Zion National Park

Back for a minute from a long road trip to Zion National Park. For those of you who are like: "Huh? Where's that?" and you're not feeling like Googling it...it's in the Southwestern corner of Utah.

Beautiful country. "God's country." -Geeze when I say that...some part of me squirms and thinks: "Man...this feels like the adult version of believing in the Easter Bunny or Santa." Does he exist? I'm not sure. What I'm pretty sure of is, I don't know...and you don't know...but I guess we'll all find out one day. But I digress...

I went with my little cousins, Jenna (13), and Daniel (10). For a long time, I had been wanting to do something nice for both them and their parents. So, I called them up and invited them. Luckily, everyone was up to the impromptu adventure. :) And it was a blast!

The drive down took FOREVER! Practically 24 hours! Primarily because of some heinous pockets of traffic that we hit on I-5. It seemed to get worse the closer to the L.A. area we got. There were two spots where we spent about 3 hours (in each spot) going about 5 miles an hour. :p But by the time we got into Zion...it was all worth it!

We spent most of our time there cycling through a few activities. The average day was an amalgamation of: sleep until you're sweaty and hot, get up and go swimming in the river, play, laugh, talk, relax, then when we're cooled down...at some point we'd notice that we were hungry...so we'd head back to camp, make some food, eat our meal (usually with s'mores), wash up, get our heads cool by running them under cold water, then take a nap from the food coma. :) Rinse and repeat. It was a good time.

I didn't have time to do the hiking that I had planned on. An executive decision was made to forgo the hikes this trip. After running it by Jenna and Daniel, it became apparent that they were much more interested in going swimming rather than the *awesome* hike through The Narrows.

So...I made the decision to go do things that we would all enjoy and just relax. I made the right call. We had so much fun. And on the ride home, we stopped in Las Vegas for lunch! Ahhhh Las Vegas....how I love you for your amazingly clean public restrooms. Casino's and Mormons...they have the cleanest restrooms. :) (It's the little things in life that make it all worth it.) ;)

We took a different route home, and cut through the Nevada desert. Meandering through one horse towns like Beatty, Goldfield, and Tonopah. The drive home went much faster, due in large part to the overwhelming *nothingness* that is the Nevada countryside. No SoCal traffic! :)

We stopped to get gas, sandwiches and of course try on hats. :)

Lookin' good Daniel! 

So...I'm definitely going back to Zion. Next time, I will pack lighter -take waaaaay less clothes. Jenna and I agreed that one pretty much only needs to take their swimsuit, PJ's, and a pair of shorts. (the shorts are optional) :) As well as the PJ's....OK...so you only need to take a swimsuit. :D And I'll slot more time to enjoy the scenery once I'm there.

Inspired By Children

November 26th, 2007; 7:19 PM

Current mood:chipper

I saw Dolce again! She came into the store. She was so cute. She had her eye out for me...and when the moment came, she asked me if we could have another teaparty. I remember that from being a kid. It was so simple then. If you liked a person...you just went up to them and said "Hi! Wanna play?" and that was that. I love the simplicity of youth. The freedom to go after what you want with abandon. The joy of simply enjoying the moment, and being friends even if only for 5 minutes with a stranger.

I met another phenomenal child. His name was Petey. He was so charming. I came back from my lunch break and he was running around trying on different hats. Talk about a charmer! I didn't even notice that he wasn't speaking English until his father said something about how "He may have a lot of problems, but whatever he's lacking in, hopefully his charm will carry him." Up until that moment it hadn't even occured to me that Petey was different in any way. I'vc come accross so many small children with different quirks or personalities...and many times I've know children who were just not very good at forming words yet...they spoke with that heavy and unintelligable *kid* accent, that two year olds have...I just assumed that was what was up with him.  Petey was talking to me. And we did have a conversation in our own little way. He was so much fun. Petey, his sister, and I all *Riverdanced* outside, while his parents shopped. Sasha stood in the line with us, but refrained from riverdancing, lest the proprietor of the store get miffed. However Thea would have never done that with a quick Riverdance, a dead store, and the childrens parents shopping merrily while the kids were being entertained. ....So here's the best part about meeting Petey!...His sister had a little beret that her parents bought her, and they asked for a black one for Petey. -He didn't like it. BUT!!! He did find a large red womens felt hat that he did like. It happened to be one of the more expensive hats in the store, and he looked adorable in it. Sasha tried to show him  a little greek fishermans hat, but Petey pulled it off his head and threw it on the ground with a little grunt. Then he reached for the red hat again. It was clear that his choice had been made. His parents were fabulous! His mother simply said..."Let him have it. I'll wear it when he's done with it." It was such a loving and open way of handeling the situation. I had to take a picture of Petey with the red hat and the magnifying glass he found. It is one of my current favorites! Apparently, Petey has some sort of undiagnosed problem, that affects his speech and communication, he's had surgeries (on his spine!)....And meeting him was such a joy! He was really inspiring to me. And such a pleasure. His sister was too. ...So much of the time, I bet it's hard being the older sibling to a child with disabilaties...I think they get over looked sometimes. But she was just the best, most loving, and well balanced older sister there was. She looked out for her brother, and was a giggly load of fun with him! -Talk about jewels! Both of them!

Shining

• Nov. 2nd, 2007 at 11:46 PM

  She is the bee's knees....and the cat's pajamas...all rolled into one! I shmuv her darling, wonderful, fabulous face every day...
Yes...yet another day in paradise! I LOVE my life! Woo hoo...rockin' the shining life condition today!

• Mood:  golden and fabulous!

Tags:

• bee's knees, 
• cat's pajamas

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