Zion National Park

June 19, 2009

Our last stop on the Zito's Ultimate Road trip of 2009 is Zion National Park. We were excited to hike and explore some beautiful country. We stayed at a great hotel in Springdale, UT called The Driftwood Lodge. We would recommend it to anyone wanting to come for a visit. It was a bit on the pricey side comparing all the other places to stay in town but it was very nice and it was the only thing available the day we were here. so not much choice :) We would stay here again when we come back one day.

We are happily waiting for the shuttle bus to take us into the park. The bus stop was right on location of our hotel. Couldn't be more perfect. :) Sitting aboard the propane-run bus. It was a quiet ride and the weather feels pretty good today.

Ahh, ZIONs Here we come!!!

The family starting out on our first hike of the day to Lower Emerald Pools. It's about a mile round trip. The perfect distant for a 3 year old right?

I guess 1 mile was too much for Blake. He was one Whiny & Crabby boy! GRRRRRR! :(

I was warming up pretty fast but man oh man the view was MAGNIFICENT!!!

The whiny boy wanted to ride Leonard's shoulders from the moment we got on the trail. He is hanging back with me while I snap this cute shot of Lenny and the Girls.

What did I say? MAGNIFICENT HU??? I Know!!!

Look we even got close and personal with this mule deer. This guy wasn't afraid of us at all. Blake got a little happy when he saw the deer. There were also lots of squirrels along the trail. They were fun to look at too.

We are coming up to our first destination. The kids are almost there.

There we have it. A Smiley boy :) and wow oh wow! That is the Lower Emerald Pool!

Very emeraldly hu?? we weren't very impressed with the "pool". We laughed when we saw it and took a couple pictures and headed back to the next hike of the day.

This is what Blake wanted all along. Dad to carry him on his shoulders. Blake was a pretty big wimp on this itty bitty hike. It is a cute picture though.

A beautiful view of the Virgin River and this cool lizard I found. I remember playing in this river when I was a kid. We were on a Gordon Family Ultimate Road trip for 2 weeks and camped along the way. We camped here at Zion's and we played in the Virgin River. It sure was fun!

The girls wanted to dip their feet in the cold river to cool down. Blake wanted to go check it out too. I pulled out the camera to wait for the moment when someone would fall in. Time will tell who that lucky person was.

Leonard couldn't help him self. He snuck up on the girls and gave them a good splashing. It was pretty funny! They screamed and squealed in delight!~ They loved it :)

Kaitlyn & Carly are loving their refreshing dip in the river.

Blake is tossing rocks! A boy's favorite pass time :)

And I called it!!!! CARLY went down and is soaked!!! Hee HEe HEE! Kaitlyn looks like she is going down but she recovers. I even got it on video! PRICELESS ;)

As Carly air dries we stop for some NASTY Lunch at the cafe in the park. It was old soggy turkey sandwiches. YUCK!!! should have brought our own! And It is Disneyland priced too! GRRRR!~ But other than our nasty lunch break, This HUGE tree was AWESOME!!!

The scenery here in Zion's is breath taking. I love these red rocks! They are so rugged and HUGE!! you never get tired of your surroundings!

The girls heading out on Hike #2 ~ to Weeping Rock! We have heard it is worth the short walk uphill.

We made it! The cool thing about Weeping Rock is that water "weeps" out it and has been for a super long time. That is why the moss and greenery stay nice and lush here. to learn more about weeping rock click HERE.

This was a fun little hike! and it was cool to see a weeping rock too!

Kaitlyn catching falling drops of water and I am still loving the view!

Here is our "Green" Shuttle Bus. It was funny cuz the first bus we got on inside the park taking us to the first stop broke down and the bus was getting flooded with propane fumes. YUMMY! well the driver called for help and we watched the fix it dude take a big rock and bang on something in the engine and POW!!! we were up and running again. Now how did I witness such a weird bus repair scene??? We were sitting in the back bus which is hooked to the head bus with the engine. We were looking out the big window at the fix it dude and the driver. you can kind of see the attached bus in the bottom left pic. I would say it wasn't the most reliable. Hee hee!

Our cute girls getting ready to explore on our last hike of the day! we can't take anymore whining of Blakey boy!

Can you believe the beauty? We are hiking on the Temple of Sinawava Trail. We heard that Zion's has AWESOME Rock Climbing too. Brings Leonard and I back to the good old days of no kids and lots of climbing. Back in college days. Ahhhh those were the days :)

Can you see the quick draws left on this monstrous climb!!! Leonard was itching to climb again!


The vibrant colors here in the park are unreal. We loved our short time in the park and can't wait to come back and really explore and camp when Blake is older and can hold his own. We on the countdown :)

The Last shot of this beautiful country. I love this pic of father and son. Leonard has big dreams for him and his boy! We Love you Zion's National Park. Thank you for your beauty, and for the great pictures and most importantly for the memories!!!

This is it! We are in the car and "kinda" (check out my face) ready for the next 10 + hours of driving to get us HOME SWEET HOME!!! Utah, Idaho, Wyoming & Montana where great but the time has come... All good things must come to an end. I am ready for my own space and bed! The Zito's Ultimate Road Trip of 2009 was pretty darn Ultimate! :)