Two From Zion

The second part of our Utah trip was to Zion NP, which has a couple of the most unique hikes you'll find in a national park. The last half mile of Angels Landing extends out on a fin of rock and has many chains to protect you and help you on the exposed route that can leave you walking a three foot wide trail with 1,000 foot drops on either side. The other is The Narrows, where you hike in the Virgin River into a narrow canyon that's 50 feet wide and 1,500 feet tall. Susie got to do all of Angels Landing and close to two hours in The Narrows, but neither was appropriate for little Eli (Ive done each hike on previous trips)

Here are two pictures from Zion. The first is just some adorable cuteness, and the second is Susie and Eli on the first hike we did in Zion to Hidden Canyon. Yeah, the fall colors were awesome.






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Bryce

Last Thursday, we boarded a plane to Las Vegas then went straight up to Bryce Canyon NP. I can't say that much for our lodging--it advertised "clean rooms" and if that's how they want to separate themselves from the competition, something is wrong. But the park is fantastic.

We spent three days in the park. On our first day, we hiked down from Bryce Point into the amphitheater that's so famous and went on the Peekaboo Loop, so named because you wind all around the rock formations, always coming around a corner and seeing something new. The picture below is from that hike.

On day two, we did a hike down across the cliffs, but a less well-travelled part of the park. In the 5 hours we were out there, we didn't see a single other person. We did see towering cliffs of reds and oranges and pinks and whites. There will be no pictures posted to the blog from this hike.

Our third day was a short hike since we were also travelling to Zion that day. Again, we walked along the cliffs in the farther reaches of the park.





Eli has been a great hiker, the star of the trail as always, but he's actually been very difficult when it comes to eating. For now, we are going with teething.

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Head, Fingers, Knees and

Before Eli was born, I was talking to Mark about what he liked about being a parent. One thing he said is that, through them, you get to experience everything for the first time once again. From riding a bike, to swimming in an ocean, to your first "chapter book", all things we enjoy as adults, but never with the enthusiasm that our kids have.

A couple days ago, I decided to give a good introduction between Eli's hands and his toes. I brought his towes to his hands and as he clasped them, his eyes opened as wide as saucers and he grinned, suddenly aware that the feeling in his toes were caused by his very own hand. For about five minutes, I'd bring his hands to his feet he'd grab on for a bit, then let go.

The next day, we practiced a couple more times. And the day after that, I walk up and find that he had grabbed his toes all on his own. Now, he's an old pro.




The bad part is that now he always has these toys to play with, even when he should be sleeping.

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Family Vacation, Part III

In Yosemite, we hiked up above the Wawona tunnel to Inspiration point and Stanford point. It had snowed a couple days earlier, and snow was still on the ground. Our highest point had snow, some wind, temperatures about 45 I'd say, and an excellent view.

The Wawona tunnel is almost a mile long and it's situated such that when you come out the end, you look straight up the heart of the valley. So there we were, sunset bathing El Cap, Half Dome, Bridal Veil Fall, and Eli had his head turned the other way, tracking each and every car that went in and out of the tunnel.




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Family Vacation, Part II

When you go into yosemite from the northern route, the road goes to about 6,000 feet before hugging the mountain and dropping to the valley far below. This is beautiful anytime, but it's simply incredible when you do it at night and the moon is rising over Half Dome.

Our hike on Monday started on the valley floor, and went up the Merced river to Vernal falls. There's a granite staircase that runs a long ways on the canyon wall as you climb past the falls. The trail is called Mist Trail, for during the spring you can get soaked by the spray from the huge waterfall. But now it's a relative trickle (and yosemite falls is totally dry, which is very sad).

We went about half way up to Nevada falls, but the failing light and frigid temperatures forced us to turn around.






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Family Vacation, Part I

We started off with two nights on Stinson Beach, where our house was right on the beach, complete with a cordonned area of sand to keep the riff raff out. Eli got to put his toes in the water, which went about as well as you would expect for 55 degree water. We took a couple of long walks along the beach, playing in the waves as we could.

Due to a very bad night with Eli, I did get to see something that I may very well never see again: a beautiful full moon setting over the Pacific. Now, who can tell me why this is something I may never see again?




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