National Parks

With residency behind us, we had just enough time for a short family vacation before Nick started his new job in Bismarck, North Dakota.  We kicked off the vacation with a brief stopover back at my parents house in Show Low, and then we headed north for a few days in some of America's most beautiful National Parks.  We started at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon,

 

 

which gratefully had more guardrails than the place we took Madison as a baby on the North Rim. The kids were pretty amazed by the views,

 

and we managed to snap this really great family picture from what appears to be the very top of the world.

 

Then the kids hiked and climbed around,

 

and drank a little fresh spring water to rehydrate.

 

Afterwards Spencer picked this lovely pizza place to eat at based solely  on the horse statue in the front parking lot.  Lucky for him, it turned out to be pretty good.

 

The next day we headed even further north and entered one of our favorite stomping grounds in southern Utah--Zion National Park.  The drive in was awesome, as always,

 

and then we thrilled the kids by taking a little hike to the weeping rock.

 

There was no time to make it to the Emerald Pools on this trip, but the next time we come back we'll have to be sure to work it into our schedule.