Last Days at Zion...This Time

Sunday and Monday, our last two full days at Zion, were taken at a more relaxed pace.  On Sunday, we drove into Zion NP and stopped at Cafe del Soleil to enjoy some coffee, chai, and a couple of pastries.  It was a beautiful morning and a great place to sit outside.

We wanted to go back to Zion Lodge to look at some other t-shirts they had in their gift shop.  We moved the car to a place in the public parking lot in Springdale and discovered that from there, we could just walk right into the park.

We rode the shuttle back to Zion Lodge and while Chuck and I looked around in the gift shop, Ken and Bonnie enjoyed the views from the outside restaurant.

One last look at Angels Landing!

We rode the shuttle back to the entrance and before getting in our car, we all took in one last breath of Zion.  I think we will be back!  :)

After stopping at a couple of more shops, we drove out of the park and back towards Hurricane and then we headed up on I-15 to the Kolob Canyon entrance to Zion.

After arriving at Kolob Canyon, Ken and Bonnie remembered they had been to this part of Zion on their trip in 2010.  Kolob Canyon is another beautiful part of Zion National Park but is not as well visited yet.  When we stopped for a few minutes while Bonnie was on the phone checking on her dad, I found this little prickly pear cactus with a big pink flower.

We decided to drive all the way to the end of the road and eat our picnic lunch there and then stop for pictures on the way back.

Kolob Canyon is so beautiful and a place we would like to maybe do a little more hiking the next time we come to Zion.

With perfect weather, we had a leisurely lunch and thoroughly enjoyed our views.  On the way back down, we stopped to take one more picture.

On Monday, we both got caught up on laundry and began getting ready to leave the next day.  It was kind of a sad day because we knew it was going to be our last day together.  Chuck and I were going to start heading back to Tennessee and Ken and Bonnie were heading back to Pennsylvania because of her dad's health.  We went to lunch at a local Mexican restaurant that was very good.  And then, as we have been able to do every day while we have been at Hurricane, we enjoyed sitting outside and playing cards in the evening.

We have had so much fun these past 8 weeks together and seen and done some amazing things. Thank you so much, Ken and Bonnie, for allowing us to be a part of your southwest adventure and we are looking to many, many more adventures together in the future!