Yesterday we set up camp at Jordanelle State Park for 5 days. We started the 5-day week with exploring the huge campground on our bikes. Discovering the convenience store, shop, beach house, lake, and volleyball court. It's so HOT so we decided to play a very difficult game of volleyball (which none of us are that great at) and hang in the shade. With the overpowering heat we needed a swim break, so we headed back to grab our stuff when we saw it, a huge, very fun looking aqua park floating on the lake! Sadly, you had to pay to go on it so we didn't go that day, but we paddle boarded and swam around, and Mackenzie was the little fish she always is.

View from the camp spot at Jordanelle

7/7/26 - Welcome to waking up early to go on a bike ride that is not scorchingly hot. Today we went biking at the Quinn trailhead near Park City for 8 miles! It was flowy and awesome with the cloud cover but unsuspectedly had a bunch of rocks. Mackenzie and Kennedy tackled them, tipping over only a few times on shark fin rocks. The closer we got to the top the hotter it got. by the time we had reached the end before the downhill we were squirting each other with water. The whole fam rocked the downhill and decided by the end that we were going to go swimming. After a very slow lunch at the camper, we set out for the water. Guess what, MOM BOUGHT US TICKETS FOR THE AQUA PARK! We each got the ticket for an hour of play on the floating wonderland. After they gave us life jackets (you are required to wear the ones they give you) Mackenzie and Kennedy swam out to the aqua park through the freezing cold water and were slipping and sliding around in no time. Neither had fallen off yet so Kennedy shoved Mackenzie off of the park into the water. Waiting for revenge Mackenzie stayed close behind her and then, she grabbed Kennedy's ankles and knocked her right off the obstacle. After everyone had gotten hungry Kennedy and Kelly hopped over to the convenience store and picked up some local ice cream for Kennedy and Mackenzie and an ice cream sandwich for Kelly and Inness to split. The long tiring day knocked everyone off their feet for the rest of the night and we settled down for a movie. We watched the Pout-Pout Fish which was a cute movie. After showers, dinner, and dessert we all rested up for the next day's adventures.

7/8/26 - We went into Park City today to explore the town a bit and then hit the downhill bike park after 4pm for cheaper tickets :) We stopped into a cool looking art gallery and chatty Kathy Inness (yeah I know that feels like an unreal statement but he sure likes to strike up convos with strangers) started chatting with the gallery owner. He pointed us to 3 different Banksy street art pieces around Park City. We now had a purpose and we did in fact locate all three, then got the million dollar question from mac, " who is Banksy and why is this so special?". So we tried to do some research, watched a film "Exit out the Gift Shop" and we are more confused now.

The girls were sooooooooo tired from all the short blocks of walking so only Kelly and Inness rode the bike park, and we quite enjoyed ripping down some flowy downhill runs!

7/9/26 - Good morning night sky! Today was an early day, Inness booked us a lantern tour of the Timpanogos Caves National Monument. This is a must do and is unforgettable! There was a 1.5 mile w/ 1000' elevation gain along cliffs to reach the cave, so that approach alone was awesome. The lanterns were to make it feel like it used to be which was quite fun, but we realized about halfway through having it lit up would actually let us see the caves better! As a tradition at the end of the hike up to the caves you have to touch a particular rock that has been touched by everyone who has ever hiked the trail, this makes the rock super shiny. We booked our tour for 7:15 but they give you a ton of time to hike up the mountain so we hustled and got there at 8 not knowing the tour actually started at 8:45! After we had entered the stunning cave the temperature inside dropped rapidly down to 45 degrees F. The tour was amazing and super informational but not boring us out of our minds with to much information. At what they call the "great heart of Timpanogos" there is a huge stalactite hanging from the ceiling over a black pit. It is shaped like a human heart which earned it its name. On the wall there are minerals that have formed into cauliflower looking things. When the tour guide shined the light perfectly on two very specific cauliflower chunks one glowed yellow and the other glowed bright green! The Timpanogos cave is one of the only two places on earth where you can find this rare mineral combination that glows green. This is already really long so I wont go into much detail but for anyone who visits this area they need to go to the Sundance restaurant. They have a cute little shop inside and the best honey and raspberry puree ever (it comes on the charcuterie board) and have awesome service.

7/10/26 - Today Kelly and Inness had a surprise planned for the girls, but it started off as packing up to head to Lava Hot Springs, ID. We pulled into this area with a couple stores and that's when Kennedy realized what the surprise was, "OMG! We're going into the Ritual chocolate factory!" The girls had definitely not expected this. Inness had booked a chocolate tasting and tour at 11, so we set out for exploring the cafe. The tour was awesome and we got to go back into the rooms where they roast the beans, flavor the chocolate, and package the delectable bars. It was so fun and we got to try a ton of chocolate. After the tour ended, we got some delicious food from the cafe and signed up for the Ritual program where you can get a new, limited edition one every month and this one was Smore's. The day was an amazing experience, but we were all chocolated out for the week. Off to Lava Hot Springs!