Spring Break

We started out Spring Break with a nice surprise visit from my parents. They had a honey delivery in Montana and came down to deliver a few items to us.

The kids had been asking to make slime so we did that too.

My parents couldn't stay long this visit. My parents left half way through spring break and we had made plans for a small trip.

We left Thursday night about 9 p.m. and rolled into Salt Lake City , Utah about midnight. We got a hotel and slept in the next morning. When we got ourselves around the next morning we drove over to the Jordan River Temple Open House. The weather was wet and rainy the whole drive down and during our temple visit. 

 After the temple tour we got on the road again. We drove down to Zion's National Park and spent the rest of Friday enjoying the park. We did some hiking and beautiful sightseeing.

 Attempting a selfie with all of us is always a feat especially while trying to get the background sign in the picture too. I kindly asked a gentleman walking if he would take our picture.

 I wish i could adequately describe the view. These pictures don't even do it justice. The colors were phenomenal. The only way i could even try to explain it is by saying that we felt small compared to the majesty of earth around us.

 This was at the beginning of the Emerald Pools hike. To the first pool it was an easy 1 mile walk on paved sidewalk. To the second pool it got a bit harder and then on to the third pool was like climbing boulders trying to figure out where the path went. At each pool was a beautiful cascade of waterfalls.

 There was wild animals running everywhere which was really neat to see.

 The kids were relieved to get back on the transit bus to rest their legs.

 I sat the camera down for just a brief minute and Alayna helped herself. I love finding these hidden gems when i upload the pictures from my camera.

As we were leaving the park the sun was setting and the colors were even more vibrant.

 While reading about Zion's National Park we came across some information for a tunnel through the mountain. The tunnel was 1 mile long and had a handful of ventilation holes to help with lighting. As I was reading the information I found suggested that the tunnel was built to help connect a passageway to other National Parks because Zion's was rarely visited. We drove through the tunnel twice because we just loved it.

After our long and beautiful Friday we got a hotel and got some sleep. On Saturday we got up and enjoyed a quick dip in the hotel pool and breakfast and headed back North. We came upon our first stop quickly, Kolob Canyons. This is right outside Zion's National Park but we wanted to break up the trip a bit for the kids. There was also lots of hiking and views here too.

After we drove through we got back on the freeway and headed more North. We then stopped at Historic Cove Fort.

We then drove back to the Salt Lake area and got a hotel. We stopped much earlier this day because we were all tired and road weary. We got to the hotel and enjoyed more pool time. We then got dinner and got to bed at a decent hour.

On Sunday morning we slept in, enjoyed a nice breakfast and swam some more. We took some time to visit with Jeanette Richardson before heading on. She had just had back surgery and wanted to see how she was getting along. After visiting for a bit we got back on the road. Our next and final stop was Antelope Island. I lived in Layton/Syracuse area for about a year and I had been here before but no one else had so we took a stop to see it. As you can see from these final pictures the weather started turning to snow so we decided to get on the road before the conditions deteriorated more.

We got home shortly before bedtime so we could get rested up for school/work the next day. I am so glad we had a chance to go see the wonderful world we live in. We had an adventure we surely won't forget for some time. I hope we take many more trips like this in the future.