Together in Zion

Zion is one of my favorite national parks and I frequent there a few times each year. For our yearly "family vacation of a lifetime" we found a really nice cabin just east of Zion. We spent full, HOT day there starting with the Emerald pools. I've always considered that hike more of a Sunday stroll (in fact, I've done it as a Sunday stroll) but this time with the melting 95 degree weather and 11 kids under the age of 12, it seemed somehow longer.

When we reached the middle pools, we rested for a while and let the kids throw rocks in the water. Then everyone else decided to head back for lunch and Chris, Mike, Ryan, Katie and I continued on to the upper pools.

Though, not exactly "emerald" in color. The upper pools were exactly what I was looking for. A perfect place for the kids to play in the sand and gentle slope into the cool refreshing water. Chris, Ryan, Katie and I even climbed over to the base of the water fall and let it almost soak us.

After lunch, we took the shuttle up to the entrance of the Narrows. We couldn't enter the narrows because the water was flowing too fast, but we found some nice places to play in the freezing cold water.