A trip to the Utah Olympic Park is a great afternoon. After having lunch in Park City, Utah, we continued down the road to the official home of the 2002 Winter Olympics. Visitors to the park will find themselves at the bottom of a long, windy road that leads to the summit of the mountain. Once at the top, you’ll have a great view of the city below, and the chance to get an up close look at Olympic Memorabilia from the 2002 games.

Take for example this display on how Olympic Medals are made.

The sports center has interactive exhibits on the region’s ski history and Olympic events. You can try your hand at slalom skiing, watch videos on the games and even try to lift a curling stone. Check out a few of the highlights.

By the way, how heavy are curling stones? Very heavy, nearly 50 pounds!

Guided tours are available for a small fee, but the museum itself is free. If you time it right, you may also see athletes training (even all year round). Instead of ski jumping into powdery snow, they land in a refreshing pool! And for the adventurous, come wintertime, you can even take a bobsled ride!

1 Hour is not enough if you want to see it all. With all the exhibits, films, tours and photo opportunities, you could make the most of this experience in about 2 – 2.5 hours. For the future Olympian or spectator, you’ll have a delightful afternoon at the Utah Olympic Park.

Have you been to an Olympic Park? What’s your favorite? Add your comment below.

For more photos from the sports center, including Team U.S.A. Uniforms and Trading Pins, visit my Flickr site. Stay up-to-date with the latest travels of adventureswithben by becoming a fan on facebook here.

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Don’t forget, Ben and Brian are applicants in the Ultimate Thailand Explorers Contest. Please follow us on twitter@benandbrianthaiand share our Ultimate Thailand Explorers Application Video to Pattaya, Thailand with your friends and family.

Today I wanted to share a quick trip that is just under an hour’s drive from Salt Lake City, Utah. Park City, Utah is probably best known for hosting the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. It’s also home to the Sundance Film Festival.

The drive from Salt Lake City to Park City takes you through the middle of two mountains. It’s a great drive, especially in the Autumn. Park City has several ski resorts scattered around the town, which while dormant now, are probably bustling with activity in the winter. And that’s how I imagine Park City to be, the quintessential ski resort town.

My experience was somewhat different. For starters, I was there during mid-week during what would appear to be a slow time of year. So my day was pretty mellow. I grabbed a simple lunch at a restaurant called Zoom. Through serendipity, Zoom happened to be the restaurant of Robert Redford. Our server told us that he is one of the best bosses he’s ever had. Good to know!

The restaurant is inside an old train station, complete with original, hardwood flooring. Today it’s a place to dine, but I had to take a moment to reflect on the history beneath my feet, and all the people who had traveled on that same floor to destinations unknown. The food was good. Lunch was doable, but dinner was slightly on the expensive side.

After lunch I took a brisk walk outside. Historic Main Street had it’s boom in the 1860′s. Silver mines were it’s claim to fame.

The buildings are original, but the modern-day cars seemed to detract from the quaintness of this shopping and dining hub. Boutiques, restaurants and other shops line the street. Parking is by meter, although a few garages are available. What caught my eye was this chairlift. It takes you over the highway and to the mountaintop. It’s not for skiers, but for hikers. Unfortunately, I was out of season and it wasn’t operating. I think it’s a weekend thing.

My experience along Main Street was what it was, a chance to eat and stroll. Nothing more, nothing less. My real intention in visiting this city was to see the Olympic Park. You’ll see more from there later this week.

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Remember to enter the the adventureswithben.com Tugo contest by visiting here.

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Don’t forget, Ben and Brian are applicants in the Ultimate Thailand Explorers Contest. Please follow us on twitter@benandbrianthaiand share our Ultimate Thailand Explorers Application Video to Puttaya, Thailand with your friends and family.

There are only 17 Days left in the Ultimate Thailand Explorers Contest. With only a few weeks lefts until I travel to South Africa for business, Brian and I are doing everything we can in these final days to prepare for our hopeful trip to Thailand. In last week’s blog entry, you read about us searching for books about Thailand. This week we traveled to the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival to search for Thai Food.

Each fall, the theme park Epcot hosts a festival with dozens of booths from around the world. Each booth represents a different city and country from across the globe. Festival favorites include: Cheddar Cheese Soup from Montreal, Canada, Beef Tenderloin from Cape Town, South Africa and the International Cheese Selections from the “Mouse Catch”.

This past weekend, Brian and I ventured to the park to sample our regular favorites and to try some new additions to the festival, mainly Bangkok, Thailand. Ride along with us on this YouTube video as we drive to the park and ride one of it’s most popular attractions, Test Track.

The back of the park, known as World Showcase, is where the festival booths are located. If you happen to visit the park on your own, be sure to grab a park guide map, which lists where each country is located. If you have been inspired to sample the food from Thailand, it’s located next to Germany – I know, the geography is a bit off. After walking through the park, Brian and I found the Thailand booth and purchase some food. You can view our experience here.

Brian enjoyed the Papaya Salad with Shrimp. And though I didn’t have any of the shrimp, the salad part was good. Even on a hot day like Saturday was, the Chicken and Coconut Soup was delicious. There were big chunks of chicken in a thick broth. One cup was not enough. We washed down our meal with some Thai beer. I didn’t know Thailand made beers, but the brand we had, Singha, was refreshing on a hot day. You can view the Flickr site of Ben and Brian Thailand to see some fun photos of our day in the park here.

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Remember to enter the the adventureswithben.com Tugo contest by visiting here.

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Don’t forget, Ben and Brian are applicants in the Ultimate Thailand Explorers Contest. Please follow us on twitter@benandbrianthaiand share our Ultimate Thailand Explorers Application Video to Puttaya, Thailand with your friends and family.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awHklMrhWEE]

Arriving early to Salt Lake City, Utah I had some time to visit the Great Salt Lake. My colleague and I found a marina off the highway to pull into and go to the lake.

