After a long semester of math classes and crazy manipulative clients, we were both in need of a little break. That break materialized into a trip to southern Utah. Namely: Zion National Park. We left on Thursday afternoon and stayed the night a hotel in St. George.
Friday: Entering the Park and Angels Landing.
We got into a shuttle and and headed down the road to the Grotto trail head where Angels landing trail begins.
On our way there we saw what was my favorite view in the park: The Court of the Patriarchs. From left to right, the peaks are called, Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. Named by a Minister who was visiting the park in the 1920’s.
A few minutes later, we were at the trail head, and on our way.
I was really excited.
As we hit the trail there was a sign that made us laugh, and also a little sad.
This picture in the brochure we received when we entered the park. Yikes.
Karl was having the time of his life.
After about another 45 min we made it to Walter’s Wiggles.
At the top of the wiggles, is a little resting place, and the beginging of the chain area. More disconcerting warnings. Yes, people have fallen to their deaths.
The chains were easy at first, and it didn’t really feel like we needed them.
Karl looks like a total pro. I must admit, however that it was a bit scary at times. Especially when the chains were hard to get at. Like this one below:
You can see where the chain has worn into the sand stone.
This is the most treacherous point in the trail. To my right three feet is a 900 foot drop, and to my left is a 1200 foot drop. Yes, and I am still smiling.
At long last, after over two hours of climbing, we made it to the top! It was awesome, just check out that view!
We were hungry and tired. We had only brought two cheese sticks and four large bottles of water with us, so we were really hungry at this point. We still had the trickiest part to go, down.
We took it slowly. Still, the winds on top of the landing and in the canyon were crazy! I was literally being blown forward!
Don’t believe me, check out this video:Almost exactly four hours later we were at the trail head again. We were tried, hungry, and happy.
We felt like we deserved a reward.So we went to Pirate Island for lunch/ dinner. It is a pirate themed pizza place. It is like a mix of Chucky Cheese and Pirates of the Caribbean.
We got a specialty pizza, BBQ Chicken, never again. We went back to the hotel, had a swim in the pool and went to bed.
We were up bright and early. We were a bit sore from the day before, but ready to face anything Zion could through at us!
You can’t see it in the picture that I have, nor from any angle I could get s picture from, you would have to climb high, high, high, on this cliff to see it.
We got back on the shuttle and headed towards the Emerald Pools.
We sat near the edge of the middle pools and eat our lunches.
The views were spectacular.
Next we headed up on the steep path to the upper emerald pools. I was still a little sore from the day before so I was hesitant to hike it, but I am so glad that I did.
Above my head you can see a little waterfall. We are being misted by it as Karl took the picture.
So beautiful!
We hiked to the bottom pool next, and the trail there was really cool.
Finally down to the lower emarld pool with more waterfalls and wet trails.
We wanted to make sure to be able to visit the St. George temple and do a session while we were there. 
This is truly a lovely temple. It’s stark white stands out so brightly against the red canyon walls it stands against. I have visited this temple once as a child with my family. It was really fun to visit again.
Here we are, in front of the temple after the session. The session we attended was a Samoan session. It was packed. We were some of the few white people in the room. It was really cool. We had to wear translating headsets. It made me think a lot about my mission and about how amazing it would be if one day there were enough Albanian member that there were Albanian sessions in temples around the world.
We were really glad we went.
After the temple we decided we would have a nice stake dinner.
We ate a Texas Roadhouse, which was really fun becasue it reminded us a lot of the place Karl worked in Rexburg, The Hard Hat. We both got The Cowboy, a 16 ounce sorloin. I couldn’t even finish half…
But my man Karl, he finished the whole thing, with a smile.
After spending Sunday relaxing, we were ready to be out on the trail for our last day in the park. While we were at the museum on Saturday we heard about this tunnel on the east side of the park. It was made to connect the park with Bryce Canyon and The Grand Canyon. There were supposed to be outlooks and stuff, so we drove out that way first thing. This tunnel was different than any tunnel I have ever driven through before. First off, it was really small.
Second you could see the actual rock of the mountain it was carved from, not concreat. Check out this video.
Here is a picture of one of the out looks from the outside.
They really are quite small. While we were on the east side of the tunnel they had to close on coming traffic so that a tour bus could come through, so it could drive down the middle.
We jumped on the shuttle went to the last stop in the Canyon. When we got there we read an unfortunate sign:
The Narrows were closed because of high water. It was ok. We decided to go ahead and walk leasurly down the Riverside Trail, and saw what we could see. We were glad that we did.
Here, is a baby Weeping Rock, with hanging gardens, and another emerald pool. About 30 minute later we were at the place where you would get in the water to walk down the Narrows.
It was so tempting to just go ahead and walk it.
Karl….
It was okay. We ha a great time there. What a place! We went home soon after that. Refreshed and ready to start another semester.
Several comments: 1. What a great trip. 2. The scenery is really spectacular. 3. Karl, I love your hiking pants. 4. Did you know that the St. George Temple is the temple where our family was sealed? If she hasn’t already, your mom will be able to tell you what she remembers about being in the temple as a 7 year old.
You two know how to pack in more fun in small amounts of time than pretty much anyone I know (ah, except for maybe Uncle Greg). It has become necessary for you to come and visit us! We want to have some Karl and Allie fun!