Sunday, September 13, 2009

Welcome to Zions

Believe it or not, after living in Utah for almost ten years, I have never been to Zion's National Park. I'm not really sure why I waited. It is beautiful.

The only negative part of our whole day was that it was unseasonably cool. During our "hike"--the Riverside Walk--, it started raining and when we got off the bus--there are no cars allowed in most of Zions--to see The Court of Patriarchs, it started to blizzard!
After waiting for the bus in the snow, we were done exploring the park. We warmed ourselves over a bowl of curry and walked through the Fatalli gallery. Sufficiently warm, we headed to our Hogan, a mud hut with a fireplace in the middle. The drive was gorgeous.




Although we had previously been excited about our stay in a Hogan at the 10,000 Villages campsite right outside Zions, the mud hut was not the warmest option on a snowy night. We used all of our fire wood before we went to sleep! But luckily the drinks and s'mores we made before bed, kept the edge off the cold until we could sufficiently warm our sleeping bags.

It was just like old times staring up at the starry night, talking about what we want for the future.

Girl's Road Trip


Historically, I have limited this blog to my international travel. But, because I am getting out of the country less frequently now that I'm working, I've decided to expand. Last October, I was surprised to find that one of the coolest places I've ever traveled to was in my own backyard.


My best friend, Mindy, flew out from NYC for a ROAD TRIP! Our plan was to start in St. George--because it was the middle of Fall Break and there were no hotels available near Zion's Park, explore Zion's Park, explore Bryce Canyon, and hit up as many of the other state parks and other attractions as we had time for.


The ride to St. George was uneventful. Traffic wasn't too bad. Mindy and I had a great time catching up and introducing each other to new music. Before hitting up the Mongolian BBQ for dinner, we stopped next door to a Build a Safari Giraffe that we named Skylar. Skylar became our trip mascot.


After we checked into our hotel, we soaked in the hot tub, then settled in for a movie.