A Debacle of Epic Proportions

That describes our week.

Over President’s Day weekend in 2007 we went to Moab and Arches National Park. We were afraid there wouldn’t be enough to do so we only went for one night. It turned out to be great. The weather was perfect, there were plenty of things at the kids’ skill level and the town was cute with good restaurants and a grocery store. We wished we could stay longer. Since we don’t function well in heat we waited until the same time the following year and stayed longer. It was still great but it much colder and there was snow on the ground making hiking a little more difficult. We were however able to get to Delicate Arch and felt like we had done all there was to do, within our athletic capabilities.

Last June I decided we should go to Zion’s in 2009 so I booked the hotel for President’s weekend. It was at that point that I realized that Valentine’s was the same weekend. We made a choice as a family that we would celebrate Valentine’s on Friday the 13th and then head out Saturday after we got up.

Let me explain a little about our week leading up to our holiday and our trip. We were supposed to get carpet on Thursday or Friday. I was hoping for Thursday but said I could manage Friday as long as it was in the morning so our house could get back to normal for the holiday. Due to not knowing when they were coming I couldn’t help out with either class party. We started moving things out on Wednesday in preparation, which resulted in our house being a total disaster. We got a call saying that the carpet wouldn’t be coming in until Friday.

Paul took Friday off so that we could rip everything out in the morning insuring we wouldn’t be walking around on sub-floor during our midnight potty breaks. Well Friday morning rolls around and we find out at 9:30 a.m. that the truck was late so we would not be getting carpet until later. We didn’t know when later was so Paul stayed at home. Knowing that we were celebrating Valentine’s that day, the last thing I wanted was strangers in our house while we were enjoying our traditions. By the afternoon I was getting a little anxious and Paul was downright bored.

The weather had been great for a couple of weeks and then right before we were set to go the storms started rolling in. One right after the other! We watched the weather each day that week and decided we were going to go for it. Once Friday rolled around and all they can talk about on the news is the big storm that is due to hit Saturday. Thursday night there was a 22-car pileup outside of Beaver so we were a little worried to say the least. Paul looked online and found us a room in St. George for Friday night. We couldn’t decide if we were going to leave until the very last minute.

I had gone all out to get everything ready for the kids when they got home from school on Friday. The table looked great and everything was ready to go. I had baked a poppy seed cake, mixed up cookie dough and made red jell-o. Paul had my favorite roses delivered (4 red, 4 pink and 4 whites) and had gotten Emma a dozen pink roses. This is a tradition he started a few years ago. He wanted to be the first guy to ever give her roses. She loved it so much he has done it ever since. I had their little gifts wrapped and the Valentine’s all filled out. We were set.

Since Paul was still home we were debating on whether we should wait for dinnertime or just do everything right after the kids got home. Since we were leaning towards leaving for St.George we decided to just get the show on the road.

We rushed through our pizza dinner, did without the homemade breadsticks and chocolate dipped strawberries I was going to make and then went into turbo packing mode. I forgot to get a picture of me with my roses because we were hurrying so much. At this point we get the call that we can have someone come to put in the carpet at 5:00 p.m. Good grief! No, come on Tuesday, we’ll wait.

We rush rush rushed, got the car packed, left a key with Maggie so she could take care of Marius and we hit the road right at 6:00 p.m. While it was cold, windy and we did hit a few pockets of snow on the way, we were glad we left Friday and missed the storm that hit Saturday. We made one stop in Beaver where Emma ran into one of her classmates! We got to our hotel at 10:00 pm. and went to bed after hanging out in the room for a little while.

We woke up to crystal blue skies and puffy white clouds. It was marvelous. The kids got to swim and play in the hot tub after breakfast.

We hit the outlets and Old Navy before getting lunch at In –N-Out for Paul and I and Jack in the Box for the kids. It was sooo freaking crowded at In-N-Out that we got it to go and ate in our car.

There were these little beggars that wanted our fries.

We did a little more shopping and then went on our way to our hotel in Zion’s.

We got to our hotel where we checked in and unloaded. We got back in the car and hit the park. We drove on one of the scenic drives that runs through a mile long tunnel. There is no need to try and hold your breath in a mile long tunnel! Unfortunately there was so much snow that we were unable to see some of what Zion’s in known for. We did see many beautiful things though.

We then went on the other scenic drive and plotted our plan of attack for the next day since we were losing light and it was too cold to do much of anything at that time.

I called this the Dr. Suess mountain.

We saw a bunch of deer on our way back out. We saw so many deer on this trip we couldn't even keep track. They were everywhere.

We got dinner and that is when we realized that they had us, big time. There is nowhere to go for food besides the little town and the food was very expensive. They could charge whatever they wanted because there were no other options for people staying there.

We went back to our room where we entertained ourselves (This is not normal behavior for us)

before going to the hot tub. The kids were tired of waiting for us to be ready (we had just eaten our dinner) and I had noticed that the beds were pretty springy and well one thing led to another and yes we jumped on the beds. There were two couples when we got out to the hot tub and interestingly they both left within minutes of us getting there with the kids. The kids weren’t even being bad.

We got up and Paul and I made an executive decision. We were worried about driving home in bad weather on Monday, we didn't want to pay for anymore over priced food and we knew it was too cold and snowy to really enjoy the park. We checked out of the hotel a day early. We found a little place to have breakfast, a modest breakfast, and it cost our little family $50. We had had enough. We decided to do one hike and leave for home.

The hike was not hard but we were challenged by mud, snow and ice. Ice was on the ground and falling on us from the trees. Hiking when it is 32 degrees = bad. I had to get out my cashmere sweater that I had just bought in St.George as an added layer since I didn’t pack enough layers. (Hey, we were rushed!)

We persevered and got to our first destination. Oooh. Pretty. Here we are behind a water fall. Just a little ways down the path is all ice. We had to hold on the the rail and slide down.The rail was freezing!

Another shot from behind the fall. See how everything is frozen? When I say it was cold I was serious.

Never one to turn down a challenge, we decided to go the long way back to avoid a decent back down the icy mountain, probably on our butts. Note to self, hiking in the winter can be a challenge. We were assured that it was better to brave the mud instead of the ice. We hit mud. Lots and lots of thick, goopy, pull the shoe off your foot kind of mud. Keep in mind I did this in cashmere. Am I a trooper or what?

The view from the side of the mountain AKA the trail.

We saw more deer.

Once we got to the car we had to remove our shoes and pants so we could get on clean clothes. (luckily we took the plastic dry cleaning bags from our rooms so we could put our dirty stuff in there) By this time we were all ready to get out of there. We were not willing to hike anymore.

On our way out of town we stopped at some animal preserve where we were able to feed elk and some big cow type thing. Paul said it was a Brahma Bull but I am not convinced. It was very sweet though what ever it was. I also saw buffalo for the first time in my life. We said goodbye to Springdale, probably forever, and headed for home.

This is one big, rubbery, snotty nose. It totally slimed me! We stopped at a gas station so I could wash the snot off.

On the way home we did one more scenic drive through Kolob Canyon where there was a lot more snow and that was it for our trip. We still got our two days away from home. They were just different days than we had planned. We really enjoyed ourselves even though the trip was not what we expected. We are grateful that we can see the beauties that have been created for us to enjoy and that we can build these memories as a family.