July 15 Saturday Zion National Park

Dave and I both woke up early.  It had cooled down to 79 by this morning.  Still warm, but not as oppressive as last night.  We had breakfast and the girls and I walked over to the shuttle while Dave stayed here trying to catch up on his sleep.  Our first stop was the Grotto, which was a disappointment because it was just a picnic area so we took the 1/2 mile hike back to the Lodge and boarded the shuttle again.  This time we stopped at The Weeping Rocks and took the hike up.  The girls loved this area as they could stand under the overhang and have large, cold drops of water hit them on the head.  It actually felt good to get wet.  I took a before and after shot of them near the wall of rock.  They did get pretty wet.  We took the shuttle back to the Visitor Center and picked up their Junior Ranger books and then walked across the pedestrian bridge to get more ice for the cooler.  It doesn't last long in 100+ degree heat.  We walked back to the campground and made lunch.  After cleaning up, we all (Dave too) got back on the shuttle and went to the last stop.  The girls wanted to walk in the Narrows.  Actually you walk in the river through the Narrows.  The water felt great - quite cold - especially since the temp was 106 this afternoon.  I wimped out at one point as with my terrible depth perception, I couldn't tell if I was about to step on a rock or into a hole.  I sat on a rock at the side of the river while Dave and the girls walked/swam on.  They walked a ways into the Narrows through the river surrounded on both sides by steep cliffs.  Dave finally got out and walked along the bank while the girls floated down the river toward me.  I heard them coming long before I spotted them as I could hear the giggles and laughter from around the bend.  Ella must have caught a good current as her shorts were around her ankles by the time she got to me.  After more laughter, the girls were able to get to the opposite bank where Dave was and then they came back to help me across.  It felt good to walk back to the shuttle in sopping wet clothes!  We stopped at the Lodge for cold drinks and then headed on back to camp.  The girls were starving so we had an early dinner: spaghetti with meat sauce and sour dough bread.  The girls are writing in their journals and working on their JR books.  We'll probably play cards again tonight and may or may not go to the ranger talk tonight as the girls seem pretty tired with all of the exercise they had today - both hiking and swimming.  Unfortunately, I have no pics of the Narrows as we left the cameras locked in the truck rather than have them fall in the river.  The other two pics other than the before and after of the girls is a trumpet type flower in our campsite (seems to have some sort of green squash growing under the leaves) and the sunrise on the cliffs across from our tents.