Made it to Zion!

Made it - and actually spent last evening and this morning in the canyon.  WOHO!!!!

Just when you think they can't possibly be impressed by any more rocks - zoweee - Zion appears.  We entered through the East gate which is so dramatic - the big 'wow' is a 1.7 mile tunnel so black that it feels as if you are descending through hell.  I kept seeing 'Lord of the Rings' which is too scary so I decided it was better to focus on the Disney Seven Dwarf thing.  Turns out that instinct was a good one - the tunnel was made  1927-30 using mining - not tunneling technology.  WOW for someone who was proud of driving through Aunt Kass' neighborhood just a couple of weeks ago - I can barely believe that I twisted/turned/up and down in the black tunnel.  The Casita probably followed me because it was just too scary to break away!  

More drama getting here and then again unhitching - won't even tell these stories anymore - it all worked out ok and great kind people helped us as always.  But we did get out into canyon anyway!!! The main part of Zion Park is just a thin road between towering mountains - they had to go to a shuttle system - it would have been too crazy to let traffic in here.  Thursday evening shuttling with a Ranger was a welcomed introduction

And Friday morning we went to the end of the road to the River Walk - all flat and easy for everybody!  

Aunt Kass went back and I hiked into the Emerald Pools - hiking along the river and then back through the canyon was so peaceful.  

I've got some great video of this - because I want Ella to tell me if this is where her 'Sleep Sheep' made the water recording we listen to - but I have to figure out how to load it - and its way too cold and damp on this stoop outside the grocery store to figure that out now (yes - I'm whining)

2000+ steps by 2pm deserved some sort of reward - so lunch at Zion Lodge.  I sat out on the deck savoring food and view - and then the wind came up and the rain came down!  Remember that shuttle system?  The Park Service jumped into action and within 2 hours had shuttled everyone who wanted 'out' back to the parking at the start of the canyon - great job!

See the slide show for pictures of the hanging gardens - beautiful flowers that grow from dripping rocks.  The water seeps down through the layers and when it gets backed up - and weeps out onto the rock.  Water millions of years old feeds these ferns and flowers.

And although this posting is getting way too long (no internet in Zion Park so I'm banished outside the park to write this...) and the slideshow has way too many shots- I can't resist including some friendly critters - can you believe they let us get this close?