Now is as good a time as any to talk about hotel living.  It's interesting what everyone has picked up on, and what we do and don't like about it.  Our little family has never stayed in so many hotels before; any trips longer than a week have been mostly staying at someone's house.  By now we're experts.

Poppy learned the first night that there is always a Bible in the nightstand drawer.  She learned this because she likes to open every drawer in the place, and what fun to find a book in one of them!  Now in every room she goes straight for the Bible drawer, takes it out, and totes it around the room officially.  How exciting to also find a Book of Mormon in the Utah hotel rooms!  She'd know that blue and gold book anywhere.  Hazel loves the breakfast.  We've mostly stayed in hotels with help-yourself breakfasts; I think Hazel has made herself a waffle almost every morning on this trip.  With plenty of syrup, whipped cream if there is some, and heaping loads of whatever else looks good.  We try to also get some fruit down everyone at breakfast.  Ginger has put herself in charge of shoes.  Her sisters waltz into the hotel room and kick their shoes off where they are sure to be tripped over.  Ginger collects all shoes and lines them up in pairs by the door.  She also puts all the coats in the closet, and helps me lay out the next day's outfits in a drawer.  

It would take a lot for me to complain about staying in hotels.  I don't have to clean, make the beds, do dishes, minimal laundry.  It feels like such a luxury, even in the budget accommodations we've had.  Granted, the pillows suck, you can hear through the walls, and I can't watch TV with the kids asleep.  And it's a pain to pack up and unpack every day.  But I am not complaining.  Not yet.  

Now.  After a hearty breakfast in the lodge, and packing up the car, we started to head out of Zion this morning.  As we turned east, Ed said definitively, "Well, we are now officially on our way home."  And that is just one of the many differences between how Ed and I think.  To him, we'd hit our western apex, and now, heading into the sun, we were on the way home.  To me, nuh-uh.  I'm on vacation until I start to see signs for Arlington, so no matter what direction we're headed, we are NOT headed home until there's nothing else we're going to do or see.  And that ain't today.

I did have to stop in the Visitor's Center just one more time to get the girls t-shirts for their Easter baskets.  I hadn't gotten them yesterday because I wanted to check out a couple shops.  Why are vacation t-shirts so ugly and lame?  I went back because I liked the Utah Rocks! shirts best.  Also some finger puppets for Ginger and Poppy, and some pioneer bar soap for Hazel.  Easter baskets are almost done!

We headed east out of the park, a different way than we'd come in.  My camera was packed in the back, so I didn't get any pictures of the drive, and I'm sad about that.  Canyonlands galore; one of the most beautiful drives of our trip so far - Highway 89 north to I-70 and then I-70 east to 191 and Arches.  Ed drove today, and I could have read my book, written postcards, napped, etc.  But all I did all day was stare out the windows in a trance, with my feet up on the dash.  So good for my soul.

But I was still entertained.  We've had some good audio books on this trip.  First we listened to How to Train Your Dragon, which we finished today and which was one of the best acted audio books I've ever heard.  Completely gripping for the whole family, especially since we've never read the book or seen the movie.  Then we tried some Tales of King Arthur I got from the library, but it skipped too much, so we started Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone today.  My girls have of course heard of Harry Potter, but they've never read the books nor seen the movies.  Vague idea it's about wizard stuff.  It was so fun to sit with them through those first chapters when Harry finds out he's a wizard, and starts to learn about the wizard world, and explore Diagon Alley.  They are entranced.  

We landed at Arches National Park around 3:30 p.m. and spend 2.5 hours doing the quick tour - main road plus a few viewpoints and short hikes.  We had to sacrifice quantity for quality, as all the girls wanted to do was climb, climb, climb.  We couldn't deprive them of such prime climbing opps.  I didn't even go in the gift shop.










At the top of this rock, Poppy took a deep breath, waved her arm out in front of her and said, "Mom!  Look at all these beautiful things!"  A 2-year-old's appreciation for an amazing view.



Poppy threw a tantrum on the way down from Delicate Arch viewpoint because Ginger has having a turn in the backpack.  She got even madder when I took a picture of her crying.  But then I picked her up and distracted her with Backyardigans talk.  She's a total junkie, and all it took was, "What are all the songs in Mission to Mars?" for her to start listing and singing them.  Bought me enough time to get back to the car, and she was asleep before we were out of the parking lot.



