Playing in Pittsburgh

Turns out Pittsburgh is pretty much the perfectly placed meet up locale for a long weekend rendezvous with your Michigan BFFs. Gabi and Nick met up with me, AJ and Wes for about 60 hours of mostly non-stop fun. There was some sleeping in there, but also a trip to the science museum (and everyone who isn't me's first laser show!), a day at the (ball)park, some awesome flat backyard astroturf soccer practice, a trip up the funicular, some awesome VRBO-cooked dinners and, of course, ice cream! (not pictured, but definigtely consumed). Thanks to Zara for holding down the homefront with Zelda for the weekend.

Snow Canyon State Park

We packed a lot of fun into the last day of our trip, and only some of it is pictured here.

We slept in a bit and said goodbye to our tiny house, stopped for some coffee and breakfast treats at this little shed in the parking lot of the local gas station, and then made our way to St. George, UT. We had some crazy fusion tacos for lunch, then spent some time trekking around Snow Canyon State Park. Depsite its name, this was probably one of the least snowy places we visited all week! Some cool highlights included a lot of pertrified sand, some old lava tubes, and just a great amount of varation in scenery over a 4 or so mile circuit hike. We finished up mid-afternoon and began our time zone jumping back towards Vegas, where we'd be flying out on the red eye. AJ fell asleep in the car, and so in a nod to the olden days when we'd spend considerable amount of time sitting in a car with a sleeping child, we drove through a Starbucks and found a shady spot to park in. As dinner time was approaching, we made our way to the Vegas arts district (we saw the strip from a distance but were avoiding it like the plague). AJ woke up just as we were parking, STARVING, so we popped into the first decent looking restraunt nearby which had a ridiculously long wait considering it looked half full? Reservations, I guess?

So with good will fading fast and crankiness amping up, we walked into a decent looking brew pub on the next block. Seemed like a reasonable menu, everyone found something they liked, but when we went to go find a table, they seemed largely reserved... for some sort of Purdue alumni gathering? Turns out we had acidentally "crashed" the Purdue v Michigan playoff game... whoops! Also hilarious since we couldn't care less about basketball, but we do have a fondness for the Maize and Blue... who were totally kicking Purdue's butt. So that was fun to slyly cheer for as we ate our burgers and GIANT soft pretzels. Found decent ice cream near by, walked around a bit then dropped the rental car back at the airport, made our way through security - AJ has TSA precheck from travelling with my parents last year, so they very bravely cleared security on their own while Wes and I went the "normal" route.

We arrived at the gate in plenty of time to sit around for a while and gather some last minute snacks. I think this is the flight we ended up in the exit row, swapping with some non-exit row able passenegers. We also took advantage of free gate checking since the flight was once again full, so less stuff to schlep around the airport with us. Flight back was a bit longer because we had to fly around some weather, also bumpier due to said weather, but everyone was a champ and survived. Landed at Dulles, retrieved Ivy, charged her up and got some coffee and breakfast snacks and made our way back to C'ville. Wes was so tired from not really sleeping on the flight that I actually drove the 2nd half of the trip home, so you know it was bad ;) Arrived back to a very happy Zelda and everyone took naps. WOOT!

Water Canyon

So Thursday started out pretty chill, but with the worst of the incoming weather slated for the afternoon we didn't sleep in too late because we wanted to get a hike in. The day before Whit, our canyoneering guide, had regaled us with tales of a really cool, close to us and also kinda off the beaten path hike at Water Canyon. So that was our destination today. We had a quick breakfast, packed some snacks and made our way to the trailhead, which wasn't hard to find but you had to drive on some pretty dodgy roads and Naomi aka Nay, the rental nissan maxima, was not a fan. Wes had done a little pre-search so we knew a bit about the hike, and that there was a 2nd parking lot (with the unbiquitous extremely decent pit toilet) closer to the trail head, so we were not lured afield at the first lot. Also, BIG shout out to Joe's Guide to Zion National Park for being everything AllTrails isn't. I mean, someitmes Alltrails is really all you got, but Joe's guide is FANTASTIC and the photography is stunning.

