We enjoyed a lazy morning eating a big breakfast and slowly getting ready for the day. Our Airbnb was only 10 minutes away from the Zion National park entrance.
Around 10 am we made our way to Zion. We didn't expect it to be so crowded. The line to get into the park took us 15 minutes. Then it took us another 30 minutes to find a place to park our car. We ended up driving up Mt Carmel Road before finding a place to park.
We stepped out of the car and within seconds our kids had disappeared into nature. They spotted a stream not to far off of the road and had to explore.
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| who needs sand when you have desert dirt. |
After exploring off the beaten path for half an hour we decided hike back to the bus stop and catch the bus back to the information center to start our official tour of Zion's.
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| Narrow busy roads with kids. sometimes you just have everyone hangon |
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| Stopping to smell the rocks |
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| watching the very fullriver zip passed us as we wait for the bus |
When we got back to the Information center, the lines to get back on the bus where like the lines you see at Disneyland. We guessed we had about an hour and a half wait before we'd be able to get on the bus. I jumped in line to get that bad boy started, while James toured the gift shop with the kids, signed them up for the Junior Ranger Program and fed them lunch.
Finally we got back on the bus and headed out to our first destination. Since Everett passed out on the bus we decided to take the bus all the way to end of the route and work our way back the rest of the day.
Our first hike started around 2pm. a short 2 mile Riverside walk leading to The Narrows. Do to high water volumes the Narrows was closed for hiking. But it was still fun to explore the area.
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| so friendly, and we didn't even feed him any food. |
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| Gwenevere enjoyed finding her own place to explore and be alone. |
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| snack time |
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| finding animal footprints in the mud |
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| Everett impressed with his own hand |
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| catching waterbugs to examine under the magnify glass |
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| rocks up close |
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| our guide doing his research |
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| Everett was pretty excited about his bug |
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| someone found a crumb |
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| the long walk back to the bus |
Everett thought the cactus where cool. He pointed out every single bush we passed. On our way back to the bus, Everett got up close and personal with a tall cactus, it was all big smiles and happiness until the cactus got him.
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| moments before the cactus bite. |
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| My favorite part of this vacation. all the hand holding. |
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| Everett and I made it back to the bus stop before the girls. |
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| The Great White Throne |
Our next stop was a short half mile hike to Weeping Rock. after seeing Silver Creek Falls it's hard to get excited over a few drops of water falling off a cliff when surrounded by crowds of people and toting along happy but tired children. To say the day was turning out to be anticlimactic is probably the right description. Everything was beautiful but we where a few weeks too early to see all the spring bloomage and the crowds where the biggest down fall to the park by far.
But with that said there where plenty of beautiful blissful moments of solidarity around every corner.
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| Playing under the bridge at Weeping Rock |
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| I spy the moon. While surrounded in nature She graced us with her presents. |
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| Waiting to catch a bus that wasn't packed full. It took a few buses but we where finally allowed on a bus. |
We took the bus to back to the Lodge where we found a squished penny machine. Then we took the bus back to the bus stop. James got off the bus at bus stop 3 and walked back to our car then he picked us up at the visitor center.
At this time it was dinner time. We made peanut butter and nutella burritos and decided to drive the Zion-Mount Carmel Hwy to the 1 mile tunnel.
the lighting was perfect and the views where breathtaking. It was also nice to be back in our own car away from all the crowds.
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| The road from whence we came |
After a very exciting 1 mile tunnel drive with beautiful peekaboo views along the way, we emerge into a different geological surrounding. The rocks where different with fewer trees and more vivid reds and browns all around. By this time is was getting close to 7pm so we didn't stay long to explore but it was definitely worth the drive.
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| I was in love with the red roads and little tunnels |
We arrived back at our airbnb around 8:30 pm We made a second dinner, showered all the kids and fell fast asleep.
Before dozing off James and I decided that we needed to get out the door early the next morning to hopefully beat some of the crowds.
Truthfully I wasn't feeling the desire to explore Zion anymore. So we did some research and decided to drive to Bryan's Canyon instead.
I love impromptu Vacations.
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