We got up the next morning, found some breakfast, then headed north on I-15 to Zion. On previous trips in this part of the country, I’d stuck to the interstate. The views were always awesome, but I wondered what getting off of the beaten path would yield. I was not disappointed!
Zion is a short trip off of I-15, just north on St. George, UT. We stopped at a little town called Springdale and looked at some rocks:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3638/3440002446_fe2a9ef568.jpg?v=0)
I decided then that I’d resist my rock collection obsession or else the car would be laden with 1000lbs as we headed over the Rockies later in the trip 😉 Erin got her Mom some earrings, and we headed into Zion proper. I didn’t know what to expect – I’d done some research for the trip, but I didn’t want to look at too many pictures before I saw it for myself.
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3300/3439202065_9f8f27f1f3.jpg?v=0)
There’s a $25 entry fee, then you leave your car at the visitor’s center and hop on a shuttle that runs the length of the park.
I’ll put a link in the blog to all of the pictures, but WOW! Just WOW! It was amazing:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3546/3439230747_37eccd1a01.jpg?v=0)
Erin has the photography bug too. I got here here and I was using my iPhone – one of my favorite images from the trip:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3405/3423000638_8147994214.jpg?v=0)
I was drawn to the rocks mainly, while Erin loved the water features:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3584/3439215551_6306d2e63c.jpg?v=0)
I got a new wide lens piece for my Lensbaby and tried it out here, but only got one or two interesting images:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3413/3439222693_708b210dd6.jpg?v=0)
I need to spend more time with it to learn how to get some part of the image in focus.
I can paste beautiful rock formation pictures in here all day:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3394/3440038664_66755d5165.jpg?v=0)
I also got a 70-300 Canon IS lens to play with, and it didn’t disappoint:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3582/3440040318_494e23e97c.jpg?v=0)
Erin goes in search of more water pictures:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3623/3440053796_5717a25217.jpg?v=0)
We encountered much wild life, such as the Thanksgiving bird:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3563/3439247391_0f94888f92.jpg?v=0)
We couldn’t find the stuffing gophers.
Where’s Erin?
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3592/3440061626_8f25fe0574.jpg?v=0)
I was going to have some deep comments about ageless stone and modern technology, but I remembered that I’m not that deep:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3590/3440063656_6b9a2579b1.jpg?v=0)
Finally found some phone signal!
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3543/3439260483_e177f2ca9b.jpg?v=0)
It was getting late and we needed to get to Bryce for the next day, so we headed out through the tunnel on Rt. 12:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3540/3440076062_5ea953f6e3.jpg?v=0)
and found even more amazing sights:
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3314/3440079614_9696104f80.jpg?v=0)
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3297/3439271567_1b2a436d1d.jpg?v=0)
SOMEone was getting a little tired of stopping every 5 minutes to take pix, but I have to say – this was one of the most amazing drives I have ever made. Beautiful!
Good bye Zion. I’ll be back, and I promise to spend more that a day….
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3590/3440084582_f589ecbf9c.jpg?v=0)