To Zion

When last you read about our heros, they were leaving the Four Corners and had stopped for coffee near Lake Powell. Yes Marylandmom, we agree that it would be fun to rent a house boat for a week...as long as I have some meclizine. I tried to nap while Rick sang to Billy Joel for at least an hour and a half straight. We got to Zion and set up camp in time to take the 90 minute shuttle bus tour. We were lucky enough to enter from the east entrance which has some of the most dramatic views of the park according to our guide book. Before we even hit the park we stopped and took some photos of bison at a little roadside store.
If you ever get to Zion, I strongly recommend taking the shuttle trip first. The drivers talk about all of the different hikes and their level of difficulty. Of course, we had already decided to hike Angel's Landing. We also decided to do the Emerald Pools loop and take a look at the Weeping Rock if we had a chance. So we went to sleep and were woken up by a young guy from the next campsite when he walked over and said "Hey, Stop Snoring," to Rick. I was SLEEPING right next to Rick. I know he snores, but COME ON. We both slept like crap after that.
So we woke up, packed lunches and took the shuttle to The Grotto which is the stop for the West Rim and Angel's Landing trails. You have to do West Rim before you can start Angel's Landing. Apparently, there is a debate about whether or not "regular people" should be allowed to make this climb/hike. I'm proud to say that this was the second time I made the hike and Rick was able to do the whole thing. We both went up and came back down, although the going was slow and there were plenty of water breaks. My legs were shaking several times from fear more than strain I think. I didn't remember how scary it was. We were good and started in the morning, but by the time we were coming down it was afternoon and the sun just baked us the whole way back to the shuttle. We ended up sitting at the shuttle stop drinking water for about 15 minutes. Then we went to the cafe and drank water and ate ice cream for about an hour. We dragged ourselves into town to take showers and eat an early dinner. We were in bed by 8 I think. We didn't have energy for anything else. I might have been able to keep going if I wasn't the one carrying the approx. 20 pound backpack filled with water bottles. Either way, that was one hell of a hike. Rick says this is the hardest hike he has ever done. We were super happy that today was a day full of mainly driving.
Although this post says that it was done by Rick. This was actually Mandy...just in case you couldn't tell by the writing style.