We literally fled our town the second school was out Thursday the 9th of June. We had been planning a trip out to Utah for the last month. My brother, Mike, and his family were going to be out from North Carolina to visit my brother, Chris, and my Dad. My Dad is living in Utah while he is being treated for colon cancer. We knew we could make the drive out for part of the time Mike and his family were there. We weren't sure about the location. Christopher and his family recently finished building a vacation rental home in the southern Utah town of Hurricane. They live closer to Salt Lake. Mike was flying in and out of Salt Lake but wanted to spend some time in St. George. We ended up settling on St. George. But we were going to need to book it south as soon as school got out. Lorien had finals the last few days of school and there was no rearranging her schedule so we couldn't skip out of school early.
So, Adell had a kindergarten graduation, Clare wrapped up 4th grade and Wyatt finished 6th. We all piled into the van and waited for Lorien to get home from the high school. The second she was with us we hit the road for our 9-10 hour drive to St. George. Of course, traffic was tricky in a few places and we had to stop for food so we didn't make it to Uncle Chris's house until about 2:00 am. But it was worth it!
Chris's vacation rental home is new, large and very comfortable. The kids had a blast checking out the pool with their newly reintroduced cousins. We haven't seen Uncle Mike and his family since the reunion in 2008. After a morning of catching up and swimming we all dressed in our hiking clothes and headed to a spot called Kanarraville Falls. It isn't officially part of Zion's National Park but it is close and has a lovely slot canyon hike.
There are several falls along the hike...most of it is through a little river. We hiked up through two sets of falls. The first one was very cool! Except, you had to scramble up a pretty sketchy ladder to get over the first falls. I wouldn't even call it a "ladder" it was a log with metal ties nailed into the wood. There was a disintegrating rope attached to the canyon wall with a newer rope competing for attention. I was mentally freaking out as we climbed up because I knew we would have to climb DOWN on the way back home. Terrifying.
The second set of falls were really fun. There was a rock slide down the falls that most of the kids tried out. The boys all tried it a couple of times. The water was cold and they were so brave.
And then, Will took Colter down on his lap. Colter was not as excited about trying out the slide as the big kids.
Lets just zoom in on his poor, scared face for a second.
Not pleased, not pleased at all.
After the second falls we turned around to head home. Apparently, there are quite a few more falls as you go up. We all had out paced Grandpa Davis, Aunt Colleen, Uncle Richard, Uncle Chris and Aunt Annette. We passed them just past the first falls on our way back. They went up the first falls and turned around too.
As we headed down the river, our big kids out paced us with the other adults. Will and I managed along with Colter and Adell as our companions. We were nearly finished with the hike and I stepped down a set of rocks in the water. I couldn't see what was under the water and I landed poorly on a rock twisting my ankle. Smooth move...
Will was super man and carried or supported me for the rest of the hike home while managing Colter and Adell too. We were all pretty tired by the time we got back to the cars. It was an impressive hike. Uncle Mike hung around with Clare and Lorien while we hobbled back down. The other big kids had gone back to the house with Aunt Erin and Catherine. Then we waited around for Grandpa Davis and his crew so we could have enough seats between the last two cars.
Back at the vacation rental it was time for more swimming and family fun. Uncle Mike and his family were planning on heading out the next morning. It was a short visit but worth every second.
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