The 10 Best Retirement Activities in Utah!
When you retire, it feels like the world is your oyster. Or maybe you feel like hibernating for a solid five years. Either way, it is likely that you will eventually crave a way to take advantage of your newly discovered free time. In Utah, there are plenty of activities to keep you busy, and these are some of the best.
Clark Planetarium, Salt Lake City, UT
Salt Lake City’s Clark Planetarium has been around for more than 50 years. Featuring hands-on exhibits, IMAX theater shows, dome theater shows, and a tempting gift shop, the planetarium is a very popular educational and entertainment resource for people of all ages. Although the planetarium does not offer memberships, their regularly changing IMAX shows are worth investigating. The best part? Every weekend, the planetarium puts on laser light shows in one of their dome theaters to the music of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.
Red Butte Garden, Salt Lake City, UT
A membership at the University of Utah’s Red Butte Garden in Salt Lake City is one of the best ways to take advantage of Utah’s natural beauty in a more controlled setting. The garden itself is beautiful to stroll through any time of the year, but depending on your specific membership, you can also get discounts to the garden’s concerts and events.
Tracy Aviary, Salt Lake City, UT
Not only are annual memberships at Salt Lake City’s Tracy Aviary affordable, they give you access to members-only events and a 10 percent discount on the aviary’s summer/education camps, the aviary’s community classes, and gifts from the aviary’s gift shop. The aviary features a wide variety of stunning birds, including pelicans, eagles, flamingos, hawks, turkey vultures, owls, parrots, and colorful birds from the rainforest.” All things considered, a membership at the Tracy Aviary is an absolute must for bird lovers.
Springville Museum of Art, Springville, UT
The Springville Museum of Art is a small but sophisticated museum with a reputation throughout the state for high quality exhibits and community events. Of course, periodic visits to the museum (which is free) is one of the best ways to go about supporting the museum, but if you want to get a bit more hands on in your support, you can pay for a museum membership. Depending on your specific membership, you can receive museum store discounts, voting rights for the museum’s Board of Trustees, exclusive museum event invitations, and free exhibition catalogs.
Color Me Mine, Provo, UT
Color Me Mine is a ceramic painting studio located in the Riverwoods outdoor mall in Provo. A popular hangout for kids, families, and adults, the studio invites people to unleash their creativity and paint freely. The studio has monthly events, including “family night,” “date night,” and “service night,” all of which include discounted studio fees. Color Me Mine is a nice place to relax in the company of those you love, especially if you have extra time on your hands.
Thanksgiving Point, Lehi, UT
Thanksgiving Point is home to myriad museums, beautiful gardens, restaurants, and a real working farm, all of which are available for your enjoyment. You can enjoy them most when you are a Thanksgiving Point member, which grants you unlimited admission to the Museum of Natural Curiosity, the Museum of Ancient Life, “Farm Country” and Ashton Gardens. In addition, a Thanksgiving Point membership gives you exclusive discounts at Thanksgiving Point theaters, boutiques, and restaurants. Thanksgiving Point is great place to take your family, or even to enjoy a movie and dinner with your sweetheart.
Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT
Located in downtown Salt Lake City, the Family History Library is run by the Mormon (or LDS) Church. The library is open to the public and completely free, allowing you to discover your genealogical roots, or work on other forms of research. Periodically, the library hosts classes and workshops that help people to understand how to use its plentiful resources. If you are interested in learning more about your ancestry, the Family History Library one of the world’s greatest genealogical resources.
Alf Engen Ski Museum, Park City, UT
Located at the Utah Olympic Park in Park City, the Alf Engen Ski Museum takes visitors through the history of skiing, focusing specifically on skiing’s history in the state of Utah. The museum features interactive exhibits, a virtual-reality ski theater, and the Eccles 2002 Olympic Winter Games Museum (yes, a museum inside of a museum). If you are in Park City often enough, a membership is absolutely worth it. If not, the museum makes for a great daytime activity with friends and family!
Deer Valley Music Festival, Park City, UT
Every summer, Deer Valley Resort hosts the Deer Valley Music festival in Park City. The music festival is headlined by the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera, but also features other musicians, all of which make for wonderful entertainment on a summer evening in the great, Utah outdoors. Even better? If you choose four or more concerts from the summer festival to attend, you can save 20 percent on single performance ticket prices.
SCERA Center for the Arts, Orem, UT
The SCERA Center for the Arts is a non-profit charitable arts organization that services lovers of the arts across the state of Utah. Putting on everything from films to concerts and musicals, the SCERA has both an indoor and outdoor theater, as well as a killer costume shop. With a membership to the SCERA, your weekends (or weeknights!) will never be boring.
