Somehow, I knew that Zion was a place I needed to experience. Our visit has been too short, but yet everything I had hoped for.
We had intended to stay in Hatch for 3 nights, making day-trips into the parks from there. However, after our first sleep-deprived night, Bill did some research and found a smoking deal at a little bed and breakfast called the
Red Rock Inn in Springdale, Utah, just outside the south entrance to Zion. We left Hatch mid-day, with the managers at Riverside being very understanding about our need for a schedule change.
If you ever have the opportunity to drive on Route 9 through Zion, do it! Every turn on the winding road brought new and almost unbelievable views.
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| One of the many amazing views on Route 9 through Zion |
While there is a shuttle service to take you into the deeper parts of the canyon, this drive alone was jaw dropping if you don't have time to spend the day.
Checking into the Inn, we met Sharon, the owner, who made us feel like family immediately. She helped us try multiple outlets on the small property of cottages, and lent us an extension cord so that we could plug in the car, and gave us a full overview of the best hikes and ways to see the park with kids the age of ours. She happened to mention to us during a further conversation that she had a critically ill son, and Bill, being his mother's son, intuited that she had some pain she needed to vent. More on that later.
Our stay included breakfast vouchers to local restaurants, and we chose Oscar's Cafe, which turned out to be the best breakfast (possibly, any meal) we've had our entire trip. Even our non-breakfast eating children agreed it was good.
At that point, we were still trying to figure out where we were going to stay that night, when Bill suddenly saw a room at the Red Rock Inn open up. He checked in with Sharon, and sure enough, she had gotten a cancellation through Expedia, so we were able to stay for another night. Yay!
After breakfast, we walked across the street to the closest shuttle, which will take you to all of the major stops for the park. While we had a somewhat late start, we decided to take the shuttle all the way in to the last stop, so we could hike a bit into the Narrows, where the Virgin River enters the canyon.
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| Starting our hike into the Narrows canyon |
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| Walking in the river was a bit slippy, but the cool water made the heat bearable |
It was HOT - 100+ degrees, but we were early enough that the sun wasn't directly overhead, and the kids loved walking through the slow moving river and seeing the red canyon walls up close.
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| A cool hole carved out by higher waters |
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| Cool rock waterfall |
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| Photos can't really capture how high the canyon walls are. |
When we returned from our hikes, the weather was threatening to storm, with thunder booming in the distance. It had cooled to at least 90, with a crazy wind that blew through the canyon. We walked across the street to the market to grab some things for a light dinner, and when we returned, Sharon said her son was here, and asked if Bill wanted to meet him. Bill walked down, and I stood on the patio, thinking about how much Bill was like his mother, who had the same gift of connecting with people on a separate level of understanding from the rest of us. The second that thought crossed my mind, a hummingbird swooped around the corner of the cottage and looked me right in the eye for about 5 seconds. The feeling in our family has always been that since Joyce (Bill's mom) passed, she shows up as a hummingbird (or hummer, as she always called them). When these sort of things happen, I always feel like we are somehow on the right path in life.
We enjoyed our last evening in Springdale, watching the sunset while the kids tried out the hot tub, and spent hours trying to catch the plentiful lizards.
The next morning, we had planned our last epic leg of the journey, from Springdale to Graeagle to retrieve our cat. It would be a 11+ hour trip with charging, and we'd have to cover over 620 miles.
