The first weekend of May we visited Zion National Park. Chris has never been and we have wanted to go together for some time now. Spring is much nicer that summer down in southern Utah and I have been getting antsy for a weekend trip so we were glad to see a weekend on the calendar that we could take off early Friday morning to visit Zion National Park, do some hiking and then visit Spencer.
On our way down, we stopped in Beaver for gas and ice cream cones. This is actually a regular-sized chair. Hazel is just shrinking. As a side note, if you make the trip between southern and northern Utah, the restrooms in the Chevron here were the nicest, cleanest gas station restrooms I have ever come upon.
We camped in Watchman's Campground. Spots here are reserved through the end of the season, but we got lucky that someone hadn't shown for the first night of their reservation the night before so we got the spot. It was a great site, right on the river, and this was our view.
Hazel helped up set up camp, moving rocks and other such important tasks.
Then we walked through a fence to Pa'rus Trail so we could play in the river.
After a while, Hazel did not want to be encumbered by a diaper and removed hers. The river was very cold, but Hazel handled it like a champ.
Enjoying her hummus breakfast.
Hazel led us in our first hike.
For our second hike, we hiked to Observation Point, thanks to a recommendation from Kelsey. Observation Point is 8 miles round-trip, with beautiful views for the whole hike, not just at the summit. You can even see all of Angel's Landing, including the top of Angel's Landing, a more popular hike. Observation Point was not a difficult hike, but it was fun and still a good workout. I would recommend this hike to almost anyone. Hazel was great. She is used to shorter hikes (this was less than four hours, not including the time we hung out at the top), but a combination of interest in new scenery, sleeping and fun snacks made it easy.
Beautiful and varied views.
The view from Observation Point.
At the top, Hazel replenished her electrolytes with Gatorade. She only ever drinks water or milk, so the Gatorade was pretty exciting for her.
Someone slept on the way down. It wasn't Chris.
Family shot in this fun little area that is sort of like a mini-slot canyon. The walls go up high enough that my GPS watch lost reception, so who knows, maybe I really did several miles more than I thought?
Post-hike excitement of her very own Gatorade cap and being out of the carrier again.
Kisses.
And fruit snacks.
On Saturday we headed over to Spencer's, where we stayed the night (after Nielsen's custard, of course). In the morning we just hung out and cooked breakfast together. Hazel enjoyed running around the backyard since Spencer's yard is all rocks (one of her top three favorite toys). When we left the next day, Hazel gave Spencer kisses and cried as as we pulled away. She also carries around the DVD "Land Before Time," which was a gift from Uncle Spencer.
Even the view home was pretty.
I already can't wait to go back!
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