Things to Do in Pleasant Grove

When a great white shark approaches with opened jaws, the last thing you want to do is swing a golf club. But when that same scenario presents itself at Laser Assault, swinging a golf club is exactly what you should do—the path through those jaws leads to one of nine holes on the black-light mini-golf course. Other menacing creatures such as snakes and T-rexes guard the remaining eight holes, which wind their way through murals of aquatic critters and verdant jungle brush.

More creepy neon wall paintings illumine Laser Assault's two-level laser tag arena, whose labyrinthine corridors twist and turn past clusters of barrels and through clouds of fog—a one-minute video grants a vivid tour. Outside the arena, only an air hockey table glows inside the arcade, a non black-light space with classic games such as Hoop Fever—the more exciting sequel to Hoop Indifference.

Each year, more than 3,500 people descend on Soldier Hollow in Midway to celebrate the arts and cultures of various Native American nations. For three days, crafters sell handmade jewelry, paintings, and museum-worthy pottery. Fry bread, roast mutton, and Navajo tacos abound, fueling shoppers as they browse or cartwheel over to watch dancers and drummers face off against each other in colorful, handcrafted regalia. The dancers don flowing garb for grass dances that recall prairie grass rustling in the breeze, while jingle dresses inlaid with hundreds of tiny tin cones reverberate in time with fleet footwork.

The 18-hole course at TalonsCove Golf Club hugs the northwest rim of Utah Lake, leading golfers on a shamrock-shaded jaunt backdropped by the craggy skyline formed by the Timpanogos Mountain. Architect Gene Bates designed the course in a links-style format, the ancient design scheme that features numerous deep bunkers, frustratingly high rough, and few trees bent on blocking flight paths and asking for group pictures right before an important shot.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par-72 course
• Total length of 7,096 yards from the back tees
• Course rating of 72.5 from the back tees
• Course slope of 127 from the back tees
• Four sets of tees per hole
• Scorecard

A waterfall cascades over a towering cliff. A few acres away, hundreds of thousands of tulips sway in the desert breeze where hay and barley once grew. Originally a dairy farm, the 55-acre Thanksgiving Point has bloomed into a museum complex and attraction with one-of-a-kind experiences, shopping, dining, and seasonal festivals. In Thanksgiving Point Gardens, trees and shrubs form divisions between 15 themed gardens modeled after a country estate, 13 acres of turf grass, and a 4,000-seat amphitheater beside a manmade waterfall—all of which flourish under the hands of 26 gardeners. Gardeners feed their plots using an intricate water-reclamation system, which harvests millions of gallons of runoff water and lizards' tears annually to transform the desert landscape into an assembly of global ecosystems.

The outdoor park is also home to Farm Country, a working farm where goats, pigs, and draft horses mingle with peacocks and wildlife photographers disguised as ostriches. Visitors delve into farm culture as they pet and feed the animals, ride ponies, and look in on the process of bottling milk. The Museum of Ancient Life explores life long before agriculture, exhibiting 60 complete dinosaur skeletons to a soundtrack of gurgling steams, insect chirps, and one jazz saxophonist. The museum also contains more than 50 interactive exhibits, including a simulated fossil dig.

After years of training and diving around the world, owners Colby, Darren, and Tony decided to spread their love of scuba by opening North American Divers. They instruct classes such as Discover Scuba Diving, where be-finned students try breathing underwater for the first time. During Advanced Open Water classes, more experienced divers earn certification across five dives at locales such as Sand Hollow and the California Channel Islands. They also rent out gear such as regulators, oxygen tanks, and wetsuits. Additionally, the trio’s team of in-house certified technicians fixes nearly all makes and models of scuba and snorkeling equipment with a simple twitch of their nose.

From its origins in the Uinta Mountains’ Washington Lake, the Provo River descends to Utah Lake. On its way, thousands of years’ worth of the river’s water has carved the nearly 7,000-feet-deep Provo River Canyon. The water carries adventurers as well, bearing expeditions toward the landmark’s geological contours in vessels furnished by Runoff River Adventures.

Owned and operated by its guides, Runoff River Adventures has attracted some of the best river navigators in the business. Each guide has personally traversed more than 200 rivers, whose collective currents criss-cross countries across the world. The aquatic experts wield this experience as they guide kayaking and rafting expeditions down courses that can pass through roiling rapids or stick to calmer areas, such as goldfish bowls. Instructors also helm paddling and rafting courses, which focus on oar work and the art of the lake roll and river roll. Once they have mastered the basics, adventurers can confidently sally forth for self-guided tours in inflatable or non-inflatable kayaks, rafts, and innertubes that function as both flotation devices and very large headbands.