Zion Canyon.

On our way to Zion, we stopped in Kanab to get dessert at our favorite local restaurant. Yummy!! We got to our hotel in Zion about 5. We weren't able to get a room at the lodge inside the park, so after we checked in we decided to go inside and check things about for the next day. It took forever! It was 12 miles into the park and then another 12 miles to the visitor center. So you think...25 minutes? Nope! Try an hour because of the windy roads. We got there 5 minutes before the visitor center closed, but it was just enough time to get information on the best hike(s) to do. We headed back to our hotel.

I, again, had to wait for it to get dark so I could take pictures of the stars. It was still a little too bright where we were, but I was able to get a couple good ones :) You can click the images to see them better.

Since the weather forecast said the high for Tuesday was going to be 90, we decided to get up early to beat the heat. 5:45 came really quick! But we were able to start our hike by 8 (it takes an hour to get into the park, then you have to take a shuttle to the different places in the park - we left the hotel at 6:30). The hike was really pretty!

The hike didn't take very long, a little over an hour so we decided to do an easy walk by the riverbed.

We ate our lunch on the way back:

Then we decided to put our feet in the COLD water.

After that we decided to do another short hike up to Weeping Rock (it took about 20 minutes round trip). By the time we were done with everything and were back at the car, it was only 1pm. Our original plan was to meet the Drowns (my mom's cousin's family) in St. George for dinner, but we were ahead of schedule and they were behind schedule so it didn't work out. We were going to have dinner with them and then drive until we were tired, figuring we'd stay in Mesquite which is about an hour north of Vegas. But since it was so early, we decided to just drive home Tuesday night. Luckily, we hit Vegas right around dinner time, so we were able to eat at Cici's :) Mac n cheese pizza....mmmmm! :)

And we passed the Drowns just outside of Stateline :)

We got home around 9 and I was SO thrilled to be sleeping in my own ROOM (not necessarily my bed!).