View from a bridge at Zion National Park.

We left Tuesday after school and drove to Flagstaff AZ. The next morning we drove to the Grand Canyon via Williams, AZ. Tom had not been there since he was a child and it had been over 30 years since I was there. We were all certainly impressed – the weather was clear and sunny. We wore layers, which we were constantly taking on and off depending on the sun and shade. Crowds were low. I will post a few photos below. We spent the night there and the next morning tried to get out by nine am, but there is so much to see – it was probably after one before we left the park.

Tom threw Charlie over the side! Not really - there is a ledge underneath Charlie...

This huge elk was eating cactus at our motel. There was a traffic jam with eveyone snapping photos.

On the way to Zion - 89A the scenic route.

Zion Park - you can see a small bus at the bottom of the photo - I took this one.

Weeping Rock - it was surreal.

Charlie fit right into a little mini-cave.

There are two rock climbers in this photo.

There are three of them here and they are carrying sleeping gear.

Charlie took this one and the few below on his high rim trek.

Notice the chain they have to hold onto to get around this curve.

This guy was just standing beside the road - he was posing for people.

I recommend the Magestic View.

Tom and Charlie found a friend!

We left going out the same way we came in - this tunnel is a mile long and has windows for beautiful views. It was a little eerie going through this thing at night.

We started our drive to Zion National Park and saw some beautiful scenery, stopping lots of places to look at pottery and take photos. Now, I had read somewhere that you need to arrive at Zion National Park before dark because of the switchbacks going down in to the canyon. Of course I had forgotten all about that – cause I can’t remember things as well as I once did. So it is around 6pm and dark and we reach the park and I immediately remembered reading to arrive before dark. It was quite dark – and we could see a couple of headlights way, way, way down below us. Stayed at the Majestic View resort for two nights and it was so nice. The next morning was a delight – cause remember it was pitch dark when we got there. Honestly we were overwhelmed with the beauty of the place. We saw people rock climbing on sheer surfaces. Charlie took the high route treks and Tom and I stayed low. Zion was just a fabulous place. The photos cannot do justice to the enormity of those cliffs and rocks.

We took 264 across Arizona to get home on Saturday - saw lots of beautiful scenery - just went on forever.

Charlie and Tom are packing today to drive back to Georgia. I’ll fly back on the 20^th – same day Elizabeth is flying in from Alaska. Even though I have been working this fall I feel like we have been on an extended vacation.