Great, Grand, Magical Part II

Let’s see, so much has transpired in the last few weeks…. I left off with the first taste of the magic in Zion National Park. Man, it feels good to reflect on simpler times, right? A whole 3 weeks ago! We stayed at Watchman’s Campground, just inside the southern park entry. Again, this place is magical. From the campground we could ride our bikes to the visitor center, and then across the Virgin river into the town of Springdale where everything was available. And we did just that for an entire day during our stay, soaking up the quaint and tactful accommodations.

We also jumped as head first into the park as we could with a 6 and 3 year old. We found ourselves visiting the park at the most perfect time. Zion has a shuttle-bus system within the park to control the flow of visitors’ vehicles during peak season that begins March 15th. We were there just before that time, so we were able to visit our desired sites at our leisure within our own vehicle. We had perfect weather to boot. Crisp mornings with sun soaked afternoons, comfortable in t shirts.

What a cool place to just spend a couple chill days!

We drove north with our first stop being the “Court of the Patriarchs”. Three peaks that loom over the Virgin river in all their majesty. This back drop was certainly inspiring, however I knew we had to get up in this canyon to feel the true grandeur. This lead us on a drive as far north as you can take a vehicle to “The Narrows” trail. The first part is a 1 mile paved path to the true entrance of the The Narrows slot canyon. We chose to walk part of it along the sandy border of the river. Truly a one-of-a-kind place that instantly lifted our chins to take in the scenery around us. With two little ones and no dry suits, we were left with only a peak into “The Narrows”. Honestly, a pretty big let down for me. I am sure Faith sensed this as she spoke up first, and said; “Daddy, when we are older and we come back, I am definitely going to put on one of those cool suites and hike down there with you.” We pinky-promised on that one.

Our peak into the narrows left me wanting more!

Still early in the day, with our lunch packed in the backpack, we decided to really feel the earth beneath us by hiking to the Upper Emerald Pools. This hike was a 3.5 mile out-and-back with a fair ascent. The kids, again, did extremely well (having already done 2 miles of walking) hiking up to the pool. In contrast to the stunning views of the canyon on the way up and back, the pools were a little less remarkable, yet fun for us to take a break and enjoy our lunch. I stick to my comment made to Leah on our trek back down, that this was most likely the most beautiful hike I have ever been on. Zion, you are truly remarkable, and I plan on seeing you again, getting to know you even more personally.

The magnificence of this place can only be described as magical!

Although challenged, the kids really did stay strong, and I know they felt the magic as well.

Given our Bowen Arrow set-up was too large to make it through the Mt. Caramel-Zion tunnel, we had reserved our stay at Watchman for 5 nights, planning on driving just Bowen through the tunnel on the way to Bryce Canyon National Park. We reserved two nights at a cabin just outside Bryce to allow us ample time to visit this park. The drive out of Zion was even more crazy than the one in! An engineering feet of switchback pavement lead us to the mile long tunnel. The truck, Bowen Brutus, being too wide, we had to purchase a special permit to allow us entry through the tunnel. I was really hoping for an escort vehicle donning a “wide load” sign to lead us through the tunnel. Unfortunately, their system is a bit more refined with walkie-talkies and a baton system, so traffic was stopped and we were allowed to drive over the double yellow line through the tunnel – but that still felt special.

Once exiting the tunnel, we found ourselves driving through a completely different terrain of windswept rock formations. Truly remarkable how quickly the scenery changed. The rest of the drive to Bryce was fairly uneventful, with a stop at one of the many special rock/souvenir outposts. While Zion seemed hustling and bustling, we soon found ourselves in “out-of-season” territory. The area around Bryce, and the NP itself experiences quite a different winter as it is surprisingly high in elevation. This was fine by as us as we had little trouble with volume of tourists.

Our one-room cabin was very quaint and the kids absolutely loved it. However, we aren’t used to sleeping in the same room together, so our rest was left lacking the next day. Fisher slept in a bed with me, and Faith “slept” in a bed with Leah. Knowing the forecast was 70 degrees in Zion and 45 in Bryce for the next day, we decided to do our hiking through Bryce and then head back to Zion, cutting our time in Bryce by one night.

This was a great call, and still allowed us to experience the other worldliness of Bryce canyon. We checked out the major lookouts, and then parked at Sunset point to hike the Queen’s Garden/Navajo loop trail. We were warned the trail would be very muddy, slick, and most likely icy in several spots along the trail. Leah and I decided to wear our crampons for traction, which turned out to be a good call for at least the start of the trail. We began the hike in our down jackets and knit hats, with the kids on our backs, so traction was a must. The hike took us through some supremely unique territory with hoodoos looming all around us. The sun blazed a welcome warmth for us, however that meant we needed the backpacks to hold the extra layers and not the kids. Plus the steep ascent out of the canyon demanded the kids do most of the hiking out. Leah and I are nowhere near the shape we used to be in. So…out came a steady flow of “hiking vitamins” just to get the kids to take the next step forwards. In the end we all made it out, and were grateful for the experience, and again, massively proud of our kids for hanging in there to accomplish what we asked of them.

The hike into the hoodoos begins!

This is what they mean by earning your stripes, kids!

The next day was a much-needed break from hiking which we spent hanging out by the river and enjoying Springdale on our bikes. The following day we headed out of Zion en route to Provo, Utah. Along this drive we passed by Nephi, UT where by Dad and I spent our first night together on our cross-country travel early last summer during our move from Oregon to begin this trip. It was also on this drive that Fisher and I had to find some cows to yell at (see “Yelling at Cows).

