Observation Point Trail During our last visit with the Hardings (around Christmas) we decided that our next visit needed to be in the great outdoors.   They volunteered to drive to Yosemite, but we countered with southern Utah since Lee hadn’t been there since he was a kid and we hadn’t yet been there together.   It was a perfect choice!  Our original plans were to meet the Hardings in St. George on the Thursday night before Mother’s day and then drive into Zion National Park on Friday where we could camp for a couple of days and then on Sunday Lee and I were going to head to Bryce National Park and then return home on Monday night.    Plans changed slightly when Mike’s new job required him to be in New York through Thursday night.   But in the end it actually may have worked out better.

Observation Point Lee and I still flew into Vegas on Thursday and drove to St. George where we purchased food and then crashed for the night.  We awoke Friday morning to crazy amounts of rain.  It poured the entire drive to Zion and for the first hour or two we were in Zion.    Before the weather complicated our lives, we had planned to hike to Observation Point that Friday before the Hardings arrived – but when the rain was coming down we debated whether or not we wanted to be THAT wet.  I’m happy to say we didn’t completely wimp out and still hopped on the shuttle to take us to the trailhead.   When we started the hike it was really grey and wet.  But within the hour the sun came out and we even saw a patch of blue sky!   We made it to Observation Point with a drop of rain!  The clouds were rolling back in however and we didn’t stay more than five minutes before we hightailed it out of there.   Before we got too far it was snow hailing and then it drizzled on us.  But it wasn’t anything like the morning. 

  Lee and Ivy We got to camp just before 6pm where the Hardings were waited for us.    It was SO great to see them.  Ivy ran up to Lee, gave him a squeeze (like only Ivy can do – she’s the best hugger!) and looking him in the face said “I miss you!” She squeezed again and didn’t let go for a good couple of minutes.  She was Lee’s side kick all weekend.    Abby was my side kick and was glued to my side for those couple of days.  Never once did I tire of hearing (all weekend long), “Katie, you’re the best.” “Katie, I love you”.  Ivy has recently started calling Lee, “Lee-Lee” and it was really cute to hear them call him that all weekend.    What a perfect way for us to spend one of my least favorite weekends of the year (Mother’s Day).

No sooner did our tinfoil dinners come out of the fire on Friday night did it start to pour again.  Fortunately we had an incredibly friendly neighbor who offered us shelter under their parawing.  We all ate together and then I introduced them to the perks of the camp oven and baked chocolate chip cookies for all!  Saturday morning it was still raining and we opted out of cooking breakfast in the rain and went into Springdale for breakfast at MiMi’s café.  It was the perfect solution.  The meal was delicious, we stayed dry and we killed time while we waited out the rain.   Fortunately it wound down just before lunch and we were able to spend the afternoon exploring the cloudy park together.

Hardings and Merricks at Upper Emerald Pool Our activity for the day was to hike to Lower and Upper Emerald Pools.   Abby and Ivy turned out to be pretty awesome hikers!  They cruised all the way up, passing people whenever they got the chance.  And they are so darn cute that most people gave them the right of way.  We returned by way of another trail that took us to the “Grotto” trailhead – it was much less crowded and really pretty.  The girls hiked three miles in total.  We were very impressed!  The Hardings ended up going back to camp after that and Lee and I went out to the end of the shuttle line and walked out to where the “Narrows” begins.  One day we’ll have to go back when a) it’s warmer and b) we’re equipped for a river walk.   We were lucky that Saturday night (although chilly) was pleasant and it didn’t rain.  We made dinner, introduced the girls to roasted Starbursts (they are now hooked) and enjoyed catching up.  

The crew at Checkerboard Mesa Despite the clouds and the rain, we really enjoyed our time in Zion.  When we left on Sunday morning, we did so with blue skies and sun.  It was unfortunate timing, but at least Lee got to see the red rocks against sky blue for a couple of hours before we headed out. 

Since the weekend was modified due to Mike’s work, they decided they would go with us to Bryce Canyon!  We originally had planned on camping, but after two nights of cold and wet were more than I think they had in them and we ended up getting a cheap hotel in the town of Bryce.  Our seat neighbors on the plane Monday were most likely appreciative of us having had the chance to shower and we didn’t mind avoiding a 25 degree night.

We got to Bryce around 1:30pm or 2pm and went straight out to the “amphitheater” section of the park.  We started at Bryce Point before going to Inspiration and then Sunset point.   WOW. WOW.  WOW.  The day was beautiful and the hoodoos were so cool.  We loved it.  The highlight of that day was tough little Abby and Ivy hiking another 3 miles down into the Queen’s Garden and back up the Navajoo Loop.  They loved the rock formations and I loved how strong of hikers they were!  Ivy said a few times that she had “sore-ed knees and sore-ed legs” but she did the whole thing and they both finished strong; running up the last switch backs.  It was fun to chase them and keep them going.  It was a wonderful afternoon.

Katie and Abby - Hiding We missed out on dinner with them because we wanted to drive out to Rainbow Point and Peria Point for late sunlight views.  While pretty, they weren’t anything like the hoodoos of the amphitheater.  In hindsight we may have preferred to have dined with the Hardings.  Especially since by the time we got back and checked into our hotel all the restaurants in town had closed (9pm – 9:30pm).   It made for a meager dinner.

Monday morning we met up for breakfast at the hotel and then we left Mike to work and the rest of us went into the park to hit a couple other vantage points and to return to Sunrie Point before we all had to go our separate ways. Tunnel Day

The weekend was wonderful and we miss the Hardings so very much.  We’re grateful they are willing to go on adventures with us and connect a few times a year.  We hope they come to visit us soon!  We miss having those girls running around our house!

Pictures (although I was judicious) are available here.