The Great Salt Lake felt otherworldly. Perhaps it was the haze of the day, or the seemingly endless sea of water, but I felt like I was on another planet. It also stunk. Literally, the place smelled of sulfur I think. While I was at the lake I had an idea.

Ordinarily, I would have tried to swim in the lake. Because of the high salinity of the water (higher than the ocean), it’s easy to float in the water. There were a few reasons I declined this swimming opportunity. 1. I didn’t pack a bathing suit. Now this isn’t a complete deterrent, but…2. I was with a colleague from work and didn’t really want to undress into my skivvies to swim in the lake. So instead we walked down the rocks, through the mud, and onto the lake shore.

With one shoe and sock off, I put my foot in the Great Salt Lake.

It was gross. The lake is filled with thousands upon thousands of Brine Shrimp. You may remember them from your childhood days as Sea Monkeys. Yep, the Great Salt Lake is nothing but a giant tank for Sea Monkeys. The water was also very cold. There was only one person who was swimming in the lake. I shouted to him to see if it was easy to float. He said “yes”, but he also understood little English. So who knows really.

Great Salt Lake Brine Shrimp

And the final verdict on the Great Salt Lake…

Despite the grossness of it, I was glad I did it. Many people look at the water and turn away and leave with nothing but pictures. Instead, I left with pictures AND a story. Next time you visit something, ask yourself what can you do to leave with a story and dare I say, an adventurous one at that?

For more photos about today’s adventure you can visit my Flickr site.

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If you enjoyed today’s post, why not enter the adventureswithben.com Tugo contest by visiting here?

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Don’t forget, Ben and Brian are applicants in the Ultimate Thailand Explorer Contest. Please follow us on twitter@benandbrianthaiand share our Ultimate Thailand Explorer Application Video to Puttaya, Thailand with your friends and family.

“With audition videos nearing 50,000 views, new applicants are advised to remember that 25 semifinalist teams will be selected by judges based on the quality of their audition videos, not the number of views. Let your creativity, personality, and web-savvy shine through!”

I think this is good news for Brian and I. Our video includes all those criteria. Furthermore, at the press conference they had last week, we also learned that:

“popular audition videos including…Benjamin & Brian make a sensation at Ultimate Thailand Explorers Press conference at the Centara Hotel on September 14, 2009.”

It is really incredible to think that Brian and I (and our video), were shown all the way in Thailand to reporters and bloggers from throughout the country. What an amazing, connected, digital world that we live in! And to think just a few months ago I was a relative unknown, and now, through the magic of this blog, we’re being broadcast in Thailand.

Photo Courtesy of the Ultimate Thailand Explorers Facebook Fan Page

There are still 26 more days left in the application submission period and then the voting begins. We’re thinking that IF we were selected, things will happen very fast. To be in the best position possible to bring the World of Thailand to you, Brian and I thought we should learn as much as we could about Thailand, as early as we could. So recently we went to a local bookstore to search for books about Thailand. Here’s the outcome.

In addition to our video, you can see our Flickr photo set here. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement as we proceed through the Ultimate Thailand Explorer Contest.

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Remember to enter the the adventureswithben.com Tugo contest by visiting here.

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Don’t forget, Ben and Brian are applicants in the Ultimate Thailand Explorer Contest. Please follow us on twitter@benandbrianthaiand share our Ultimate Thailand Explorer Application Video to Puttaya, Thailand with your friends and family.

Well for Eugene, the place to visit is Skinner Butte Park. I’ll take you there later this week. Instead, I’m doing things in reverse. Today’s post is all about what I did when I was there, without telling you what “there” is. Briefly, Skinner Butte Park is big hill that overlooks the city of Eugene. That’s all you need to know to get through today’s post.

At the top of the hill I saw something that gave me an idea…

I can’t remember the last time I climbed a tree. Something happens when we start to grow up. All the things we used to thing were fun are forgotten and thought about as shameful. When was the last time you colored? Played with Legos? Play-Doh? Created a fort out of boxes or furniture? Can’t remember when, can you? Why is that? Why do we lose our imagination? Imagination is wonderful. I remember climbing trees as a child and thought about how cool it was to be that high. To be able to look out at everything down below. In the spirit of childhood, I was going to climb this tree.

Or so I thought. It turns out that climbing a tree wouldn’t be as easy as I thought it would be. Maybe this wasn’t the right tree, or maybe I had lost my skills as a climber, but this was harder than I thought. I didn’t give up though. I tried again and…

Success. I climbed a tree and it felt great. I was up high, able to look out through the treetops and see the City of Eugene from a much cooler perspective. When I got down I had another thought. You see, I experienced all the fun of climbing the tree while you sat there and watched me do it. Wouldn’t it have been more fun if you came along to? I’m so glad you said yes, that’s what I thought too.

And because one time is never enough.

You may be reading this post having just woken up from your sleep. Or maybe you are taking a break in the middle of the day and need a quick diversion. Perhaps you are reading this at night, just before retiring to bed. Whenever you are reading this make a promise to yourself to do something childlike in the next 24-hours. I’m not talking immature, but buy a box of crayons and color. Or maybe create a puppet show with your socks. Do something that uses your imagination and remember what fun you used to have and how easy it can be to still have that moment of fun if you really try to reach for it.

Celebrating Climbing the Tree

More photos from my adventure in the tree can be seen at my Flickr site.

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Remember to enter the the adventureswithben.com Tugo contest by visiting here.

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Don’t forget, Ben and Brian are applicants in the Ultimate Thailand Explorer Contest. Please follow us on twitter@benandbrianthai and share our Ultimate Thailand Explorer Application Video to Puttaya, Thailand with your friends and family.