Day 22 (July 10th) – Springdale, Utah

The itinerary says that we should be going home today, but we decided to spend a whole day here in Springdale and Zion National Park. As I earlier stated, Lisa really loves Zion. Of all the places that we have been, this is the one place that she doesn’t mind visiting over and over again. I say this with great certainty, because at least a couple times a day she mentions how much she loves this place. She also uses words such as “Amazing”, “Incredible” and “Fantastic”. What makes Zion so extraordinary special? It is the not just the sheer cliffs and the colors in the cliffs. These cliffs are the tallest sandstone cliffs in the world. The Sandstone acts like a sponge, and the water slowly moves downward until forced out by either non porous rock or by an overhang. Some of the water that comes out of the rocks is about 4,000 years old.

We are used to being gypsies or nomads for the last three weeks, and especially over the last week, so it was nice to wake up and not have to get on the road. Lisa actually decided to cook breakfast for everyone. We all reveled in having a nice breakfast and have the time to savior it. While we ate breakfast, we decided not to do any hiking in Zion on this trip. We were all tired and don’t have the energy to do any hiking. So we decided that we would just ride the tram.

We went into Zion and boarded the first available tram. You can only take a car about a mile up the canyon. To view the rest of the canyon, you have to take a tram that makes about 8 stops. A round trip takes about 45 minutes. On the way back down the canyon, we got off the tram at the Zion Lodge. The adults wanted smoothies, and the kids said okay on one condition that they got ice cream. We spent some time downing our cool treats on the lodge’s lawn. After we finished or treats and looked around the gift shop, we got back on the tram to continue our way down the canyon.

I bet you think that I am going to talk about the kids getting their seventh Junior Ranger badge. Well, you would be wrong. They already got their badge on a previous visit to Zion. Miles did earn a second level on his badge, by spending half a day with some rangers removing alien plants from the canyon. He got an additional badge and a certificate, which he holds over Samantha’s head at every chance he gets. Samantha is definitely not happy about this.

We spent the rest of the day sitting in the Virgin River, or in the case of Samantha and Miles playing in the river. At one point, my mom brings out a raft so the kids could float down the river. They make several trips down a portion of the river until they get tired of caring the raft backup the river. After a period of time has passed, Samantha decided to go back down the river, but this time she wants to go down with my mom. The only problem is that my mom is afraid of water, except in a shower or bath. My mom is just about to agree to go down the river with Samantha when I tell my mom not to do it. I did it because I really didn’t want to pry my mom off the raft or a rock when she starts to panic. As it turns out, it would have been worse. As Samantha is going down the river, she hits a rock and the raft gets a hole. I would have had to race down the river and carried my mom to the shore. I dodged a huge bullet.

The funniest moment of the day was provided by yours truly. I went back to the trailer to get Lisa and I some drinks. As I started to get in the water, I hit a slick spot and started to slide. I tried to keep my balance, but I soon had both feet in the air and I was doomed to make a large splash. Somehow I was able to twist and land on my butt, while still being able to save the drinks by lifting by arms way above my head. It would have been a sin to drop the drinks or get river water in them. I did provide everyone with a good laugh.

We didn’t do any driving today. We have driven a total of 6636 miles for the entire trip. We didn’t purchase any gas today.