All of this is to say we had somewhat of an idea about the hike, but the trail's not really blazed though the path is generally not too difficult to follow, and most little forks come back to the main trail. I think we took a "wrong" turn once or twice but generally it's a "go up" kind of hike. The hike was lovely (and a bit chilly) but we didn't stop much since the skies were getting darker and we were really hoping to make "Top Rock" before the snow? sleet? rain? hit in earnest. While we weren't too concerned with flooding, there was also a bit of a waterfall you had to kinda climb up/over/next to, and if we were to get A LOT of rain quickly, that situation might have turned messier than we were really prepared for. So, we pushed forward, and had a lovely hike with magnificent (if overcast) views... but just as we were asking ourselves, for the 5th time in 10 minutes, "is this rock Top Rock?" it started to rain.

We figured it was nature's way of hurrying us back along with our day, so we turned around and walked back down. Things were definitively slippier on the return + rain trip, but we kept 3 points of contact (and our wits!) about us. People were also getting hungry/cranky/slightly concerned for our marginally questionable choices, but we all made it out of the canyon safe and sound and only kinda wet. I think lunch was some combo of leftovers and maybe some of that fab grocery store sushi/poke we've been enjoying, it's been a few months so I don't exactly recall. We were planning, assuming the rain wasn't too torential, a trip to St. George and the climbing gym there, but AJ wanted a nap and I had some work to do, so we ended up having some more chill downtime, watching the rain fall at the tiny house, etc. Dinner was, I believe, some above adequate Thai food (not a lot above, but definitely better than average) and then a stop at DQ for some Blizzards. We went to bed on the earlier side (after more Elementary, I'm sure) because it was going to be our last decent sleep for a while since we were taking the red eye home the following evening....

Lambs Knoll Canyon

Today's adventure started with a pre-dawn wake up. Even with the various time changes (we've been bopping between time zones and there was that whole daylight savings time thing) which should work in our favor, it felt SO early. But AJ was more or less a trooper, and somehow we made it to rendezvous with our guide, Whitney, at 7:30. Yes, AM. UGH.

None of us had been canyoneering before, and really only Wes had been rapelling some, but with even the smallest of outdoor climbing backgrounds (that would be me, everyone else has more and is better!) we picked it all up pretty quickly. We ended up tackling 5 rappels of between 20ish and maybe 80 something feet in length? A few were just kinda fun and to change levels/locations within the canyon, but the others actually put us into a slot camyon we then had to climb back out of in anotehr direction. That was probably the coolest, since it was a space we really couldn't have accessed easily otherwise, and dropping in from above was an awesome perspective shift. Whit was great and had lots of good stories to share, and taught us some new little tricks. Her one extremely corny raft guide phrase she still keeps in her back pocket was about "using the facili-trees" and I jave voweed to keep that one going this summer at camp. We wrapped up our adevnturing around 11-something which was good because some rainy weather was incoming and we had specifically gone out earlier in the day to try and avoid the bad weather.

By now we were in need of some lunch and COFFEE so we headed to River Rock Roasting Company (say that 3 times fast) which has both! And also a nice view of the Virgin River off the patio. If you're ever in La Verkin, definitely stop by. The afternoon was pretty chill, with AJ needing a NAP after the early AM. I took advantage of the down time to get a little work done, too, and spend some quality time with my book. We kinda meant to go out on a wee small afternoon hike, but couldn't quite get it together so just Wes and I (AJ was still sleeping?!) took a walk in the neighborhood that adjoins our tiny house village.

We grabbed dinner in the next state/time zone with a return to Colorado City, AZ and a visit to Edge of the World Brewery. Wes and I shared a nice flight of local brews, and we all enjoyed some very tasty sandwiches and salads. Of particular note, they had fries that were kinda like steak fries in format, but very thin, almost like thick cut potato chips. I had never had that particular aspect ratio of fries and it was surprsingly delicious. Crunchy, but still a bit potato-y inside too. I'm pretty sure we got some seni-ridiculous desert - like some big fresh-baked cookie and ice cream situation - but I can't say exactly what... well, actually i think I just did. We were too tired to really do much else, but did watch an episode of Elementary to close out the evening.

