Southwestern Family Adventure

We planned a trip to Zion National Park and the Utah Shakespeare Festival. It was a bucket list item checked off for both me and Aaron. Aaron had been to Zion lots of times as a youth and with his family. I had been once, but only for a very quick trip. So Aaron had lots of memories and wanted to share the experience with the kids. I have always wanted to go to the Utah Shakespeare Festival. And isn't funny how you move away from a place and then finally find the time and resources to visit that place?

We drove. Southern Utah is not any closer to Texas than northern Utah, especially since you have to go further west to get to Zion National Park. But it was nice to drive and stop along the way. We stayed in Lubbock with Spencer. We had an evening with them watching the BYU game and catching up. And then we attended church in their ward. It was so nice to be with them. They are great people. 

We stayed a night in Page, AZ, right by the Glen Canyon Dam. We drove over it, and Scotty was terrified of how high up we were. That didn't bode well for our planned hikes.

Before we got all the way to our VRBO in La Verkin (love Utah city names), we stopped at Buckskin Gulch. It was a slot canyon Aaron wanted to visit about three hours away from Zion. It was MUCH less popular/crowded than Zion, but super cool! There were giant mud puddles we had to wade through. And a huge natural arch. The slot canyons were in full, slot canyon glory. And we got to break in our new dork hats. 

Annie had a massive zit on her nose that we had fun chatting about, naming, and preserving in photographic form for posterity. But now when I look at this picture, you can hardly see it! We'll have to zoom in. What a good sport she is! Annie knows that I know the hilarity and the pain of acne. We understand each other. And that reminds me! In a hotel room we watched the most amazing Dr. Pimple Popper episode ever! Mashed potatoes! I don't have to say any more here. I know that I will remember it. But I will spare anyone reading this the gory details. Anyway...back to slot canyons. 

It was in the triple digits the whole week we were there. Not humid, but still just deadly hot. Thankfully, it was twenty degrees cooler inside a slot canyon. Still, on this foray into Buckskin Gulch, when we came out of the slot canyon and made the 30 minute hike back to the car, I was so, so hot. I wasn't drinking enough water, and my skin was hot to the touch, I was very tired, and I got a headache. Classic heat exhaustion symptoms, I realized later reading all the signage about it at Zion National Park. I learned my lesson, though, and we all made sure to stay hydrated for the rest of the trip. 

Despite the heat exhaustion of Monday, I still squeezed in a Shakespeare play that night after we'd arrived at our destination. I took Annie, too, which turned out to be a bad idea. The play was All's Well That Ends Well. I had never seen or read it. Technically it's a comedy, but it was a thematically and morally complex one. I was expecting some innuendo, but there were also heavy LGBT themes. That just would have been nice to know before I took my twelve year old to it. There was a little bit of a warning on the info about the play, but it was very vague and didn't prepare me at all for what I got. I guess I'm in the minority for considering LGBT content to be adult content? Also, in the master program for all the plays, every person in every cast had their pronouns listed. It was eye-opening to see how far radical gender identity ideology reaches.   

I did love the performance by the actor who played Lavatch. He had excellent comedic timing. The whole thing was well-done. Just wish I'd been more informed before I decided to go. 

The next day was going to be the hottest, so we did The Narrows. Lots of shade and water. It was such a fun adventure! We were not really prepared on the shoes, but we made do with what we had. The kids were champion hikers. I was definitely the weak link of the group. But it was just so great to be together.

Dried mangoes were definitely the favorite snack. 

So many plump and friendly squirrels! We saw one woman eating a granola bar, and a squirrel hopped right up behind her and would have jumped onto her lap if she'd let it. But she didn't, probably because she'd seen the morbid pictures of human hands ravaged by a squirrel's teeth.

We heard so many languages while we were there. And our kids were basically the only kids there probably because we went in the middle of a school week. 

The next day, Wednesday, we hiked Angels Landing. We started early because we knew it was going to be so hot again. And once again we patted ourselves on the back for our hiking wisdom. We were in shade almost the whole way up, and we came down just as it was getting unbearably hot. I definitely felt sorry for the people just starting out. 

Walter's Wiggles! If you are wondering whether or not you've reached them, you haven't reached them. That's what Aaron kept telling the kids...who kept asking whether or not we'd reached them.

Aw, Annie. This is the face she made when she was a baby. It's just her classic face, apparently.

I was honestly nervous about doing the Angels Landing hike--holding on to the chains so you don't fall off a mountain and all that. And Scotty had been expressing a fear of heights. But we all loved it. I was expecting it to feel very precarious, but I felt totally safe. We had to be careful. And I wouldn't have taken a five year old on this hike. But it was the perfect amount of excitement for our crew. In these pictures, it looks scarier than it felt.

These hats were fantastic. I know I am truly middle-aged now that I could wear it with very little embarrassment. 

This was on the bus that takes you into the park. I just thought it was fun to see mountains through the ceiling. Also, so many languages!

After hiking for three days in a row, we were ready for a break. On Thursday, Aaron's brother came from Vegas and his parents and sister came from up north, and we went to some more of the Shakespeare festival together. It was a perfect change of pace. 

We saw The Tempest and The Sound of Music. Both were very well done. I especially enjoyed Prospero in the Tempest and the Baroness in The Sound of Music. I've seen a lot of productions of the Sound of Music, and I've never appreciated that character so much. There was so much depth to her character in her performance. And the Captain and Max played so well off of her performance, too. It was excellent. 

Magically, though we didn't buy tickets with John, Julie, and Angela, we ended up right next to each other for both performances!

The next day, Friday, we went hiking again! This time not in Zion but just a random little trail. Can't remember the name. William had a fancy Apple phone/watch connection that let him take pictures remotely and see the result on his watch. We are all in awe.

Miles and Aaron. They love each other. I hope their connection lasts even though William and Heather don't live in Texas anymore.

We saw a king snake. Non-venomous. 

Here was the whole group, taken by the freaky-amazing watch from the future.

So much hiking! I think we did about 30 miles, according to my phone pedometer. 

On our way home to Texas, we went through Phoenix to see Andrew and Madelynn. We watched another BYU football game and had delicious food that Andrew made. He's quite the chef! I love seeing my siblings one-on-one in their homes. It was so nice to connect with them. Their little boys are so adorable. And the dogs were fun, too. 

Hudson was showing us his selfie-taking skills.

We saw Joshua trees and saguaro cacti. I'm writing a fairy tale retelling set in the American southwest, so this was some good research.

Annie is a dog whisperer. All dogs love her. My dad has that skill as well.

The delicious tacos. I don't think Andrew realized he was in this picture, but I had to get the chef with the food, not just the food. He had pickled onions for us to put on the tacos. Surprisingly yummy, and so pretty on the plate.

It was an amazing trip! So good to connect as our little family and also to connect with some extended family. So good to see some new places and make new memories. Our kids were at just the right ages for this trip. I bet it'll be something they remember forever.