Rio Tinto Center - U of U Natural History Museum

Just over a year ago, we took our kids to the U of U Dinosaur Museum to meet Dr. Scott. It was a great experience for both of them, and Audrey still talks about it now and then.

We wanted to go back to the museum last fall only to find out it had been closed in anticipation of the brand new museum opening. As soon as it was open (and we got ourselves organized), we ran up to Salt Lake to check it out. My first reaction: This place is ginormous! There are five floors that encompass various natural history themes relating to Utah.

Of course, it was the dinosaurs that interested the kids the most.

Audrey stayed here until the entire dinosaur skull was assembled. (Mom helped.)

There were so many assembled dinosaur skeletons that I didn't know where to look most of the time. In true museum fashion, they were positioned in life-like poses; often in the act of attacking and eating each other! ;)

The tiny little dinosaurs were some of my favorites. They made me want to take them home!

This little guy was some sort of lemur. Again, want to take him home... preferably alive and with cuddly fur.

These were funny little flamingo-like birds, only very small.

This was another area we stayed at for quite some time. (Mainly because Ben was feeling compulsive about filling the tank as much as possible.)

The contained area was a model of the Salt Lake Valley. When you turned a crank, water would rain down from a little cloud. The valley would fill up, showing where the water levels were in various time periods. 

I think it took Ben about 15 minutes of steadily cranking out rain to get the water level this high. He went on for a little while after.

Henry lost interest after a while and found a little friend to sit with and look out the window. So cute!!

There was even a craft project going on a floor or two up. The kids made horses out of pipe cleaners. :)

Near the end of the tour, we ended up in a room set aside for learning about animals native to Utah. At that point, even Mom got in on the fun!

If you haven't been to the Rio Tinto Center and are in the Salt Lake area, I'd highly recommend checking it out. There was so much to see and do that we will definitely have to go back to do all the things we ended up passing over quickly because of worn out kids. Very worth the trip!

Happy Blogging!