Zion NP - A water hike

Today was a mix of "taking care of business" and fun.  Since we arrived to Glendale, UT late on a Sunday, the lone grocery store was closed.  So Lisa, Maribeth & Scarlett headed to the grocery store first thing while Laryssa and I took care of breakfast.  There's something about late starts that don't sit right with us, so Mommy & Daddy were a little grouchy with each other - sorry kids.  I wish we were perfect parents, but we do our best and I suppose that comes with life on the road.  But we moved on and took in the splendor that is Zion NP.  Here's some shots on our way in.

The kids had to hike up on the gradually sloping rock formation

We went quite a ways up

A future Park Ranger

Carefully making her way back down

Waiting for the 1.1 mile tunnel to open while a large vehicle passes through

One of the issues when visiting a park for one day is that there's no way to hike every trail, even if we arrived early.  To maximize our experience, we took the shuttle bus on the Scenic By-way which is only accessible by shuttle anyway.  We were able to take in all of the Zion Canyon proper and opted for the hike at the last stop - Temple of Sinawava.  The hike here is called the Riverside Walk and while we had no bathing suits, the kids went in to cool off - it was in the lower 90's after all! 

Annalise clinging to her big sis

There must be something interesting there

We continued our hike along the Virgin River on really what was a concrete side walk.  It was amazing to see water, trees and general greenery in this place since our ride in and our detour up the rocks was so scorching hot.  As we continued, we hit a trail called the Narrows.  Aptly named since the rock walls of the canyon narrow and our hike became a wading adventure.  Definitely one of the coolest hikes we've been on!

Shoes off again!

Maribeth and Annalise

It's not a trail anymore!

Scarlett finds a crevice

Don't lose those shoes, Scarlett!

Who's happier than Graeme?

We were far from alone on our hike today

On our way out of Zion NP

We find that whenever we get a late start, we eek out every minute of daylight and today was one of those days.  The thought of going back to camp to cook dinner and then shower the kids was agonizing so we ate out at this funny little restaurant on the corner of Rt. 89 & Rt. 9 on the way out of the park.  Take a close look at the sign...  Turns out that way back when, the wood that they originally painted the sign on wouldn't fit "Home - made" so they improvised.

Annalise was checking to make sure that "she had pants on"

When in Utah...