Zion's National Park!!
After the wedding we headed down to Zion's for 1.5 days of fun! The drive down was not bad as we listened to Pandora most of the way =) Mark and Stacy are so fun to be around, we're never bored. It was supposed to rain, like 60%. We wanted to do the day hike of the narrows. As soon as we got there we went to Zion Adventure Co, however they said it hadn't rained yet but they thought it might. The skies were clear, but they said that doesn't mean much. So they suggested we try in the morning. With that, we took off in the van and hiked Angel's Landing. It was so hot!! Unfortunately it was like the worst time of the day to hike it! We had enough water and had lots of fun.
We found this cool hole in the rock along the trail. We just had to get shots of it!
Here we are at Scout's Lookout
We took the first set of chains to the saddle before it starts to ascend up to the summit
By that point we had had enough of the chains and took some photos and turned around
So, I've done it twice now without going to the top...I think it's because the first time I did that lady fell off and died...that really freaked me out. I realized it just might not be worth it! And it was ok because everyone was ready to turn around =)
Descending on Walter's Wiggles...I don't know why, I just love saying that:)
These two are looking up Waler's Wiggles
Then down through "Refrigerator Canyon". Sure is pretty!
Me :)
Heading out of Refrigerator canyon to the valley where we went down steep switch-backs
Then we got to the bottom and were waiting for the shuttle, during the summer they have the shuttle system that you have to take, they don't allow the cars in. I thought it would bothersome at first, but it ended up being just fine! Besides sitting next to a bunch of rowdy kids one time and not being able to sit together a couple of times it was just fine! They were timely and got us where we wanted to go, plus it was good for the environment =)
Then we headed to "weeping rock"...what a nice refreshing place to go!
It was this awesome place where the water trickles down through the rock, they say it takes around 1,000 years to get through the rock, and it was like raining out of the rock. So the water that was raining on us was about 1,200 years old!
Kenny and Stacy sitting under the trickling waterAs soon as we were back to the car we went to the Adventure store and rented the walking sticks and shoes/socks
Then we went to our lovely campsite near the river. It was $4 more to be on the river...um, yeah, that's worth it =)
We were able to take home the leftovers from the Rehersal dinner, so we brought down some leftovers with us and our trusty pan and cooked up dinner (or reheated it!).
We thought it was even better than the first time!
Two very happy recipients
The boys found some ginormous marshmallows that we cooked up for s'mores
They were pretty good! I didn't realize, Kenny told me later that each one had 90 cal!!! Goodness!That night we all slept in the tent, we thought it might get cold so we brought lots of blankets and sleeping bags. It ended up being hot, so we slept on top of our stuff. We were all worried the clouds would come and rain on us, we had no rain fly. Lucky for us the clouds didn't come, but the full moon did! It shined in right on us, especially on Mark. The boys tried to cover the tent with a tarp, but the tent collapsed on Stacy and I from the weight of the tarp!! One way or another we all ended up sleeping a little that night =)
Ahh, cute brother and sister pics
Breakfast before our hike up the narrows. Homemade granola and yogurt that stayed cold overnight.There were these cool flowers next to our camp, we didn't notice them the day before, then we learned they're called Moon lilies. They open up at night and then in the sunlight they close! Cool, huh?
Took the shuttle up to the Narrows. We parked and waited for the bus, then we had Stacy move the van a little closer. Of course the bus comes up the road as soon as she's doing that, so she hit the gas and cut off the bus, hopped out of the van, and made it :)
Starting up the river. We had to walk a mile to get to the place we could get in.
different striations in the rock...pretty cool
Just so majestic
one of my favorite parts
I think this is a really cool shot
I know, I've added a ton of pictures of our Narrows hike. It was just so pretty! We hiked up past Orderville River through Wall Street and then turned around.
There were these cool formations in the rocks from the water, Stacy made perfect use of them!
There was also this cool waterfall along the hike
And I LOVE this picture
We had just a fabulous trip with Stacy and Mark! We then took them down to Vegas to see Brent and his family for a couple of days. We left as soon as we were done with this hike. On the way down to Vegas we were talking about how fun it would be to be able to stay overnight with them as well as the fact that hiking the Narrows, driving down to Vegas, and then driving back home would make a seriously long day. Anyways, we were able to both get the next day off! So we went out to BJ's with Dennis and Brent's family and swam in the pool at the hotel. We had lots of fun. It was nice having air conditioning after the night before. We all slept very well :)Then we had breakfast and hung out with them for a little bit and then headed home. What a great trip!
Thanks Stacy and Mark for staying later and having a great time with us! We'll do more next time :)
