Zion

The first year we had a camping trailer, we found out that many of the places we wanted to go booked out months in advance.  Some, the day they open, 4 or 6 months out.  So the next year, Christopher asked me to book a camping trip for each month.  Only we got closer to summer, tore out the kitchen and found out that 2 of the 4 camping trips were in direct conflict with things we could not miss.

So this time, when he saw a campsite in Zion National Park that he wanted, he really went for it.  He booked before Christmas so that we could come in June, and booked the full two weeks you are allowed to book.  The fee to change it later was worth not missing out on it.  In the end, we shaved a little off the beginning and the end and had a full week in our spot.

And what a spot it was!  It was only a couple of minutes to walk to the visitor's center, it was right on the river, and just two campsites away from an amphitheater where they have nightly ranger talks.

The river had this great rock that blocked the flow.  Nice and calm for my crew to wade and swim in.  The water was very, very cold when you got in, but after a day of hiking in the high 90s, cold water was great.

There was a lot of debate about if this little guy would come along or not.  Dogs are allowed in the campground, but not in the National Park itself.  That meant he could come, but he would be left in the trailer a lot.  The electric hookup meant that the air conditioning was on for him, but I just worried that if he barked too much or the AC went out and we were gone for hours he might not do well.  Thankfully, he was great.  I think he enjoyed being along for the adventure, even if he spent more time alone in the trailer than we wanted him to.

We loved scootering around every evening.  All of the campgrounds were really lovely.

And this was our view from inside while eating breakfast each morning.  We loved having a new dinette to eat at, and what a view, as well!

The last time I took the kids to Zion, I was meeting my parents there while Chris worked.

That trip was a really busy one, and we had so many adventures that I didn't have the best memories of the place.  We were all glad we went, but it was exhausting.  Christopher had only been there with scout groups.

This time we had older kids, both parents, and a week to explore the place at whatever pace suited us.  Much better.  I was worried about the heat, but we just tried to hike in the morning and take a break in the afternoon heat.

We hiked up to the upper emerald pools.

The pools were neat, but I was most impressed by the sheer cliffs.  The walls of the canyon are like that throughout the park, which is why the Indian name for the place meant "Straight Up Land".

The kids played in the sand for at least an hour.

We also walked up to see weeping rock.

And the kids once again spent at least an hour playing in the creek at the bottom.

We also did the Riverside walk, which obviously involved playing in the river.  There is a theme here.

Kaitlyn took over the camera so she could get pictures of Daddy skipping rocks.

We also spent a lot of time at Ranger programs.  Last time, the kids were only mildly interested in the Junior Ranger booklets they got.  This time, they carried them everywhere and went to 7 Ranger programs.  Kaitlyn love the evening talks so much that she would beg to go early and save us a front row seat.

I had no idea last time, but they have an entire (air conditioned) building just for little kids.  Puzzles and coloring pages, hand puppets and lots of displays for them to learn from, and Ranger talks just for kids.  They kept begging to go back there.

It really was so well done.  And the kids finished their entire packet to get sworn in as Junior Rangers!

Jasmine did, technically, raise her right hand.  But only Kaitlyn repeated after the Ranger when they promised to take good care of the land.

There were a couple of mornings where Chris woke up early to conquer a bigger hike that Jasmine (and probably I) couldn't quite do.

Tyler went with him for Angel's Landing, and loved it.  He saw nothing scary about the 6 foot wide path with sheer cliffs on either side.  In fact, one kind gentleman saw him and offered out his hand to help him along . . . and Tyler promptly gave him a high five and kept on walking.

The next morning, Chris did an even longer hike all by himself.

I know this post has a lot of pictures, but I'm not even through all of them yet.  The kids loved riding the shuttle, even asking to just ride the shuttle with no destination in mind.

We had ice cream at the lodge and ran around the lawn for a while.

We brought our kayaks down, and spent one day at Sand Hollow Reservoir with some friends.

We went into town for ice cream and cornhole one night, too.

And we hiked up to the Watchman with a ranger right before we packed up to go home.

It was an awesome, busy trip!

And if all of that wasn't enough, we stopped on the way home to have dinner by Yuba Lake.  Might as well make use of the kayaks one more time!

The weather was super windy, but we made it work.