Day 27: July 13, 2013: Part 2 – Zion National Park, Utah

  • Jul 15, 2013
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Zion National Park!  We watched part of the park video in anticipation of joining a ranger talk at the Human History museum at 3:30. I misread the brochure and we missed the ranger talk because it was in a different location, so we are going to be at Zion one more day. As Scott stated, “There are worse places to be at.”   It turns out it was one of the best mistakes I have made in a while!

We drove Zion from east to west.

We love that the National Parks are investing in water bottle fillers in addition to water fountains. Since we don’t always have access to running water we are extra excited to see these around.

 

 

Zion, like the Grand Canyon and Bryce, are incorporating and making seeing the sites by bus mandatory to cut down on pollution and congestion.

Cody is standing in an irrigation ditch next to the van. The temperature was 97 degrees, so the kids were looking for any way to cool off.

 

They were oh so happy creating “muck” in the stream.

We were pulling out of the Visitor’s Center parking lot and Scott was mentioning that we needed to find a nice shaded park bench to cook up dinner. Cody pointed and said, “What about there Dad?” Cody found the most perfect picnic bench right next to the Watchman Campground bathroom. This meant we could have bathrooms, water to cook and wash with, and shade. Way to go Cody!  The kids found a stream, irrigation ditch, to play in. They were oh so happy creating “muck” in the stream. In fact they were practicing their adobe techniques and covering wood with “muck” and created a dam. No fear, I put it all back much to their dismay before we left.

While we were waiting for dinner to finish the kids helped pick up some litter along the stream to help clean up and satisfy a Junior Ranger requirement. The kids were on a hunt to find a place to either top rope climb or boulder, so we left Zion around 7 pm. Zion is famous for its multi-pitch big wall climbs.  While Scott was very into climbing in his teenage years, the kids aren’t very experienced so we were in search of a climb where they could set up a nice top rope.  We weren’t able to find any climbing spots, but we were able to find a great camping spot. The spot was very secluded. We only saw one other vehicle before we went to sleep. It was a couple from St. Louis who had most recently been living in Thailand. They have been on the road for a month and a half in search of the perfect place to live. Scott chatted with them for a bit while I tried to get the kids settled to sleep. The St. Louis couple was down the quiet road in search of a place to camp too. I saw them pull out the next morning around 6:30, so they must have found a good spot down Dawson Wash Road too. It was quite warm for sleeping. The kids decided to give up on clothes and slept with just sheets and fans.  Everyone was cold at some point during the night except me.  What can I say?  I am hot! :-)

what happens when I try to light the stove. I’m still working on it… We had spaghetti.

The view from our dinner location

Another view from our dinner location

 

The three pictures above are of the camp spot Scott found down Dawson Wash Road.

Cody had to take a break from digging because he was hot and tired.

Cody’s blue sandals on the right used to be so much lighter in color before this trip. They were a birthday gift from Cousin Carol. He has not taken them off except to clean them this entire trip. He loves them!

 

Cody is eating an apple in our shadow picture.

Scott wanted to go for a hike with Brooke.  Cody wanted to tag along, but we didn’t make it very far in the hot hot sun.    Scott spotted two dead coyotes and a dead lizard along the ditches in the sides of the road.  He also spotted a roadrunner on the way to the campsite, he was alive and running along the road!

The sunset and the star lit night sky were incredible.

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