We’ve been getting home late each evening, and thankfully the kids have been sleeping in! It’s made the mornings really calm. The kids played when they woke up, Lover made us a yummy breakfast, and the tater tots took an extra long time because we didn’t know how to use the oven! I folded all the laundry and the kids helped put it all away. Then the kids watched shows while Lover and I read and worked on some website business stuff. I got together the stuff we needed for our hike today, and we packed a change of clothes since it was 50 degrees on the top of the mountain when we left, and expected to be 85 degrees down in Zion.
We drove first to the West side of Zion National Park to a little ghost town called Grafton. It was nestled in a super pretty green little valley. We found out about this place on Atlas Obscura – a favorite website to find random, off the beaten path fun things to do! The town appeared in the movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid!” The town eventually relocated because the Virgin River kept flooding the town! We enjoyed being able to go into all of the buildings except for the church/schoolhouse, and the kids tried their darndest to catch a lizard. Lover found a tree that dropped berries that he used to eat as a kid, and everyone except me tried some.
Then we headed to Zion. It was really busy when we got there, so we stopped at the visitor center for the bathrooms, ate our lunch at a picnic table, and then walked the Pa’Rus Trail right from the visitor center. It was about 3.5 miles round trip, and we dipped our toes in the river at the beginning and at the halfway point to cool off! Of course some of us got wetter than others. 🙂
On the walk back, Keilana came up with the idea of putting wings on a bicycle to fly off of a high cliff. We told her that was how Wilbur and Orville Wright came up with flying in the first place! The kids had fun finding big walking sticks, chasing lizards, and just generally forgetting to walk on the right side of the trail.
Javi found the biggest walking stick in history, and measured it to see if it would fit in the van on the way home. (It could, but we didn’t bring it.) Then we drove the scenic drive through the park, and took the East entrance out so we could drive through the tunnel! The tunnel had cool cutout windows in it so you could look out at the park, but you weren’t allowed to stop.
The drive home was really pretty, and then once we got home we all ate a bunch. Hiking and being outdoors all day makes you really hungry! Then it was straight to bed!