"I wish they were mountain lions, I'd be less scared."

It was 11:15 when we finally arrived at Zion, as we saw a Wal-Mart on the way and had stopped for a few last minute purchases. We bought our entrance ticket only to find out all the campsites were taken! I was devastated but Jules made me feel better by telling me we should stay another day and we will certainly get a campsite tomorrow. Without knowing what to do here we went for a drive around the park as we called for hotels around the area. But as luck would have it it all worked out in our favor. On our way back down the mountains, we noticed a sign for another campsite that was for reservation only. We figured what the hell and asked the lady at the pull up station if there were any campsites left and she asked her supervisor if he wanted to open up site ‘D’ and he said, “yes,”!!!!! This was a brand new campsite and Jules and I were the first ones to spend the night here. Feeling so lucky to have gotten a campsite, we decided to stay an extra night anyway.

After setting up our tent, which is in a site completely surrounded by beautiful orange and red canyons we hit a small snafoo. One of us (Who shall remain nameless) learned something new about herself. Turns out one of her favorite things in the world, butterflies, terrify her in their pre-cocoon state. At first, we noticed one on the ground. As we looked around we noticed a few more, and a few more. It looked like the ground was moving as we saw more and more of them crawling around on the ground. They had no boundaries, climbing all over our tent, car, girlfriend! After a little (a lot) of coaxing, and heavy duty hiking boots and socks, we left for our first hike in Zion.

A nice couple at the next campsite over from us, suggested we take the hike up to Weeping Rock.  It was short but stunning trail and when you reached the top, it was as if you were in the middle of a Jurassic Park movie.

The hike however, was too short, and we weren’t satisfied so we went off to another trail close by.  

When we reached the top, it split again but this time we had a choice between 3 expert trails. One was 3 hours the others were 5+.  Hidden Canyons it was. For being an expert trail, it wasn’t too difficult but looking at some parts of it from a distance, it made you want to turn around. Especially since there were chains for holding on imbedded into the rock at some points. 

We loved the hike but getting back to the campsite was a pleasure in itself as the bus took us around the entire grounds of Zion. Walking back to our campsite posed another problem: walking under trees filled with caterpillar nests. They were falling down like grenades in a war zone and we(by we I mean Jules) ran through to avoid them. Upon returning, we lit a fire and had a few beers with our new friends, Brad and Jill. 

The four of us quickly learned something about our new campsite.. The concrete hadn’t been set yet since these sites were just opened. Every now and then, pieces of cement would explode and fly through our campsite and flaming pieces of wood would end up scattered through our site, and us. All throughout the night we could hear the concrete blow up from other sites followed by lots of laughter and cheers. As we laid in our tent, we fell asleep gazing at the stars, unfortunately no shooting star for Jules tonight.

Sorry for not posting yesterday, we don't have much service around here. We’re writing this as we eat our breakfast at a small cafe in town. (Yes, we're wearing the same clothes from yesterday.. there are no showers and we were too cold to change!)

Salina (Saliva but with an "n")

With about 3 more hours to go before reaching Zion National Park the sun began to set behind the canyons. With the roads being as they were we decided to pull over at the first town, Salina, and crash for the night. On our way there we stopped at several overlook areas and saw some beautiful views of the canyon rocks.

It turned out that Salina had the best inn yet (cheapest too) and I finally got to go in a hot tub like I’ve been trying to find since we left.

We woke up at 6 to get to the park as early as possible because the campsites are first come first serve.  While we were getting ready, we turned the TV on to see what the weather was like further south.  Come to find out, the Royal wedding was on and the newly weds were about to have their first kiss. After their fifth grade truth or dare attempt at a kiss, we left for Zion : )

Day vs. Night

We woke up in Denver to blue skies and 65 degree weather. We had a few hours before check out so we went out to check out the city. We saw the capital buildings and civic center. We also walked down an outdoor mall that they have. The streets are closed off to cars and only a free bus travels up and down the 15 or so blocks of shops.

For lunch, we went to Casa Bonita. 

If you’ve ever seen the South Park episode about it, it really is THAT awesome. They have live shows, good food and the best décor. It’s decorated as if it’s a Mexican village with a waterfall, Blackbeard’s cave and a jail. 

We we’re running around the place, way more excited than any of the kids there. The only time we weren’t smiling was in Blackbeard’s cave because it was actually terrifying.

After lunch, we hit the road to Utah. This was the most beautiful drive we’ve ever been on. We weren’t expecting to drive through the Rockies but we were so glad we did.  The road was all over the place and we even went through some tunnels going right through the mountain. 

We drove side by side to the Colorado river and we watched the snow and tree covered mountains turned into rocky canyons. 

Tonight we ended up in Salina, Utah. Tomorrow morning, we're getting back on the road and heading to one of the places we're most looking forward to: Zion National Park.

Day of Interest

Yesterday we woke up in Topeka, Kansas. We met a couple in the hotel lobby that warned us of just what we were in for on our way to Denver. Of course, we’re talking about Kansas. When we left the hotel we had 6 hours of flat plains ahead of us.  

Shout out to The Beatles for getting us through it. ;) Despite all of the nothingness, we still managed to find a few antique shops to stop in along the way.  We also stopped at another drive-in, this time around we knew what to do.

We got fried pickles & the burgers were hugeeee!

After leaving that town, we saw this sign:

We couldn’t say no to that, so off the beaten path we went.  We pull up to what looks like a scene from Texas Chainsaw Massacre. There were thousands of glass bottles and rocks in little containers. There was an old VW van filled with more bottles and rocks. 

There was also two American muscle cars with more bottles and rocks inside. When we knocked on the door to the “Museum of 6 States” we were greeted by an interesting old man named Jeff. There are no words to really describe Jeff, but let’s just say the sign should have said “Person of Interest.”  He told us that if we could guess his 10 mystery items he would waive the $1 entrance fee to the museum. He showed us old rusty items from a rooster skull cracker to dinosaur poop. We got two out of ten right. Walking through the “museum” and its 20+ rooms FILLED with glass bottles of all shapes and colors, tools, weapons, fossils, crazy Jeff told us jokes and had a trick around every corner.

The view from the top was awesome, we supposedly saw 6 states but we couldn’t really tell which was which and it was really windy.

Crazy Jeff made us pose for all sorts of silly pictures.

After being there for wayyy longer than we should have, we left with two souvenirs and lots of laughs.

When we finally reached Colorado, we decided to take a “scenic route” rather than the highway.

The road progressively got hillier until we eventually we could see the Rocky mountains in the distance.  We went through a few little towns and throughout each one, the mountains grew closer.

When we got to Denver we did a quick drive through the city, found a hotel, grabbed dinner and crashed for the night.

The view from our hotel room.