We took the kids for an overnight campout near St. George at Snow Canyon State Park. On the way to the campsite we decided to stop at the Zion museum and let the kids do a Junior Ranger geology session. Marion found a fuzzy caterpillar in the parking lot, and even though she was told not to touch it, she couldn’t resist.
It was fun to touch a baby caterpillar! So she thought…she jumped back when it sorta of stung her with 20 or so fine little nettles. She was still happy, and it must not have hurt that bad, but her finger had a bunch of little hairs embedded in it. Took awhile to get out…
Oliver enjoyed pointing out all the names of the peaks. Both he and Marion really wanted to go out and explore, but we patiently explained that this area of Zion was just for looking at as they apparently don’t want people to walk passed the series of gates, rocks, brickwalls, and strategically placed shrubs.
Here’s the ranger explaining the geology of Zion. Elora got to learn about lithification, sedimentation, and all the geologic layers that make Zion what it is.
Meanwhile, Marion played around doing a good job not making too much noise.
James E Boo is becoming “James the Brute” who likes to pick up sticks and whack people. And if he can’t find a stick, he’ll just try to smack you anyway. At least the little brute is still pretty cute.
We left Zion and made our way to Snow Canyon and setup our campsite that we reserved online just a couple days earlier. Here the kids are helping set up the tent. It’s been awhile and we’ve only used it once before, so it took a little thinking….
After it was all setup, James was excited to go inside. As you can see the tent roof is entirely mesh, which was just what we needed because it was pretty hot outside! Good thing we reserved it as all the sites were full that night. Luckily, we got a good site. We were wondering to ourselves if we should have pre-emptively reserved the neighboring site too… Later that evening some Boy Scouts showed up which nearly confirmed our selfish desires, but as it turns out our kids were probably louder than they were. Thanks for being good neighbors unknown Boy Scouts!
We decided to go on a walk and have our lunch so we went exploring around the site. Marion was very excited to find this cactus. She loves deserts.
The walk took a lot longer than expected because we kept walking just a little bit farther to try to find some shade. Finally, we found a spot near a canyon wall to hide from the sun. Which was a good thing too because we brought some chocolate covered strawberries we made just the night before with the kids.
James was having fun throwing sand. That’s always a fun past time while others are trying to eat lunch.
Even though we got a little messy, surprisingly the chocolate strawberries in the hot sun and sitting on the sandy ground didn’t turn into a disaster.
Oliver was having a great time. The kids really love to be outside and spend time with us. We need to go camping more often!
We also bought some “artisan” bread from Walmart on the way down as Karen hadn’t made any that day… luckily, we picked it up just as the bakery lady was dropping it off, so it was fresh and pretty decent. For Walmart.
After eating, we made our way back to the campsite with a bag full of left over food and a jug of water
Marion confiscated one of the sticks we brought down to burn and was happy to wave it around threateningly. She’s so cute in her little chair and pink hat. The kids did a pretty good job of wearing their hats. The only problem was the wind, which would always blow James’ hat away.
Here’s James sitting still for about 30 seconds. It doesn’t last long. This post is getting a bit long, so we’ll save the rest of the pictures for part 2!
