Dams and Canyons Day 2

 On our second day, we began at Zion National Park.  Neither Matt or myself had ever been to Zion.  It was spectacular and we could both easily see ourselves spending a couple of days hiking various trails and canyons.  It was beautiful and breathtaking . . . all of the things you expect a national park like this to be.  The following is a photo of James, taken as we were getting gas in Cedar City.

This is a great shot of one of the peaks in Zion.  I love the way the sun's rays filter down on the mountain.

Here we are on the bus that runs through Zion.  They don't allow cars to drive through most of the park.  Instead, they encourage you to ride the bus from end to end, stopping wherever you'd like to sightsee.

These photos of James and Jacob were taken at the far end of the park, on a trail that follows the river.  It was very cold in the canyon (shaded the whole way), even though it was quite hot outside.  The rock they are standing on was at the beginning of the trail.  Julia insisted on walking the whole way, which I didn't mind.  In fact, on the way back, an older woman stopped me and asked if she had walked the entire way, I replied "yes."  She said, "Well if she can walk, then so can I."  I thought that was cute.

After traversing the trail, we stopped to have a snack before boarding the bus.  The squirrels were so obnoxious!!!!  They would have climbed into our laps if we had let them.

Julia loves birds, so it was really fun for her to see this little birdy that just happened to stop on this little wall when we were waiting for the bus.  In fact, we had just taught Julia the hand sign for bird, so she was busy showing us her hand signs as well as saying "bird," which really sounds more like "bee."

Another bird.  Only this time, a wild turkey . . . who knew?

At one of the bus stops, a mile away from the lodge, we decided to walk on a trail to the lodge, instead of staying on the bus.  It was a good trail, but Julia wanted to be carried for a good portion of the time.  The trail basically followed the road, with a few little twists here and there.  It was a good decision, as we were able to spy a fawn getting a drink from a little pond.  And it made the time in the car after that feel nice.

Our day ended with a nice bath in Las Vegas.  We actually stayed at the Hampton Inn in Henderson (which ended up being the least expensive hotel on our trip as well as the nicest!).  We didn't bring any bath toys with us, so I poked holes in the hotel cups and water toys were born!