Zion National Park

demonic children
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On Sunday 4th Nov we took full advantage of the ‘free’ Holiday Inn Express breakfast (gave the boys a talk in advance about eating as much as they could, pacing themselves and going for the good stuff first - all valuable life lessons we thought), and then had a dip in the pool & hot tub. We decided to have a more relaxed itinerary today as there has been so much traveling / marveling at amazing sights and we were all starting to get a bit fatigued (yeah, I know, it’s a hard life).

massive ice crystals in the stream
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After our leisurely start we made a picnic lunch and took it to Kalob Canyon, part of the Zion National Park, to do a 5 mile hike along Taylor Creek through the canyon to a rock formation called the Double Arches Alcove. It was a beautiful sunny clear day, much cooler than Death Valley (about 65 degrees) and we all really enjoyed the hike - despite the repeated mockery that Jont & the boys endured for wearing Crocs from fully togged up American hikers. Actually, they were very useful as much of the walk was through the stream itself much to the boys delight.

repeated mockery .. for wearing Crocs

beautiful autumn colours
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There were large ice crystals in parts of the stream, proof of how the temperature plummets at night, which the boys enjoyed torpedoing with rocks. They also enjoyed chipping away at the soft sandstone which surrounded us, ignoring all attempts by their parents to explain the amazing geology of the area to them (as best we could). The canyon was made of soft red rock which looked stunning with all the autumn leaves. We got to the double arches and then explored further to the very start of the canyon (it was like a big chimney with a tiny trickling stream coming down it - incredible that this alone had carved the huge canyon), before having our picnic along the return trip.

hang on - I count 3 Archies...
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All in all a good day with a bit more exercise than usual which we all sorely need - the fast food road trip is beginning to take its toll. In the evening we tried out a new fast food place, Panda Express, a chinese chain. Surprisingly this was a hit with the kids (the childs meal was plain rice, chicken and french beans or beef and brocolli, pop and a fortune cookie), and we got some green food to go with the more usual brown so we were all happy.