Last Friday my husband took off work and our family drove to Provo Canyon for a fun family bike ride. We heard from a friend that you can park at Vivian park and ride bikes down-about 30 min- to Bridal Veil Falls. I have to say that when my husband first mentioned this I was a little skeptical. I tried to look up online “Bridal Veil Falls” to see what to expect. I could see that there is a trail called Provo River Parkway that goes from Utah lake to Vivian Park (about 15 miles). I wasn’t sure what section of the trail we were going to be on but it sounded very long for my kids to be riding along. Also, when my husband was talking about riding down a mountain with my children, horrific visions came to my mind (I tend to over react in my head about stuff like this, I’ve always got those mommy goggles on). Our friends did it with their family and really enjoyed it, I figured I had to give it a shot. They had taken two cars and dropped one off at the falls and then drove up to Vivian Park to ride their bikes down and then threw all their bikes in the car at the falls to drive back up to the park so they didn’t have to ride uphill back to their car.
We only had my van, as my 17yr old had to work and took my husband’s car, so my husband thought he could ride back up and get the van and drive down to pick us up as we had no idea what to expect. We could only fit so many bikes in our van as well (we really need to invest in a bike rack) so we brought mine and my husband’s bikes and then we brought the kid’s scooters for them to ride.
My husband pulled out our bikes and the kid’s scooters to make sure they were all in good condition, after sitting in the garage for the winter. He also attached our new toy for our 4yr old so he can ride with us. Over the years it was always a struggle trying to figure out how to include all the kids on a bike ride especially the young ones who were too old for the bike trailer but not quite big enough for the Tag-along. The Tyke Toter (which can be found on Amazon or www.tyketoter.com ) is so wonderful for children ages 2-5. A 4 year old riding a scooter down a mountain side… not my idea of happy times. I wanted him to stay close and this keeps a child as close as you can be on a bike ride.
We made it up to Vivian Park around 10:30am and pulled out all the bikes and scooters. There weren’t a lot of people there, which was nice. 
I was immediately set at ease when we got there. It was so peaceful and from what I could see, the trail looked easy and safe.
The kids explored while we pulled out the bikes and scooters- look what they found!!
After a sweet woman asked for the low down our Tyke Toter she offered to take our picture. Now we were ready to rock n’ roll. My 4 yr old was squealing with excitement to be riding his special seat and the others were thrilled to be in the mountains on their scooters. Off we went, along the trail to find Bridal Veil Falls. The ride only took about 15 min (about 2 miles) down to the falls and was downhill, but almost flat, the whole way.
We made it to the falls, which were beautiful to see. You can see that there is lower and upper falls.
The kids had fun walking in the water…
…and there was even fish food to buy, for a quarter, and feed to the HUGE fish in the pond off to the side.
After enjoying the view, the water, and watching the fish, we decided to head back up to the park. I didn’t want to wait for my husband to ride his bike up, pack the bike in the van and then come down to get us, so we decided to try and ride the trail back all together. We could take breaks if we needed to but we thought we could make it, the ride down had been effortless. 
OH YEAH…we made it!!( happy dance here) It got me breathing a little but it was not hard. My kids didn’t complain once. We did have to stop a couple of times as our surroundings were just so beautiful. We saw many gorgeous butterflies…
…and even a mama duck and her ducklings. She had 11 ducklings following her in a perfect formation, I don’t think I’ve seen a mama duck with so many ducklings. We decided she was a good mama, she obviously knew how to protect her babies as well as teach them to stay close. 
When we made it back to the park we enjoyed a picnic. By noon A LOT of people started showing up and within an hour we decided to head out.
But first I have to give a little plug for this Tyke Toter, I am so glad we had it. It was THE perfect thing to have on this trip. It takes minutes to put on and it was absolutely perfect for my 4 year old. He LOVED the ride giggling and laughing, ” Daddy is a crazy driver!” He was probably glad he wasn’t with me because I don’t try the crazy stuff. I just like a smooth ride. This was definitely my kind of ride with the trail off the road (I don’t like riding where cars can hit me or my children- again the visions come) and beautiful nature all around. Without a doubt, we will be going back before the summer is over. We missed having our oldest there, he would have loved it.
Since we were passing through Orem on the way home, we thought we would mark another thing off our Summer Bucket List (Starting our Cupcake Tours) and stop at Cupcake Chic for a treat. 
We were still a little full from lunch so the kids got mini cupcakes.
I got the Salted Caramel Cookie it was pretty good-I gave it a 3 out of 5 stars
Derrel got the Churro cupcake- He thought it was ok- he gave it 3 stars
Emma got the Coconut Cupcake and absolutely loved it- she gave it 5 stars
Tucker and Will got the Root Beer Float Cupcake- Tucker gave it 4 stars and Will gave it 3
Gideon got the Cherry Lemonade Cupcake – He gave his a 5 star but all he ate was the frosting, must have been great frosting.
This little, much needed, day trip was very enjoyable. We had fun riding, laughing, and seeing the sights together. If you live in Utah you should try this trip to the falls, it is well worth the effort.
I would love for you to share (in the comments below) other fun bike trails you know of wherever you live.
SEE THE HAPPY!
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