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I have a few photo-heavy Zion posts coming your way. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

When I left off, we were making our way from St. George to Zion National Park. The drive was relatively short and soon we were in Springdale (the last town before the park Entrance).

Our hotel was in Springdale, but we skipped checking in and headed straight to the park for a few hours first. We gladly paid our $25 park entrance fee and made our way like little kids towards the visitors center.

After getting a brief overview from the Rangers, we decided to walk the Pa’Rus Trail nearby to get a lay of the land. The trail is pretty flat and meanders through the valley floor.

Lots of great views of the towering mountains, unique landscape and the Virgin River.

At one point, Irving looked behind us and whispered “Look, there’s a bear behind us!” I turned to look and there was a very nice lady wearing a bear hat. haha We had a great conversation about raising kids to appreciate nature and the National Parks.

This trail was the perfect intro to Zion. It made us excited for the hikes we had planned for the next two days.

I’m very proud of this picture! If any musician wants to use this as their album art, let me know. I have no clue how to properly use our camera, but every once in a while, I get lucky.

When we finished our walk, we went back to the Visitor’s Center and watched the 20 minute video on the history of the park. (Did you know they found Dinosaur tracks in there??) We also stamped Adele’s National Park Passport there too! (She’s got two stamps now! Yosemite and Zion!)

Then we checked into our hotel and relaxed for the rest of the day. We stayed at the Desert Pearl Inn in Springdale. Another amazing hotel. I loved it!

Hard wood floors in hotel rooms wins me over every time. It felt like a ski villa or something. A+.

We spent the rest of that afternoon relaxing in the room and grabbing some dinner. Most of the restaurants in Springdale are closed in the off season, but we had a great meal at Wildcat Willies. We fed Adele some peas, mashed potatoes, bread and a taste of a pickle! She’s so fun to eat out with now. She loves sitting in her  highchair like the big kids do. So fun.

We had a rough couple of hours that night trying to put her to sleep and we ended up putting her in our bed again. Once she fell asleep, we all slept til 8am the next day! Well-rested parents for the win!

We ate breakfast in the hotel (we bought a pack of donuts from a bakery in St. George), and then set out on a full day of Zion adventures! First, we head out in search of the Zion Mount Carmel Tunnel. It was built in 1930 and goes straight through the mountain! See that tiny hole? We’re gonna drive thru that!

There’s a twisty road that weaves its way up the mountain to the entrance. It was so pretty as the sun was starting to peek into the canyon.

Check out the frozen waterfalls along the route!

And soon enough, we were about to enter the tunnel! Wheeee!

The tunnel is 1.1 miles long and soon enough, we were on the other side! Not a bad parking spot for our little minivan!

And our first hike started right past the exit.

We parked the car, strapped Adele into the carrier and began ascending the mountain via the Canyon Overlook trail. She fell asleep pretty quickly!
Note to inquiring Grandmothers out there: She’s got a long sleeve onsie, two jackets, a hat, gloves, booties and a blanket on her! Don’t worry, she was warm. =)

And up we go!

Hi sleepy baby! Are you awake?

Yep! She woke up just in time to take in the beautiful views!

The Pine Creek canyon below!

Be careful though, there’s a scary bridge on the edge of a cliff that you have to walk over! Eeek! Scary!

Adele, are you scared? Let’s listen in to find out:

If video won’t load, click here to view it on youtube! I’m working on fixing it!

Other cool things along the trail were icicles melting in the morning sun…

And amazing monuments that only nature could create. This one is called the Beehive!

How’d you spend your Monday morning?

After the hike, we drove back through the tunnel and into the valley floor. Along the way, we stopped to look at the Court of Patriarchs.

Adele was impressed. I love that girl.

Gosh, we love Zion. Everywhere we looked we were in awe of what we saw.

More pictures and hikes to come!