Zion's National Park

We went to Zion's National Park with Jase, Ellen, Evan, and Eli. I think the last time I went hiking at Zions was in 2016! A lot has changed since then! It was crowded back then, but now it was insane! As we drove up there were signs saying that there was no available parking in the park and that visitors needed to park in Springdale. In Springdale there are hotels and restaurants with available parking, but each place was charging $25.00 just to park there. There were several kiosks with which to pay. So not only do you need to buy a pass to get into the park, you also need to pay another $25.00 just to park! It is ridiculous! 

After parking you need to ride a huge shuttle bus into the park -- which was crammed with visitors squished in with every seat taken and then everyone else standing with very little room. The driver announces interesting landmarks, but it is so crowded you can't see much of anything. The bus drops you off at the visitor's center and then you catch another bus to get to your desired trailhead. All of this took a long time. Two of the trailheads were closed. There were intercoms making announcements making it feel more like an amusement park rather than a national park. 

We finally got to the trailhead of a very short hike, since we Evan and Eli wouldn't make it very far. It was basically a half mile walk to a picnic area. That is as far as we got into the park! Then we ate some snacks and then rode the long bus back! After we got to our cars we went to a nearby park so that the boys could run around and so that we could eat our picnic. This was the most pleasant part of the journey! It is sad that Zions has gotten so overly crowded! 

We departed ways since we had the 40's dance tonight and Jase and Ellen and their boys went camping at a place they had found a ways outside of the park. Luckily it was a wide open space with nothing but land for the boys to run around! I am sure it was difficult camping with two young boys, but they said that it went well!    

Zions

Rick took the four youngest hiking at Zion's National Park today and they had a great time!  They packed a picnic and hiked to Weeping Rock.  Rick told them a long made up story about how the rock got it's name and had the kids each contribute their version to the latter part of the story.  After coming up with their version, he had them come up with the name of the rock that looked like a castle (which was included in their story.)  The one with the best name and explanation would win their very own Costco "very berry sundae!"  (Usually we share the sundaes).   All of the stories and explanations were terrific, so they ALL got their own "very berry sundae."   It was beautiful weather but it was crowded!

 The rock formation behind them (that looks like a castle) was the rock formation that they named.

Zions -- Day Two

Top Row: Jase, Heather, Janika, Jared, McCabe

Bottom Row: Logan, Hannah, Tara, Josh, Kaylee, Janelle, and Jaiden



Today was Jared's eighth birthday (Saturday, March 8th). It was a beautiful day and perfect for hiking.

We went on a long and fairly difficult hike (well it was only about 2.7 miles round trip but felt like three times that long) but the kids did great! I was amazed at how well little Jaiden did! She didn't complain at all. The waterfalls and ponds were really neat and worth the effort to see. When we finally reached the highest of the Emeralds Pools and waterfall Jared was playing around on a big rock and fell into the water. He was soaking wet and had to hike the whole way back in wet shoes and socks. (That's him in the blue shirt and camouflage pants hiding his head). He was in a pretty bad mood for awhile after that!

There was snow at the pools as you can see in the background with Josh and I. I was glad that I felt well since I was right in the middle of the morning sickness part of my pregnancy!

Hiking at Zions

February 15th our friend, Michelle Robinson (in purple), flew out from California to spend a few days with us. She and Rick met while Rick was on his mission to Santa Rosa, California, and they have kept in touch ever since. This is the first time she got to meet all of our kids in person! During her visit we went to Zions for some hiking. The trails still had quite a bit of snow and ice on them and so we weren't able to get very far, but we still had a good time sight-seeing. It was on this trip that we made the announcement to our kids that they would be getting a new sibling this Fall! They were excited and immediately started throwing out every "J" name they could think of!