  We had NY-style pizza in Moab, a quick dip in the hotel pool, and off to bed.  Another FABULOUS day on the road.

Daily Report
Miles: 350
DVD: Prima Princessa Swan Lake
Activity:  Travel Connect Four
Poppy: magnetic farm tin
Snack: Pizza goldfish and cinnamon bears
High Point:  The fresh air and rock climbing at Arches.
Low Point:  It's a toss-up between losing Ginger at Zion Lodge after breakfast, and Poppy pooping on the sheets before going to sleep tonight.           

This was the most amazing day.  There are no words for the breathtaking vistas, views, canyons, rock formations, and arches in Zion National Park.  I took about 200 pictures today, and they are all perfect, even the ones taken from the car window.  I couldn't stop shooting.  

We stayed at Zion Lodge, which is the only non-camping accommodations inside the park itself.  It was dark when we checked in, so imagine my gasp when I opened the blinds this morning to see this:



And here was the view at the top:
Worth every step.

Now something to know about our girls is that they love rocks.  They love to collect them, throw them, and most of all climb them.  They are basically never happier than when climbing on big rocks.  Luckily we were able to do a ton of bouldering today.

We had lunch back at the lodge, then, to take advantage of the few hours of sunlight on the green, Ed played chase with the girls while I investigated the lodge gift shop.  Totally different stuff than the Visitor's Center and I had to check it out.  I was very conservative, and only got a few gifts, plus a super nice Tilley hat for Ed. 

In the afternoon we headed out to another hike - easier but longer: Riverwalk.  It followed the Virgin River  up this astounding narrow but high canyon, ending at a rocky sandbar, where, you guessed it, we threw rocks into the water.  They could have done it for hours.






We threw rocks for a long time, but eventually made our way back to the car, with lots and lots of rock climbing on the way.  I had to decide early in the day to not care what happened to their clothes.




We went into Springdale for dinner, a hoppin' joint called Oscar's Cafe.  The kids' menu offerings on the trip are getting tiresome, but we're doing what we can to get some variety and fresh food into them.  We had promised dessert - I forget now what the bribe was for - oh yeah, to get Ginger to go the distance on that last hike - so we walked down the street for ice cream cones.  On the way back I told the girls about a Food Network show I'd seen about a Haagen Dazs ice cream flavor competition, and we all made up flavors.  Hazel: triple fudge with vanilla and caramel swirls.  Ginger: baby ice cream called Bungaroo Cream - banana ice cream with different colored gummy candies in baby shapes like pacifiers and bottles.  Me: Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie ice cream - vanilla pudding ice cream with pieces of pastry crust, a thick fudge swirl, and tiny pieces of fresh banana; must be served with whipped cream.  It was a fun conversation.

We got back, bathed the girls, and they fell asleep very quickly.  It's been kind of fun running them ragged. I will say, they were adequately appreciative of the adventure today.  Many times they, especially Ginger, exclaimed how beautiful it all was, and thank you, thank you for this wonderful trip

This should have been the most exhausting day for me, too, on my feet hiking almost all day without much down time.  I found it strange that I was actually not as tired at 10 p.m. as I have been other days, and this was the first day in five or so that I haven't had a headache.  All day as I soaked in the views, I thought, being here is good for the soul.  I think it's been good for everything.

Daily Report
Miles: N/A
No surprise bag, not a travel day
High Point: Hazel & Ginger - everything.  Poppy - rock climbing.  Ed - Canyon Overlook hike.  Kari - Riverwalk hike.
Low Point: When we thought we'd lost Poppy.  We were on our way back on the Riverwalk, and Ed was rock climbing with the big girls.  I thought Poppy was with him on the other side, but he came around and asked where she was.  We looked all around, then up and down the trail in both directions, calling her name.  I ran along the trail and found her, around a bend, walking precariously along a stone wall, teetering with a 12-foot drop behind her, and smiling at me.  Luckily she lost her balance in favor of the trail, and I scooped her up and rocked her until my heart slowed down.  The look on my face had scared her, so she started to cry, and we just rocked and rocked. 
And for fun, here are just a few more pictures: