Showing posts with label Zion Narrows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zion Narrows. Show all posts

Getting Sand Where the Sun Doesn't Shine

This was one of those really crazy busy weeks at school, I swear the instructors piled on the homework, tests and projects. Which is fine, but I had so much else going on during the week, I barely had time to sleep.

Not to mention keeping up with the Grow Your Blog Hop, which I am enjoying even if it's meant some really late nights for me!

Monday - Wednesday was all school, I purposely worked ahead to get everything I needed to get done for the week done.
Because my sister and her cute kids were arriving late Wednesday night and I knew I wanted to hang with them as much as possible and the more I worked ahead, the more time I would have with them.

This week while out running, I found a new trail with a hidden gem along the way. I made a mental note of it so I could take my sister and her kids to it later that week when they arrived! (Which they loved too by the way!)



The past two weekends my car was in the shop when I was up north. Luckily all under warranty, but apparently even keeping my car two weekends in a row they didn't fix the problem.

Friday I noticed it again, thankfully my sister was in town so she helped me drop it off at a dealership here.
Problem is, they didn't finish with it Saturday, so I literally have no car or way to get anywhere and I am not a bus person. So if the weather is good today I am going to wake early and take the 2 hour walk around the mountain to classes. Then the hour walk to the dealership after classes.

If it's bad weather or too hot, I'm calling for a shuttle or demand a rental car. Fingers crossed I get the car back this evening, and even more hope it's fixed!



I'm really enjoying my classes even more. I'm getting to know the different students in them, and we have a lot of fun conversations and debates it's really making the social aspect of attending college again so fun!



Like I said my sister and her kids came to town.
We had a new park open up, it's very cool one of those all abilities parks. Seriously you could fall anywhere and not get hurt the ground has a soft spring bounce in it.
Best part is, this park is free for anyone to use!

It's new, so it's quite popular, plus it was fall break so it was a busy time. But my niece and nephew had a blast in it.
Playing in the waterfalls, choo-choo train rides, and all the swings and volcano eruptions and dinosaurs, yeah they had a blast.
Even better so did my sister and I. Yeah it said the park was for kids of all ages, so since we never grew up, yes we decided that meant for us too!




After we took my car into the dealership on Friday morning I suggested to my sister we change our plans and head to Zion National Park for the day.
The kids had never been before and as my niece put it when we asked her what she thought about all of the red and white mountains. "It's so amazing, I just can't take my eyes off it."
We laughed, but she had it right!
I apparently had my camera on the wrong setting for the evening, so sorry for the not so great image above!



Saturday we went hiking and exploring in Snow Canyon State Park, they really loved climbing up on the boulders and then we ended up in the sand dunes. Yeah, we pretty much all got buried up to our necks in sand, and my niece and I had fun having contests who could roll down the sand hills fastest.
Needless to say, I will be finding sand on my body for weeks, LOL



I even jumped in the pool for a few hours after hoping that would take the sand off, but then when I got in the shower after that, I still had a pile of sand on the floor, LOL
But it was fun so that's all the matters!



Have to show you the shot above, not my favorite shot with the camera I missed the best time of day to take the picture. But this is one of my most favorite mountains, I have loved it ever since I was a little kid.
Depending on the time of day it ranges in all different colors!
The picture 6 above is another one that I love taken around sunset as me, sis and kids were heading to dinner that night.

That was my week, well the short version with the more interesting parts.
I didn't think you wanted to hear about the 5 hours I spent trying to figure out Photoshop, for my Digital Design class, LOL

Tell me something fun you did this week.
Do you have a favorite mountain or spot?




Five Things I Am Looking Forward To

It's been so long since I have been able to join the 3 fabulous ladies who host the Friday Five Link Up.
I quit blogging Fri-Sun over a year ago to give myself a weekly blogging break. But now moved to a new life, no job just full time college. My schedule has changed, and I am really excited to be able to link up with them again and get to know some of the other bloggers who link up who I haven't met (online) before!

I really wanted to go on their topic, but food and drink is something that currently I have nothing to share on. I'm a returning college student who still hasn't established the best eating habits. Though I am working on it!
To be honest I'd love to be the younger me college student and live off pizza and Pepsi, but if I did that now I'd likely be 200 pounds before the end of the year.

So that left me with the choice on what Friday Five things to share with you all.

Living in the desert again in the location that I do I have a huge list of things I want to do while I am here for the next two years. So I thought I'd share the top 5 on my list with you all. Because just quite possibly they may be things you might want to add to your list if ever visiting Southern Utah too!

1. Hike Angel's Landing.

I've probably done this hike over 25 times in my life and it never gets old. But I have not hiked it in over 10 years. It's not for those afraid of heights, especially since you climb with chains and will be standing at times on a little over two feet wide of rock with 1000 foot drop offs on one side of you, and 800 foot drop offs on the other side of you. But if you don't mind heights, the view from the top is amazing! If you've been on my blog even a few times, you likely know these things are right up my alley!
I'd really like to do this in September or October when the temps cool off and high's aren't in the 100's, but maybe the 90-80's.



2. Hike Zion Narrows.

Again, another I have done dozens of times in my life, but most of those were when I was a child. I actually haven't hiked that beautiful narrow river canyon that shoot up 1000's a feet above me in over 15 years. I definitely plan to do this, during a non-flash flood risk day in October!
The pic below isn't the narrows, but a view I took a few weeks ago just before you get to them.


3. Cliff Diving at Sand Hollow.

Truth be told, I will be there this weekend, but not to cliff dive. To watch my sister swim a mile in the lake and finish the rest of her Olympic Triathlon and I think she may have a fabulous chance of winning over all. She's put in some killer training!
I'd like to go back to swim in the waters preferably with some family or friends and jump the 30-50 foot cliff dive jump options. I was sick back in June and only watched my sister and nephew do them, (that's my sis jumping below) so it's my turn this fall! I'm hoping in October when my sister brings the paddleboards we can park them at the side and climb up for the dive!



4. Run all the trails in the area I live in.

Now this will likely take me the full two years to do them all. As I have been told there are hundred's of miles of trails in the area, and about half of them are even paved through the beautiful desert. I've already hit up a few of them already! This city/county has spared no expense when it comes to giving runners/walkers lots of places to go!



5. Run the St. George Marathon.

I've already done this one six times, it's one of my favorites in the entire country. I actually got into the lottery this year. But with moving and getting ready to go on this new college adventure so quickly. My training lacked and even I am big enough to admit I am not ready as I mentioned last week I will not be running it next month. But next year, I think I can score a guaranteed entry and there will be very little that can hold me back for sure!




If you want to visually follow me on these adventures, make sure you follow My Instagram page, as I am really active on there with travel/hiking and different location scenery posts from my days.

So tell me, what is something you have on your list of things to do before the year ends?