Utah Rocks...Zion

The first two photos on the Scenes from the Road post were taken as we drove the interstate through CO. The beautiful fall color was in the Vail ski area and the second shot was going through Glenwood Canyon.

After two days of driving we arrived at our first destination, Zion National Park in SW Utah. The next two photos in "Scenes from the Road" were taken there, including the 4th shot which is the 1.1 mile narrow tunnel on the road at the east enterance of the park. Below is a photo of the Court of the Patriachs on a gray, rainy day.We were a little disappointed that it was so wet and cloudy on our day to spend in this beautiful paradise (Zion) until a local person told us that rainy days are when the locals seek out the park because of 5 minute waterfalls. Because Zion is a canyon in the high desert, a rainfall brings waterfalls that may only appear for a short time and rain is infrequent around here. We were very lucky to see a few and later in the day they were gone even though it was still raining out.Zion is known for the color on these rocks, but in the rain they mostly appeared dark.
On several of our hikes we saw "hanging gardens", this one was filled with grass, ferns and columbines. The upper layers of the rock are made of sandstone which will absorb water and when this water reaches lower and harder layers it will seep out of the rock forming "weeping walls". The water from one weeping wall has been carbon dated to 1,200 years old so it is a long process coming through the rock.
From the Temple of the Sinawava, we also hiked the riverside walk to the Narrows. This area was really pretty.
The next photo is for my kids, Heidi & Justin and Ashley & Cory, we taught all of them "the vacation kiss" photo. It has been a tradition for J & I and we absolutely loved the video Jayme put together with music of all the kisses over the years for our 25th anniversary - we have 7 more years to add to the next video now. A family from NC asked us to take a photo of them at this spot and asked if we would like a photo in return, I said yes, we would like a "vacation kiss" shot and explained the tradition. The couple thought it was such a wonderful thing to do they immediately asked us to take a photo of them kissing. All you readers out there...GO FOR IT! I don't usually wear a hat but had to buy one in the gift shop to keep the rain out of my eyes. This one actually said Utah Rocks, hence the title of several more posts.
More waterfalls were seen on the hike to the Emerald Pools.
Late afternoon brought several breaks in the rain/clouds so we actually could see more color in the rock face.
The second day we woke to clear skies above and low hanging clouds in the moutains that quickly disappeared.

It was hard to believe that these beautiful colors had appeared so dark the day before.
We spent another half day at the park enjoying the beauty around us.
Checkerboard Mesa named for it's checkboard patterned sides.
I hope you enjoyed this peak into Zion, we sure did. When you are used to flat, farmland...Utah Rocks!