Grand Canyon, Zion, and Great Grandma’s Fry Bread

I have been wanting to get an update to you all the last couple days but the wifi has been spotty, and honestly, we have been pretty busy. We have continued our explorations and seen a lot of amazing things. We visited the Grand Canyon as well as Zion national park.

We are still hanging out in the quaint little town of Panguitch and the weather has been bizarre! Last night we sat around the campfire and just watched the sky get lit up by a distant lightning storm. The storms have been off and on for the last two days and we have seen lightning all around us. Much to the dismay of the children, the pool has been closed.

One of the most exciting results of the erratic weather was our trip up the river walk into the canyon in Zion. After taking an extremely hot bus ride 40 minutes from the visitor center (no air conditioning on the buses), we began our journey into the canyon towards the Narrows. It was about 95 degrees outside with the sun shining down. It is about a 2 mile round trip to the end of the trail and the trail wound in and out of trees along tall red cliffs and the babbling river. The kids did great making it up to the end of the trail where you have to hike in the river up through the narrows. The river is too deep for the little kids, so we are saving that part until another trip. Anyways, after playing in the river for about 10 minutes, the clouds began to roll in. Within about 5 minutes we saw lighting, the thunder was rolling, the wind changed directions and the rain was dumping. The temperature must have dropped 10 or 20 degrees. Of course, everyone in the canyon had the same idea and started hightailing it back to the shuttle buses. We were completely soaked from head to toe when we got back, but there were lots of shuttle buses and we didn’t have to wait too terribly long to get on a dry bus and start the 40 minute ride back. All in all, it was a fun time. Juliana said that she never wants to do that again and Logan said that the thunder wasn’t so bad this time. I think we made some great memories!

When we got back to the campsite and finished dinner, Kirsten made up a batch of Navajo fry bread from her Grandmother’s recipe. This was an extra special treat and a tradition that we look forward to continuing into the next generation.

We feel so blessed to be out here and experiencing new places together. We are going to stay in Panguitch another couple of days and then will be headed towards Salt Lake and Yellowstone. More updates to come!

At the Grand Canyon!