Heartland

Closing my eyes I can hear the river and feel the wind of Zion National Park, a place I will go often. We spent six days camping there at Watchman Campground. I think I am getting a hang of this camping thing. Camping is a lot of work for moms (especially this mom who does most of the shopping, packing and cooking). Last year we went to Zion and spent 2 days. I decided then that I loved it but in order to make it really worth all the effort of packing, setting up camp, cooking, breaking down camp etc., we had to make our stay longer. This year's trip really came at a time when I needed some bonding with nature. The highlights for me were riding my bike up and down the length of the canyon (14 miles), jogging from The Temple of Sinawava back to camp (over 7 miles), playing in the upper Emerald Pool, and the awe-striking, invigorating hike to Angel's Landing.

Ahhhh. I want to go back.

My kids have reaching the age where getting a serious picture is seriously hard. They were silly in almost every picture we tried to take. This is at the Weeping Rock.

At Big Bend, we took a trail down to the river to bond.

Lou is a Froggy.

Speaking of frogs, we found one at the upper Emerald Pool and he travelled with us until he was set free in The Narrows. I'm glad we were able to convince Little D to let it go.

Ray salutes you.

David and the kids with the Great White Throne in the background.

I love the religious names of the cliffs. It makes being in Zion so heavenly. Here are the silly kids in front of The Great White Throne at Big Bend.

Our campsite was just perfect. I'm going to get it next year. We were right next to the river and a sand bar. We found a little swimming hole in the river and got in several times. This big tree right behind our tent was also fun to scramble on.

There was also a swampy part behind our campsite full of tadpoles. Unfortunately, a ton of them were innocently killed along with three fish. Ray and little D's first two days of camping were spent in a continual cyle of getting themselves completely muddy, washing off, and getting muddy again. (We have four tadpoles in a bowl in our backyard right now. Shhh. We stole them.)

Along the trail we found this snake. David snagged it and let the kids hold it for a few minutes and then we let it go.

Lou one-handing it.

Little D really wanted to keep it...and he really wants me to get him a pet snake...but the answer is no.

David and I hiked up to Angel's Landing, leaving the kids with Dave's brother Tom and his wife Laura who joined us for the last three days of camping. We hiked up and back in 2 hours and 45 minutes. I got a little impatient when I had to wait behind other hikers. I just wanted to scramble up as fast as I could like a lizard...or one of those insane chipmunks that are at the landing.

The hike was so invigorating. I thought I'd be more freaked out by height, but I wasn't. I can't wait to go back.

By looking at us, you might think we don't have any cares in this world.

Oh! Zion!