St. George and Zion National Park

Jess and I, and Jess's mom, Kaye, were able to take off for a couple of days and play in St. George. None of us had ever been there, so we were excited. We had a great time!

We were able to stay with my great-uncle Darryl and his wife, Joann. They are a blast and so great to talk to.

Darryl drove us all around St. George to see the sights. Here is overlooking downtown St. George and the temple. After this we headed to In-N-Out Burger, which is new to St. George.

Coming out of Snow Canyon.

Snow Canyon. It was so neat to see all the red rock!!

The Tuacahn theater. When I asked around at work what we should see in St. George, this was one of the suggestions. We want to go back and see a play there sometime. :)

Joseph Hamblin's (the Buckskin Mormon) home in Santa Clara. He made friends with the local Indians in the 1850's-till he died. They taught him tricks like sleeping in the center of a horse hair rope laid on the ground in a circle to keep rodents from crawling on you at night. His house was neat, with lots of interesting facts. Church historical sites are the best because they are free!

In front of Brigham Young's Winter home in St. George. Here we found out why St. George is called St. George. The story was that George Albert Smith (later a prophet and president of the Church) lived in St. George with his family as one of the first settlers. There was hardly anything to eat except potatoes. George would peel potatoes and feed his family the potato and he would eat the skins. His entire family ended up dying of scurvy and he didn't. They figured out that something in the potato peels prevented scurvy, so George saved the other families in the area by telling them about his experience.

I also like the story of the green paint. When the Saints ordered white paint for the Salt Lake Temple, the paint that came was actually green. It was used on many homes at that time.

We were able to go to a temple session on Monday morning (yes, the temple was open!). It was very neat. This temple was dedicated in 1847!

Zion National Park--the Checkerboard Mesa.

Zion National Park--going through the narrow tunnel built in the 1920's!

It was a little warm, but from up here, the breeze was great! It felt really good after the heat on the hike up.

In the bottom left corner, you can see the tram on the road. This is what you ride to each stop/site in the park from about March to October.

The "organ" on the right.

Flowers of Zion National Park. It was neat to see desert and mountain-type flowers growing together.

The view from the Angel's Landing hike.

Taking a breather in the shade on the Angel's Landing trail.

The trial to the Narrows hike is closed now, because of high waters.

Kaye and I

It is amazing how these beautiful plants grow out of the rocks!

I love the contrasting red and green. It was sooo beautiful.

A few park natives.

The Weeping Rock.