Thanksgiving in Zion

Happy Post-Thanksgiving!  I am sure that my now most of us have recovered from stuffing ourselves in gratefulness for all the blessings in our life.  I had a great Thanksgiving in one of the most beautiful places in the world.  Zion Nation Park in Southern Utah.  I drove down with my little sister and met up my mom and my big sister and her family.  It was great!

Although Elsa might look all bundled up, it was actually perfect weather in Zion.  It was cool, clear skies, lots of sun, if a little windy.  Elsa has grown up a lot.  She can even put her shoes on by herself!

It was great to see my niece Alanna again so soon after her band competition in St. George, but even better to be able to spend a lot more time with her than we did a couple weeks ago. 

Robert found a great spot in the western park of the part that we had never been before that had some cool hikes.  We kind of bushwacked in the morning to look at some 'hoodoos' and then stopped for lunch.  After lunch we hiked again out to a pair of giant hills.

There was some snow on the ground that Elsa was VERY excited about.  She even almost walked off on her own trail for a bit!  Also, Mom, Kassie, Elsa, and I fell behind Robert, Estelle, Kellen, and Alanna and almost hiked the wrong way as all three of us adults misread the sign!  Luckily we quickly realized that we had taken the wrong path and got back on the right on.

I decided that the end of the hike deserved to get a nice G.Q. picture of myself for my facebook profile! :)

There were TONS of deer all around the park and we saw quite a few bucks as well that would have been to run into while in season and able to hunt.  We actually had some just a few yards back behind our motel one night in the farmers yard!  I almost hit one going through the park too!

As you can see after the exertions of the day we were all EXHAUSTED!  But the smell of food quickly revived us!  I devoured a huge plate stacked high with Turkey, Stuffing, Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole and all topped off with a few slices of pie!  YUM!  It was nice to have the Thanksgiving dinner in the Zion lodge with no prep work or clean up.  Thanks Robert and Kassie for paying!
 

After a good nights sleep we went back into Zion.  We spent the morning helping the kids get their Junior Ranger stuff done and then turned to look at the imposing shape of 'Angel's Landing' rising up over the valley floor.  I was a little intimidated, but quickly decided that this was a perfect time to do it!  So off we went (minus Kassie, Mom, and Elsa) to 'conquer' the climb!

We actually really booked it up the first 2 miles of the 2.5 mile hike.  There was a lot of elevation, but not too bad.  I was actually surprised how good of shape I was in.  I am REALLY grateful for the hikes we did the day before because I think they really loosened me up and got me ready for this more intense hike.  We quickly warmed up and soon shed our jackets and hoods.  Crazily, I ran into one of my  good buddies, Chris Woodhouse, from my mission coming down the trail!  We jabbered away in Romanian for a bit, I introduced everyone, and the 'Mormon world' seemed so small!

After an hour we got up to 'Scout's Lookout'.  Only .5 miles from the top of 'Angel's Landing', but that last half mile is one narrow and treacherous track with many delays waiting for people coming the other way to pass by.  We ate a great lunch before heading up, and my, was there some strange 'wildlife' in the area! :)

Seriously though, a couple of California Condors were flying around the canyon, which was really cool.  At first they flew above us, but soon, we were looking down on them!

This is what the comprised the last .5 mile to the top of Angel's Landing! Slightly terrifying!  A posted sign said that 6 people have died from falling off since 2005!  I couldn't believe the age of some of the children that people were taking up to the top of this.  It was nerve racking at points!

Kellen did an awesome job on the climb!  He also rode with use a lot which was SUPER fun.  He was a regular chatter-box and I learned a lot about a bunch of cool video games that he plays that I wish I did too!  He told me all about school and is a really smart kid!

Well, after an hour and a half of slightly stressful climbing we made it to the top!  It was a magnificent view, even if it sometimes made me slightly nauseated to be up there!

It was coming back down that I was the most freaked out on the climb.  Going up to Angel's Landing you can just look down right in front of you and ignore the heights just a little bit further out.  Coming down you couldn't ignore it and while the view was great, I had my stomach in my throat for much of the climb back!

We all go back down safe and sound! 

We all had a great trip and I am really grateful for Kassie and Robert getting the rooms and making all the reservations.  We got fancy, hipster pizza in town that night, partied one more night, and then Estelle and I took off in the morning.  It was an AWESOME thanksgiving in Zion!