Zion National Park

After buying out half the Bright Angel Lodge gift shop (rare for us, as you know, to spend more than $10 on souvenirs), we said "hope to see you soon" to the Grand Canyon.  I discovered that, even though it looks close on the map, the drive to Zion from Grand Canyon is 350 miles.  Turns out it takes a while to drive around that pesky hole.   We arrived at the East Gate of the park about 3 pm, and were at the Zion Lodge 30 minutes later.  

You probably remember that Andrew is in charge of booking our accommodations when we travel.  Ok, fine - Andrew is in charge of all of the bookings when we travel.  All other planning too, for that matter.  I am responsible for packing my own suitcase (and Andrew's, too, typically - I'm not a complete freeloader) and getting in the car.  Yes, I'm very, very lucky.  There is a good reason Andrew is in charge of hotels, however.  He's very, very good at finding the best places.  Case in point - our Zion Cabin.  I know I gushed over the cabin at the Grand Canyon - because it was adorable.  This one, however, is the most fantastic thing I've ever seen.  I literally squealed with delight when I opened the door.  

Front porch.  There's a bench on the right where I drank my coffee this morning.  

Yes, that is a fireplace.  And hardwood floors.  And an open beam ceiling.

Seriously.  It's so precious it's ridiculous.

After the appropriate amount of time spent admiring the cabin, we got back in to the car to drive to Springdale.  Springdale is a little town just outside of the south entrance of the park.  For the most part, it caters to the park visitors with lots of quaint hotels/B&B's, organic & sustainable restaurants and boutiques promising to make you look like a true outdoorsman for a mere $1000.  The shops remind me a lot of this book that I recently read called "Stuff White People Like".  You should read it.  It's very funny because it's completely true.  At minimum, however, check out what they have to say about performance attire here.  

Sadly, we don't have $1000 to spend on a new outfit.  In fact, my entire ensemble for hiking the Grand Canyon (boots, socks, pack, shirt & pants) cost about $300.  And that's because the boots and the pack each cost $100.  If you add in my sunglasses, the grand total comes to $311.  Instead of shopping, we hustle off to the Zion Laundromat so we have some clean (cheap) hiking clothes to wear.  

While the clothes are chugging away, we meander in to the candy store next door.  Oh, you know you would have, too.  It was right there.  We show some modest restraint and leave with 4 salted caramel chocolates, a bag of lemon ginger chews, and two pop.   We then sit on a bench outside the laundromat, drink our pop, and watch the well-dressed white folk go by.  

Did you know this even existed?  Yum!

Clothes finished, we got a bite to eat on the patio at Oscar's, then drove back to the Lodge.

Sunday morning was beautiful here!  Blue sky, temps around 70F/21C, and a light breeze.  We're still a bit limpy from the Grand Canyon climb, so we chose a short hike from the guidebook and headed out.  We covered about 4 miles in 2 hours.  Every inch of it was stunning.  Again, Andrew took some fantastic photos...

The next four photos are of a waterfall coming over the ledge at Emerald Pools...

Look close for the water droplets in the middle of the pic.

Ugh - more stairs.

Upper Emerald Pool

FYI - the shirt I'm wearing here was FREE from a race we ran last year!  Subtract $15 from my previous total, if you would.

Beavers!

Isn't this incredible?

The hike was not particularly strenuous but, as I said, we were still recovering from previous aches so we made our way back to the Lodge after just a couple of hours. 

The trail leading to the Lodge

We made a quick stop at the Lodge snack bar to grab a hot dog, then back to the cabin to shower.  You'll not be surprised to learn that Andrew then had a nap.  I read & worked on this post.  Tonight we're planning to go in to town for dinner, and that's about it.  

Tomorrow we're hiking to Angel's Landing.  Check out photos here, and come back to see if we survive!