Saturday, April 4th:
I picked up my parents at the airport and we headed to St. George, Utah. We arrived a little early, so we made a quick stop at Nielsen Frozen Custard for some delicious concrete!
We then made our way to our townhouse at Desert Color. Upon arrival we found Luke, Andie, Porter, and Kenna!
Over the next few days we went to the large lagoon and other pools in the resort, ate snow cones, played in the sand, and watched General Conference. Mom and Andie went walking around the resort most mornings and Luke would go running. But one morning Luke fell as he was almost back to the townhouse. His ankle started swelling and bruising. Unfortunately, we would find out later that it was actually broken and Luke is just super tough and hiked to my archaeological site AND through Zion with a broken ankle!
We also had a visit from the Easter Bunny AND the Tooth Fairy! The kids got some fun new toys and some money!
On Monday, April 6th, I took the family out to see my old stomping grounds. For a month in the summer of 2006, I worked on an excavation of an archaeological site called Land Hill. The team I was on excavated on the very top of the hill while another team mapped the rock art site and another team excavated a site just down the hill. For my Senior Thesis I had to digitize the rock art site and do analysis on the positioning of the art to see if there was any kind of correlation. There wasn't. I haven't been back to Land Hill since I brought Josh here in 2011, so I was a little rusty. But it was so good to be back!
Since I had last been here the BLM has take over care for the site. They made trails, put up fencing, and installed signs.
We scrambled over the rocks as I showed everyone my favorite petroglyphs.
[I love this guy]
We were very respectful and careful as we looked at the beautiful art. After we were done with the rocks we headed up the hill to the archaeological site that I helped excavate back in 2006.
I showed my family some of the suspected pit houses and the very obvious storage units. I found a ton of pottery and a piece of obsidian. I told the kids they could hold onto it while we were on the site, but they had to leave it where we found it.
My first loves: archaeology and the red rocks.
Thanks to my family for humoring me and allowing me to share my passion with all of you!
After the archaeology hike I met up with one of my friends that I haven't seen in a long time. We went to the Botanical Gardens to walk around. It was so nice to catch up!
[I forgot to get a picture of us, but I did get a picture of this amazing painter]
On Wednesday, April 8th, we drove to Zion. Apparently it is now one of the most popular National Parks and we were there during the busiest time of the year! We first drove into the park to see if we could get lucky and find a parking spot. No luck there. We then drove through the town of Springdale until we found a spot on the side of the road by the second to last bus stop!
We took the bus to the entrance of Zion where we had to get off the Springdale bus and get in line for the Zion bus. It was like Disneyland! We were in line for about 30 minutes before we were able to board a bus!
[Kenna is so strong! She can carry Porter AND Papa!]
We got off at stop #5: Zion Lodge where we did the Lower Emerald Pools hike.
We then hopped back on the bus and headed all the way up to the last stop, #9: Temple of Sinawava. This is where the infamous Narrows hike ends (if you are coming from the top) or starts (if you are hiking up from the bottom). I hiked the Narrows back in 2008 and I was told it "wasn't that hard of a hike" and that I could "do it in your Chacos." I trusted that person, so I followed their advice. And it was a HUGE mistake. I hurt my feet so badly that I still have scars from my blisters.
Here's a few pictures from that adventure:
[The view from the top is very different than the bottom]
[When Emily and I were just kids!]
[Blisters, bruising, and so swollen]
I honestly don't even remember most of the hike. I think I black it out from my memory because it was so painful. Maybe we should try again in 2028 as a redemption and this time we will wear boots and use hiking sticks! So, yeah. Don't hike the Narrows without the proper equipment.
Back to the present!
We walked up to the end of the Narrows and it was busy!
We saw some friends that we had made on the bus earlier in the day. I asked them how the hike was and they said they couldn't understand why anyone would do this for fun! 🤣 🤣
After testing out my waterproof boots to make sure they were waterproof (they are!) we walked back down to the bus. I asked the bus driver where the best view point was and she said to get off at stop #8 Big Bend, so we did!
I can't get over how amazing this place is!
We then caught the bus and got off at stop #4 Court of the Patriarchs.
[There they are!]
We then made our way out of the park and jumped on the Springdale city bus. Dad was told that there was Bumbleberry pie and good burgers at Porters Restaurant so we headed there for some food!
The food was great, but unfortunately they were all out of bumbleberry pie! My dad was very sad. They did have bumbleberry icecream though, so my dad got that.
Remember when I said I didn't remember much about my Narrows hike? Well, I do remember laying on that patch of grass, unable to move, for a very long time after we completed the hike. I don't know how I got there or how long I was there. I do remember someone giving us their left over pizza, which was super nice! Katey didn't hike the Narrows with us, but she came up from Vegas to see us after we were done. And this is where she found Emily and I:
After lunch we headed back to our townhouse in Desert Color where we packed and got ready to check out the next morning.
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