May 2014
Winter Semester was a rough semester. Jordan and I had a lot going on with school and work, and it was just tough to handle at times. To make the semester bearable, we decided to plan a trip to celebrate the end of the semester. I found this great deal online for a small cabin near Zion's National Park. The cabin had a queen sized bunk bed, so we decided to invite another couple to come with us. It was so awesome!
We started our drive down to Zion's after we got off work, stopped for groceries in Cedar City, and found our cute little cabin!
Side story: On our way to the cabin, we had to drive through part of Zion's National Park. There is one part of the drive where you have to drive through this mile-long tunnel. Here's a video of us - amazed at this crazy tunnel.
Sorry for the bad camerawork.
The first night we were there we made some awesome tin foil dinners. We had hamburger, potatoes, onions, seasonings, and all kinds of stuff. Jordan had lots of fun getting the fire started...
We woke up the next morning, ate our complimentary breakfast at the lodge, and went hiking! Our first hike was called Canyon Overlook. It was a nice short hike with a breathtaking view. The weather was perfect as well. It was sunny, but was still in the 80s.
This is me and Jordan right before hiking Canyon Overlook.
We parked near the trail head and Jordan was gone before I could get out of the car. Then I found him here - posing on top of a huge rock.
I'm usually the one who takes all the pictures, but Jordan was so sweet and took a lot of pictures for me.
We were pretty surprised when we got to this point in the hike. There was no ground to walk on and so they built a walkway around the rock.
We were amazed by all the plants that grew right on top of the rocks!
This picture does not do the view justice. You also can't tell how high we were in this picture either. If you stand against the rail (bottom right of this picture) and look down, it's a few hundred feet to the bottom.
This is the other couple that came with us to Zion's: Lana and Marcus
Jordan took like one hundred photos of the Corbitts just on this hike. He was definitely Mr. Photographer this trip.
The Corbitts also took secret pictures of me and Jordan. lol
Okay, there is a good story for this picture. Jordan HATES heights. He did not want to be anywhere near that ledge. Seriously, this was the closest I could get him to the ledge so we could take a picture.
We loved the view here. There were lots of rocks you could climb on to get slightly different views.
So I tried to photobomb this picture (one of the hundreds Jordan took of the Corbitts) and then Mr. Photographer looked at me and said, "Kristen, you're getting in their picture!" And I said, "Uh, ya. I was TRYING to photobomb the picture..." And then we laughed. :)
I'm telling you, Jordan was on a picture-taking rampage! But I'm glad he was. :)
Love these two. They are so cute.
After we finished our hike at Canyon Overlook, we decided to go on another "hike" at the Emerald Pools. I only say that because half of it was paved and the other half was not very strenuous at all. It was more of a nice walk up a hill. In order to get to a lot of the hikes at Zion's you have to park in a certain place and take a bus up the road to the majority of Zion's hikes and attractions.
One of the reasons Zion's was so beautiful was that all the plants were bright green. It looked so cool against the red rock of the canyon.
The Emerald Pools Hike was such an enjoyable hike to go on. We went in the afternoon, and so when we got there almost the entire hike was in the shade. There are three emerald pools along the hike - the lower, middle, and upper emerald pools. You can choose if you want to go to all three or just one or two. We decided to check out all three.
This is the first emerald pool. What looks like rain is water trickling down from the middle emerald pool.
In between these two rocks on the hike, there was a random tree. Over and over again we were amazed by the plants growing in impossible places.
We were standing near the middle emerald pool directly above the path we walked on by the lower emerald pool.
Me and Lana :)
Another story! So while we were hiking I spotted this mule deer just 15 ft off the trail. I stood still for a while and took some pictures. Then, this cute deer started walking towards me! I took this picture WITHOUT zoom. Jordan looked a little anxious as the deer got closer and closer. But I just stood there and watched. He was way too cute! He ended up just crossing over the path a few feet behind me.
The Upper Emerald Pool was the largest. I think one of the coolest things about this emerald pool was that it was at the base of a huge cliff.
Oh ya, and we ran into a tarantula on our way back!
One of my favorite parts of the entire trip was seeing the Virgin River all the time. I love the water, and the Virgin River is so beautiful throughout Zion's.
The package I got for our cabin came with free activity vouchers at the resort where we were staying. Of course, we decided to use them for mini-golf. (This water was definitely not as pretty as the Virgin River).
For our last hike at Zion's we went up through the Narrows. Man, this was by far my favorite thing we did the whole trip. It's probably because we were walking in the water the whole time.
Like I said, the water was so beautiful! It was about 90 degrees that day, so the cool water felt great.
Jordan found a random rope along one of the canyon walls and decided to check it out.
We took our sweet time on this hike - finding cool places to explore and take pictures along the way.
Every time I look at these pictures, I want to go back so bad!
So refreshing ;)
Jordan likes to create precious moments like these by splashing Lana and Marcus.
The boys were off checking out a cave, so Lana and I took selfies.
This was Jordan's favorite part of the hike. The canyon walls looked so cool and the trees just pop out around the corner. So beautiful.
Jordan's favorite place again on the way back.
Jordan and I loved this hike so much. We really want to go back and do it again.
Sorry for all the nature pictures. I like to pretend I'm a photographer.
By the end of our hike, we all had tons of sand in our shoes. The Virgin River at times is a quick moving river and carries tons of sediment down the river.
I'll admit, after a couple days of hiking and being in the sun, we were TIRED (and sun burned)!
Even though we were finished with Zion's, our trip wasn't over yet! We got to stay one night in St. George before we headed home. As soon as we got there, Jordan forced us all to eat dinner at Tropical Smoothie Cafe. Jordan has a slight obsession for this place, but I don't mind because everything tastes so good!
If you have never been, you should go! Mine and Jordan's favorite is the Peanut Butter Cup.
The next morning, Marcus had a little too much fun packing up the air mattress.
I had never been to the St. George Temple, so we paid a visit Saturday morning.
I wish you could see more of the temple in these pictures, but there were like 10 weddings going on.
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