I chose Provo, UT as a stopping point for two nights as it was a perfect driving distance for my clan heading north of Zion. It was also a great jump off point to another epic hike to Fifth Water Hot Springs. Put the google images of this location together along with my affinity for natural hot springs, you know why I made this a must stop location. Unfortunately, we learned of some hurdles including a closed access gait which we would have to find a way to either hike or ride our bikes 2 extra miles to the trail head, and a very firm ice pack layer requiring carrying the kids and crampons an additional 3 miles just to get to the springs…. Dang it. Not gunna happen. Not after what we asked the kids to do in Zion and Bryce. So I sacrificed this adventure, and like an understanding father, spent a day in a noisy, kid-packed indoor water park. It was a very cool water park, within the Provo Recreation and Fitness center. The fee was nominal, and the kids (and I did, too) had a blast going down some pretty legit water slides and mimicked cliff jumps.

Our next night was spent in Twin Falls, ID. Again, another perfectly timed spot allowing us to continue our travels, yet not completely wear everyone out. We were able to drive, pretty much right up to, Shoshone Falls. These falls are labeled as the “Niagra of the West”. They were pretty awesome, and I am sure when the snake river becomes swollen with spring rain and snow melt, they just roar.

We found a nice, calm park along the Snake River in Homedale, ID, just west of Boise. It was in the middle of a very agriculturally rich area of Boise that, over the last few years has turned much of its attention to growing hops and wine grapes. We took our time here, not doing much more than playing with the kids, and visiting a winery to taste the local goods. Leah purchased what she said was the best chardonnay she has ever had.

I now need to pause and talk about timing. Timing of events or choices in life. It seems to me most of these are either labeled as “the worse timing” or “perfect timing” when reflected upon. Up to this point in our life, things have worked out pretty well for Leah and I, really having not run into a poor timing of anything. However, I firmly believe it is the perspective and flexibility we have in life as we manage it, yet let God do the true planning.

You see, this whole time since we left Tucson, we were still on the search for our next working location. It was Leah’s turn to work the next location and somewhere around January we circled Washington State as a cool place to spend the spring, and would allow us the chance to explore new territory on the way back to spending summer in Indiana. Through the end of January and into February, Leah did her due diligence in gaining her license to practice in Washington (not a quick process in this state), and our recruiters went to work finding options of work locations. We narrowed down the desired locations as Spokane area, or possibly Puget Sound. A few jobs in the areas actually came up, but we were very surprised to find the job postings were demanding start dates of “ASAP” instead of the usual 2-4 week lead time. We just were unable, or unwilling as we did not want to miss out on the epic adventure just described, to start as soon as the position demanded.

We had made Kennewick, WA our last planned stop as it timed out well, yet was also the fork in the road to head northwest toward Puget Sound, or northeast toward Spokane. It was March 11 as we drove in the the direction of Kennewick when Leah received a call from the recruiter telling her there was a job opening there. Our recruiter had no idea what our travel itinerary was or that we were even close to said job opportunity… it just timed out that way. We extended our stay in Kennewick by one night to allow Leah to actually interview in person and check out the facility – this never happens with travel jobs. Given the market as well as the world stage, we accepted the job with a start date of March 23. We promptly booked our extended stay at Columbia Sun, the nicest RV park in Kennewick at a very reasonable rate.

Put a few of those dates alongside the charts of the spread of the COVID-19 virus, it’s declaration as a National Emergency, and shutdowns beginning March 13th. It is incredible to think that had we left Tucson only two weeks later, we would likely have been denied entrance to the national parks, been unable to find open campgrounds, and more importantly, had an extremely difficult time finding an opening for a travel position. At first, we second-guessed our decision of working towards a Washington job, however this virus has proved so aggressive, no matter where we ended up, we would be in the same situation.

Since Leah’s job did not start for another week, we decided to conclude our month-long vacation/journey by exploring Puget Sound as we would likely not have another opportunity to make our way out there. We decided to make Anacortes, WA our base for exploring that part of the coast and islands. We had some great luck with weather, again, and really enjoyed being out of high desert and back in the evergreen Pacific Northwest. A friend of mine from high school was even able to drive up from Seattle to visit us for a day! I also created the below brainchild during our stay in Anacortes…. A parody music video of “My Sharona” titled “Why Corona”. (feel free to share!)

During our stay in Anacortes, the COVID-19 situation escalated quickly. We are fortunate that our interests mostly involve exploring the remote outdoors so we were still able to paddle-board a secluded lake, hike around Deception Pass State Park, take the ferry to Friday harbor and bike around San Juan Island, and play on some gorgeous beaches.

A nice hike in Deception Pass State Park – the northwest forests are certainly special.

Venturing out to explore San Juan Islands and enjoying the sea air!

The Saturday before Leah’s first work day, we said goodbye to the ocean and refreshing rain forest climate and made our trek back to Kennewick, WA. In driving this route the week prior, we had encountered an unexpected snow storm resulting in a harrowing trip over the Cascades with no sight-seeing or pit stops. This time however, the weather was gorgeous and we took the opportunity to take in the new and beautiful scenery along the Cascades. This included a lunch stop at Snoqualmie Falls. We were pleasantly surprised to find the falls and the quaint town of Snoqualmie to be such hidden gems! We hope to take a weekend trip back there at some point when and if social distancing guidelines are lifted.

This brings us to our current set-up at Columbia Sun RV Park in Kennewick, WA which we plan to call home for the next few months. We are finding that big change happens almost hourly for us through work and the national and world stage. All we can do is what we can, and for most of us that will continue to look like staying at home and being patient until the pandemic is under control. Poor timing? Good timing? Depends on perspective. I am going to do my best to be present for my family and allow God’s timing to dictate our next move. While I we wait, please be praying for our nation and world. We will be!