Yesterday we spent the day at Zion National Park. The eight of us drove there from our KOA site and followed the intake road to get to the shuttle. Our Sprinter van is approximately 10 1/2’ tall, and is commonly referred to as the fishbowl on wheels (because we are stared at by all we drive by). This is a pretty tall vehicle, and there are certain parking lots (the airport) and tunnels that we cannot fit through. At Zion, there are two tunnels you must drive through to get to the main park itself. These tunnels are definitely height restricted. If your vehicle is over a particular height, you have to drive down the middle of the second tunnel – which is about one mile in length. To do this, the park rangers/law enforcement needs to close the tunnel to all other oncoming traffic.
Fortunately we did not have to pay the $15 fee to close the tunnel, and got to the park without incident. This is a minor miracle itself as we continue to face life’s little challenges at almost every turn.
Zion is another national park that is a wonder of our country. Our former leaders did it right when they decided to save these places for future generations to view in awe. We walked around the visitor center as the four children saw the Park Rangers to complete the Junior Ranger program for this park. The Jr. Ranger program is a great way to get the kids involved in the park and the sights. Every park we have visited partakes in this program, which has different activities for each age group of children. The boys both did the Grand Canyon ranger and got their badges. By Bryce, both boys and Tressa did it, and by Zion all four were venturing through the parks looking for the answers to great questions. It is like what we try to teach our students at work, find the essential question so you know what to look for when you read. Same idea here, except they are to look for the layered rock to determine which mineral/bacteria is causing the formations to change color. Both Nick and Carissa have park ranger hats (junior size) to attach all their badges onto. Hopefully the kids all come home with many badges and magazines filled with the answers to excellent questions!
The adults were really able to enjoy the Weeping Rock with the Hanging Gardens, as well as the Lower Emerald Pools. It felt so good to walk below mist and water droplets on such a hot and sunny day. Then the shade helped cool all of us to a point where we could walk back down a pretty steep path. Got some great pictures of Columbine and other small flowers (I am not a gardener, so have no idea what kind they were, but they looked pretty!).
Once we were done seeing Zion – which had so much more to visit but we couldn’t given the children’s exhaustion and the heat of the day – we headed back to the KOA campground in Glendale Utah. While we were driving we noticed it was getting a bit breezy, and the time we got to the site it was blowing at 40-50 miles per hour. The Tewksbury tent had collapsed, as a tent pole had been broken upon setting the tent up initially. It was not possible to fix the tent in the significant wind, so we were left with two options. One, have some of the kids sleep in the van and everyone else in the Szabo tent, or two, pack up everything and drive all night to get to Yellowstone early. We were already planning an all day drive to Yellowstone on Wednesday, so decided to start out earlier. It worked out pretty well. You can only imagine how interesting our Walmart stop was in Provo, Utah at 1:30 a.m. for food and a new tent.
Driving by the Grand Tetons to get to Yellowstone South Entrance was unbelievable! They certainly put our Camels Hump and Mount Mansfield to shame. For perspective, Mt. Mansfield is approximately 4200 feet – the Tetons were 12000 feet. We have been living at higher elevations now for over a week, and while we are getting used to it, we all “suck wind” as we come up hills, and get tired much more easily.
Now we are at the Grant Campground in Yellowstone. I look forward to posting the pictures from Zion and Yellowstone soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment