Come to Zion

The hamster wheel has been going full-tilt around here for a long time.

Mike has been occupied launching his newest role at work (yay!), teaching econ and doing his calling. The kids are busy, busy, busy of course.  But it's the span of emotionally draining issues (between toddlerhood and teenagedom, there are a lot and varied of those at this house) on top of everything else that have been taking their toll on me.

After Mike returned from being out of town for the second straight weekend, he hatched a brilliant plan to avert my complete emotional / psychological unraveling. He proposed that we take the next weekend for ourselves and go to Zion - just the two of us. He might as well have told me that all of my wildest dreams were about to come true. That's how much of a relief  it was for me to hear that.

We made arrangements with family to help watch the kids. Mike's parents and my sister, Kay, took over for us. We are really grateful to them. Mike's parents let us stay at their new house in St. George. So we got to enjoy first-class accommodations too. Thanks Jacque and Howard!

We set out Friday afternoon and got in about 8:00 PM. Too late to do a session at the temple like we'd planned, so we just went out to dinner instead at the Thai place Mike and his dad and brother had scoped out the weekend before when they moved the Melton's furniture to the new house.

The next morning we headed out for Zion. I think we managed to come on the most beautiful day of the year. Temperatures in the low 70's, clear blue skies, fall colors. It was unbelievably beautiful. I think a lot of other people got the same memo...because it was also really crowded. We we were packed into the shuttle  pretty tightly, but it was so lovely I don't think that anyone minded.

We did Angel's Landing first. Neither of us had ever been, and I was nervous. I hate shear cliffs. I am terrified of them actually. As the shuttle announcement repeatedly warned visitors about the hike, especially the part where they say, "There have been deaths on this trail. You are responsible for your own safety." I thought about skipping it. Mike reassured me, and off we went. The first few miles of the hike were just amazing. The views, the crisp morning air, the steep but safe trail on terra firma. The last half-mile, where the trail scrambles out onto the pinnacle I was at times almost paralyzed with fear.  I don't know how a person can look down on either side of them and see shear 3,000 foot drops and still be able to casually climb on. Believe me, I was hanging on to the anchored - chain that runs along that part of the trail for dear life. At some points we had to wait for hikers coming the other direction to squeeze past us. It was all I could do not to panic. I don't know why, but fear of heights is my Achilles heal. I had to talk myself through it. The worst part was that I was scared for every other person I saw. Especially the kids. While I was clinging to the chain, more than once a 10 year old kid would come trotting past me, and I would almost die worrying about them. Mike kept saying that he wanted to bring the older kids to hike it. I could NOT stand being up there with my kids. So there will probably be further discussion about that I am sure.

Mike got some pretty cool pictures along the Angels Landing trail (while I repeated compulsively, "Mike, put the camera away and hold on to the chain. Hold on to the chain right NOW." He was very patient with me).

After Angels Landing we visited the Emerald Pools. That is a cool little trail. On the way out we passed a bunch of wild turkeys along the river. Mike took some great pictures there too, but in trying to clear some old pictures off the card to make room he accidentally deleted all of our pictures from the morning. It was super disappointing to loose the pictures...Mike was especially bummed since he'd been behind  the camera working on taking great shots all morning. So there's no proof that I made it to the top of Angels Landing (which is probably best because the pictures would probably scare me to look at).


After some late lunch we went for a really short hike to Weeping Rock, a spring cascading over a wide rock overhang. It was pretty spectacular, especially in the setting sun.

Lunch at the Zion Lodge (Mike was still unhappy about accidentally deleting all the pictures from the morning)

Walking up to Weeping Rock. 

Looking out from under the overhang / spring

On the drive back to St. George we were treated to a sublime desert sunset. Mike stopped at the Orange Julius drive thru in Hurricane and we sipped away as we drove into the sunset and listening to Don Williams. 

Back at the house we cleaned up and drove to the temple for a session. Turns out it was a multi-stake regional conference that weekend...so pretty much every temple recommend-carrying adult within a hundred miles was at their Saturday evening session of conference. We almost had the temple all to ourselves. 

I felt so content the entire session. Relieved, like taking a drink of water when you're thirsty. I needed it.

After the temple we picked up some Cafe Rio, and went to the house to kick off our shoes, relax our tired muscles, and enjoy a quiet dinner. 

That day will go down in my memory as one of my perfect days.

The next morning, with everyone in the vicinity at Regional Conference meetings there was no place for us to go for church, so we took a walk around the neighborhood, and then headed north. First to Hurricane to visit my grandparents' graves, then to Holden to visit Mike's grandparents' graves. It was a peaceful Sabbath day.

We arrived home about 4:00. It would have been sooner, but about a mile away from home someone pulled along side us and pointed to our rear tire. We pulled off to look at it and found that it was almost completely flat. We put a little air in it at the nearest gas station and then went home, and Mike took it to have it repaired the next day (it actually had to be replaced). I feel super blessed that we drove 500 miles over the weekend without a problem until we were within walking distance of home. That was a tender mercy.

Sometimes you just NEED a break. I am so grateful that we got to go. Weekends without some major commitment for us are few and far between, so I am extra grateful that we took advantage of this one. it was important. Thanks again to everyone who helped us make it happen.