Saturday, April 23, 2011

Spring Break 2011-Zion National Park

It is always so hard to choose which pictures to put on here after a vacation. I take A LOT of pictures. This trip was just what we all needed to escape the cold, dreary, rainy spring we have been having here at home. Zion was full of sun and perfect, short sleeve shirt temperatures. We took Aunt Tracy and Grandma and Grandpa Harker along with us too. This was our first chance to test out our tent trailer that we bought in January. It was awesome! We were able to fit all our stuff in it and still have plenty of room for all of us to sleep very comfortably. (G&G Harker slept in a tent)

I love how the side of the trailer pops out with this table. We can all sit and eat breakfast on it out of the cold.
The hikes in Zion are beautiful. Since it is early in the Spring, there are a lot of waterfalls that disappear later in the summer.

These are the "Emerald Pools."


This was the view on the way down from the Emerald Pools. It was amazingly gorgeous and this picture does not do it justice.


We saw some petroglyphs. Zions is really secretive about their petroglyphs and don't advertise how to get to them. This is the only one the ranger would tell us about.


As always, the boys earned their "Junior Ranger" badges.


Another cool hike was "Weeping Rock." The water right now is just pouring down through all the sandstone and it makes these green hanging gardens. Again, the view was so much more amazing than what a picture can show.




What would a camping trip be without a little sword fighting? (and yelling, and getting in trouble, and bugging each other, and getting dirty, and jumping off rocks, and just being crazy boys!)

Mike and I took one hike by ourselves. It was a short one that I can't even remember the name of, but the view from the top was awesome.

On the way home on Friday, we took a few side trips. One was to the ghost town of Grafton, UT. Mason keeled over and died so we put him with the rest of the dead people.



Our last stop was to Kolob Canyon where we took another short hike to the overlook. Look at those white, puffy clouds and blue sky. It felt great! Once again I am so grateful that Mike taught me how to love and appreciate camping and hiking. It is such a great time for my family to be together. I love everything about it, except for the smelly laundry when we get home. We already know we will have to return to Zion in the future because there was a lot we were not able to see. Mike and I are dying to do the Angel's Landing hike, but couldn't because it is too dangerous for our kids. Hopefully in a few years, we'll all be able to do that one together. It was a great trip and I'm glad we were able to get away for a few days.

4 comments:

Stephanie said...

WOW, what beautiful country! And having a big camping trailer is just the way to enjoy it all! So glad you all could get away and have a good time.(and SO glad no boys fell off any of those cliffs!)

Steve & Brenda said...

These really are some spectacular shots of Zion and of your family too. What a terrific spring break! Bren and I will have to go together someday.

DottieLou said...

It looks like you had a great time. That is one place I have not visited.

Christy Smith said...

Seriously? You're already posting? You're amazing. :) Looks like so much fun! We want to get a trailer as soon as we can. We were right by you in Bryce Canyon for Spring Break. It's so gorgeous down there!