A New Adventure

      A few weeks ago, Jamal suggested  that we go away for the weekend. I am so glad we did. I had spring break a couple weeks ago for school and Jamal had some PTO he could use. We decided to go to St. George for the weekend since I had never been there and there is a lot to do.
       For our first stop we went to Snow Canyon State Park. We enjoyed hiking around the park, getting tons of sand in our shoes, and  finding little slot canyons and caves to crawl and sit in. The best thing about it was that there was no one there, so it seemed like we had the whole park to ourselves. Below are some pictures of our adventures.

     Next, we went to Zion's National Park. It was amazing! I've never seen so much red rock in my life! We hiked lower, middle, and upper emerald pools. All the trails lead to one another. After hiking lower and middle, we started to hike upper. It was SUPER steep! The trial information guide had said that it was more intense than lower and middle but it didn't seem like it was supposed to be this bad. We were hiking up rocks, getting scratched by bushes,  and I wanted to give up. Jamal kept encouraging me to keep going. Finally, when we were almost at the top of the mountain, we realized we had taken the wrong trail. What we were on wasn't a trail at all, we'd just taken a random course. I was scared because I was worried about getting down since it had been so hard to get up. Jamal was great. He went first and then helped me all the way down. We finally made it to the REAL upper emerald pools trail and hiked it. After that, we hiked the Grotto trial. We had planned on ending after this.
     When we got down, Jamal saw a sign- "Angel's Landing 5 miles ->." He got really excited. We hadn't planned on hiking Angel's Landing because I am scared of heights. I knew Jamal really wanted to, so I decided to hike it with him. It was definitely a hard hike! However, the beautiful scenery and view helped to make the hike go quicker.
      Finally, we were at the top and ready to hike Angel's Landing. For those of you who don't know, angel's landing is a hike where there is a sheer drop off on the side and you hold onto a chain to keep yourself from falling. I had done the entire hike but I didn't want to do the chain part. Jamal convinced me to try it. We started and got partway there and then I freaked out. My fear of heights overcame me and we had to climb down. I felt bad because Jamal really wanted to do it, but he said he was fine and was supportive of my decision to stop. Even though I didn't climb the chain part, I felt proud of myself that day. We hiked over 8 miles straight up rocky mountains, something I've never done. It may be easy for some but it wasn't for me. Even so, I'm glad I did it.

on the wrong "Upper Emerald" path

Jamal leading the way to the correct path

on the trail leading to Angel's landing

the view from Angel's landing - it was beautiful!

view from top of Angel's landing

read the caption

Angel's landing hike. See the chain? That's why I had to get down! 

On Saturday, it was my birthday. We celebrated by going shopping at the outlets in St. George and then going to dinner that night. It was a great day spent with my love. 

On Sunday before we headed out, we decided to stop at some church sites. First we visited the St. George temple and visitor's center. It was BEAUTIFUL! Did you know that the temple is actually red rock underneath? Who knew! Did you also know that the Salt Lake Temple took 40 years to build while the St. George temple took only 4? St. George was easier because of the sandstone. 

After the temple, we went to the Tabernacle. It was amazing to see the craftsmanship of the people who built it. They had very few tools but were able to make something that is incredibly beautiful. Every single prophet has visited it except for 2. 

Our last stop was the Brigham Young home. Brigham Young had rheumatoid arthritis and came to St. George during the winter time to escape from the cold. The home was also very beautiful. It was neat to think that Brigham Young had once stood in that building and to feel his presence there. 

Even though we got to do so many fun things, my favorite part of the vacation by far by spending 4 days with Jamal. It was SO nice to forget about school and work and just enjoy ourselves and get away for a couple days. I am so grateful we took the time to do so. We've decided that we'd like to keep going on little get-aways every once in a while. 

So my question for you is... any suggestions? Where should we visit next?