Steamy Day in Utah

(Posting for Thursday, June 19th)

Everyone slept a little late this morning after our late night last night. Taylor and I were the first ones up and wandered down to the lobby shortly after 9am for breakfast, only to find that breakfast ended at 9am. We gathered up whatever we could from the rapidly disappearing breakfast buffet and headed back upstairs for breakfast. After breakfast, everyone headed to pool for a morning swim. The swim was a great break – the kids seem to gauge the quality of our accommodations based only on the pool, so this hotel was a hit with them.

After our swim, we showered and started our journey to Zion National Park shortly after noon. We drove about 30 minutes, then stopped at Kolob Canyons on the western edge of Zion. We enjoyed the scenic drive through the red sandstone canyons, had a quick picnic lunch, wrapped up yet another junior ranger badge, then headed on south to see the rest of Zion.

We’d read enough about Zion that we thought we new what to expect, but we were completely wrong. Driving into Zion, you cross some pretty rural areas – very dry, lots of sagebrush, not many people. It was a hot day as well – high 90’s. As you get closer to Zion, you drive through the town of Springdale that sits on the Virgin River. The town is really neat – lots of good restaurants, cute motels and inns, lots of art. Not what you would expect for a town next to a national park in the middle of nowhere.

Zion has one road that follows the Virgin River and winds through the canyon it created. Traffic was such an issue that the Park Service doesn’t allow any private vehicles on the road during the summer – only shuttle busses. It’s really a great service – you park your car at the visitor center and leave the driving to someone else. We checked out the visitor center, then grabbed a bus into the canyon. We did a couple of stops a long the way – the history museum, the “narrows” – the end of the canyon where it is still very narrow, the “weeping wall” – where water seeps from a rock cliff and it seems to rain every day. The kids had a blast wading in the Virgin River, playing with the rocks and mud. After several hours of exploring the park, we decided to head back to the ranger station, pick up yet another junior ranger badge, then started making our way back to Cedar City for the night. Zion is another park that we’re planning to revisit so we can have more time to hike the trails and explore the neat town of Springdale.

Once back in Cedar City, we grabbed some authentic Mexican food and headed back to the hotel so the kids could get in a last round of swimming. On Friday, we’re heading south to Las Vegas to crash at Mandalay Bay for a long weekend of R&R. We’re all looking forward to giving the car a rest for the weekend and hanging poolside.

We’ve got a few more pics up from the last couple of days:

http://picasaweb.google.com/MarionGrayCPA/YellowstoneDay21

http://picasaweb.google.com/MarionGrayCPA/YellowstoneDay22