Zion National Park

Our +1 we picked up on the trail

We played this trip a little bit by ear (ok, a lot) because a)weather was a bit dodgy and b) one of the hikes we wanted to do (in Zion) is permitted on a quarterly lottery system (which we did not enter, since when this current quarter's lottery happened we had no idea we would be in Utah for spring break!) OR a day before permit lottery. My plan was to enter the lottery every day that might work for us, so we entered Sunday (for a monday hike, but alas no joy) and then again on Monday before heading out to Bryce Canyon. While we were at Bryce and I had a spot of cell service I noticed a $9 charge on my credit card, which happens to equal the $3/person fee for an Angels Landing permit... but not enough cell service to actually read my email at that point. Suffice to say, we got a permit so our Tuesday plan was set!

Zion is a big time national park, but it also turns out to be fairly short on parking and after the first week in March you need to take the shuttle to get to out hike, and hence need to leave the car somewhere. The permit was also for entry onto the West Rim trail (which leads to Angels Landing) between 9am and noon, so we had a bit of a timeline we needed to follow. We woke up pretty early, had breakfast at the TinyHouse, packed snacks and some lunch adjacent foods, and headed into Springdale. Sources varied as to what time Zion NP parking wiuld be filled and we'd need ot park in town, but we are in the shoulder season so it really wasn't *that* crazy. We stopped by yet another grocery store that has an even better hiker-focused set of to-go options and procured the last bit of our lunch plan. Parked in the main parking lot by the visitors center, and even had enough time to get second breakfasts/coffee before we set out on our shuttle and to our hike.

The hike was surprisingly busy, though maybe I shouldn't have been surprised bsed on the crowds at Bryce the day before - it is spring break for lots of people, after all. Speaking of, we've seen several UVA folks on this trip, so that's been fun. But i guess since this is a more substantial, "strenuous" hike I thought maybe it wasn't for everybody. You can continue on to Scout's Landing w/o a permit, so there were definiteoly more people hiking than had permits. The first 2ish miles were mostly uphill at various pitches, but not really hard, just kinda unrelenting. When we got to the no hikers beyond this point who don't have permits, there were 4 rangers checking permits (an actual list!?) and also a pair of nesting condors hanging out in the area.

The hike out along the spine of Angels Landing has chains in many parts, but nothing felt especially dicey. Probably some snowy/slippy bits or just the sheer number of times you need to yield for 2 way traffic were the biggest issues, but from a difficulty stand point it wasn't as hard as I expected. I also realized we're pretty comfy with outdoor heights in our fam, a lot of people seemed ot be getting freaked out by the drops off the sides. We ended up "adopting' a teen hiker whose dad and brother opted out in the first 20 feet. we never caught their name (how funny is that?) but they were from Minnesota and around the same age as AJ. You can see them, in the blue long sleeve, in one of the pics above.

We had a leisurely and tasty lunch at the top, there's lots of room to spread out and hang considering how bottlenecked the half-mile of chains can be. There were some very agressive chipmunks who really wanted to share our lunch, but we heeded the millions of signs (and all of our previous experience) and did NOT feed the wildlife. I figured the trek back down along the chains might be a little bit worse, but it was also fine - just slow due to 2 way traffic. Once we were back on the "main" trail, that hike down was a bit miserable due, again, to the incline. Tt was just the perfect pitch to really box your toes and required several boot adjustments. AJ's knees were bothering them some too, and it was starting to get something like "hot" and there were a bunch of obnoxious college students RUNNING and SCREAMING their was down so this stretch was NOT the funnest part. We made it back to the shuttle stop, filled up the water bottles, and then took the bus to the Zion Human History Museum for a little visit and rest. After some time lollygagging there and checking out the exhibit, we boarded the shuttle back to the VC, and this time there were a bunch of college-aged boys who were all sleeping on their walking sticks (or each other). Based on their dry bibs and such, they looked like alums of the Narrows hike (would love to do it next time!) and it clearly plum tuckered them out!

