My family is on our summer vacation, driving some of the Grand Circle to see Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and the Grand Canyon. We took my parents because it’s always been on my dad’s bucket list to see the Grand Canyon. We just left Zion and had the best time. We stayed at the Zion Lodge. This lodging in the only one in the park and I highly recommend it because it brought us closer to all of the hiking trails and because we are with my young kids and parents, it was so nice to have a place to take a break during the day.
Our favorite thing to eat at the lodge was the soft serve ice cream.
Every evening, deer would come to the front lawn and graze. This was one of the highlights for the girls.
Another highlight were the turkeys that came to the lawn in the morning. We brought a portable photo printer and every evening the girls print photos they had taken with their iPads and tape them into a memory book.
The hotel had rocking chairs in the front great for people, deer, or turkey watching.
Our first hike was to Emerald Pools trail. It was relatively flat and had waterfalls. We just had to walk across the street from the lodge to get onto the trail. This was the first hike the girls had ever taken and it was perfect.
It was amazing to be surrounded by gigantic sandstone and rock.
My mom isn’t into hiking but she was a good sport and I think she had a good time. My younger sister also came.
I think she had a good time.
The girls were much more into the animals and bugs on the trail then the actual hike.
My dad was really into hiking and seeing the different views of the sandstone and rock walls.
You feel so small in the canyon.
We took the Zion Canyon shuttle to get to the different hiking trails.
We took the shuttle to Big Bend because it was known to be a great spot to take photos.
And it was.
It provided a great backdrop for a family jumping photo.
Jumping photos never come out perfect but they look so fun.
After Big Bend, we went to Temple of Sinawava.
We started on the paved trail.
But the girls rather walk along the sand and stones next to the water.
This trail leads to the Zion Narrows, a network of difficult hiking trails to amazing views and trails in the water. This was too challenging for our group.
We took one last photo on our drive out as we ascended up the canyon walls.
The Dumpling Mama xo