The day concluded with ice cream, then a stop by Zion Adventures to set up a canyoneering trip for the following morning. With the details of that settled, and the knowledge we'd be meeting our guide Whitney at the literal crack of dawn the next day, we called it a night and grabbed take out from Lonny Boy's BBQ in Hurricaine.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Looks like I'm just being cool and wearing my Chacos at the visitor center because I totally brought my hiking boots so of course I'll just change when we get to the trail. Right?

Yeah, not so much. Apparently today's the day I forgot my boots. Wes might have forgotten his Chacos, too, but considering there was snow on the ground and a bunch of MUD everywhere I think I win the prize for the oops today.

But actually, it turned out fine. We received some extreme words of wisdom from the ranger at the visitors center in terms of hiking direction, so we climbed UP the steeper and slippier leg of the trail (most people seemed to start down that one, and you could tell when you met them in the base of the ampitheater because their bodies (or maybe just their butts?) we're covered in mud. A lot of slipping on the way down.

But I am getting ahead of myself. We started the day with 2nd breakfasts at Sweet Sage Coffee Co. in Colorado City, Arizona, which is an hour time difference from both out TinyHouse in Utah and our eventual destination of Bryce Canyon (also in Utah) so we're just all kinds of confused on time here. Also I apparently missed it, but a real cowboy (spurs on boots? real boots? chaps? hat?) stopped by for a latte while we were hanging. This stop was also strategic b/c there was Wifi and AJ was finishing up something for their Physics class since the mod was ending and they missed some school due to an unfortunate and ill-timed bout of norovirus. But as is often the case, I digress....

We wound our way through some extreme NOTHING in Arizona and then back to Utah, this time Kanab which was cute. We stopped for some lunch things at a grocery store - the prepared/take it away sandwiches and salads and sushi etc has been pretty impressive in these little towns, presumably we're not the first hikers to think of this plan. We eventually made our way to Bryce (this was the longest drive of the trip, more or less, save the Vegas of it all) where we at our lunch overlooking the ampitheater and the snowcapped hoodoos. We did the requiste hike down into the canyon - AJ will tell you, since they worked on the Bryce Jr Ranger badge, that it's not really a canyon because a canyon has a river flowing through it, and Bryce does not! - explored a bit and hiked back up and out, and then along the rim trail a ways. It was somewhere between 4 and 5 miles (but who's counting) and definitely enough to give us a feel for the park.

There were some theatrics with trying to get the mud off of our boots (or ya know, Chacos) but we did our best and piled into the car for thr 2 hour ride back to the TinyHouse. AJ promptly fell asleep, of course, and since we didn't realy have a dinner plan we stopped in Kanab at the Rocking V Cafe which turned out to be eclectically excellent. Reccomend it for sure if you find yourself in Kanab. A lovely dinner and some yummy dessert was had by all, and we made our way back to the TinyHouse and fell promptly into bed.

Valley of Fire State Park

See? Trails are just a state of mind out here....

So much sand.... it's like the glitter of the natural world?

First stop/hike on our trip to Southern Utah (via Vegas, so things in SE Nevada are totally fair game) was Valley of Fire State Park. A quick scan of the map did not yield a loop hike in the 3-5 mile range, so we consulted our old friend/nemesis AllTrails and found a lovely figure 8 that was built out of 2 of the more popular hikes in the park. Seemed pretty ideal?

Lesson #1: just because a group appears to have been coming from where you think you are going on a loop, don't trust them... especially when they say things like "I thought this was only a mile, we've walked more than 2 miles now..." etc. Suffice to say, we parted ways with the slightly more formal trail (it's really just a bunch of rocks, what even is a trail??) and in an attempt to get back onto what we thought was the trail we ended up at a nice picnic area (with pit toilets, which are EVERYWHERE around here!) and took the opportunity for some lunch. At this point, we were able to get back on some actual trails, but then our figure 8 ended up more like a Möbius strip and we walked the same chunk of trail 3 or 4 times in the service of getting to all the other parts of our loop-de-loo.