This trip has exhausted me in many ways but has made me appreciate the wonders Earth has for us.
5 / 20 : 𝓜𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓪𝔂We started out trip in Lake Forest, CA and drove through Vegas and made a quick pit stop at a small little diner off the freeway in the middle OF NO WHERE The Muddy River Bar & Grill was super cute with kind staff and two tv's that had jepordy playing. The bar section was small and there was an old man playing a gambling game until the diner closed. We caught them in time because they close at 2! The food was good and yummy! I had the Betty Burger I think it was a special that had BBQ sauce and onion rings in it and it was BOMB AF.
Our first Airbnb home was in Hurricane, Utah *cue Kevin reciting Pineapple Express*
- F O O D R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S:
- River Rock Roasting Co: this place was super good from breakfast to dinner this place offers quick and good food as well as coffee. You can enjoy your meal inside the cozy cafe or outside on their porch and overlook the Virgin River. Loved their pizza, beer, and breakfast.
- Stage Coach Grille: this restaurant is a little bit pricer but worth the money! They have a variety of food options. The table got BBQ ribs while I got the chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and veggies. (much needed after angels landing and two hour nap)
- as for other food, we actually had a lot of snacks: apples, cuties, nectarines, pears, beef jerky, granola, pb&j sandwiches we made in the kitchen WE WERE PREPARED!
5 / 21 : 𝓣𝓾𝓮𝓼𝓭𝓪𝔂
A N G E L S L A N D I N G:
Angels landing is not for the faint of heart, it's a strenuous 5.4 mile hike where you gain 1500 feet of elevation, but the view is totally worth it.
- quick tips: WEARING HIKING SHOES PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, too many people were wearing running shoes which is a really bad idea, they have no traction and the chain portion of the hike is very slippery.
- get a camelback backpack with at least 2 liters of water, you want to stay hydrated at all times. MAKE THAT PEE CLEAR
- take easy snacks, like I said, beef jerky high protein snacks like PB&Js and nuts to keep you going!
You take a shuttle from the visitors center and it will take you to the trail head. There is a bathroom there and there is one up at the base before the chains as well. Unfortunately I did not get many photos of the actual trail because we were on a mission, but also because my phone battery was acting pretty weird, but I CAN tell you what to expect.
- The trail will start off flat on a bridge over the Virgin River, then you'll start going uphill a little bit.
- The first challenging part will be the switchbacks, the snake-like trail will take you up the mountain. It is very steep and those who are afraid of heights...please don't look down... you can see the trail of people and the elevation gain already. It's best to keep trekking on. Take some breaks if you need to it is very steep and my butt cramped a couple of times LOL
- You'll then come back to a small flat part of the area, the trail became slightly enclosed with red smooth walls and sandy floors. There was also a stream running alongside the trail. The coolest part was the acoustics of nature. In this part of the trail, everything you say is echoed throughout the canyon, you can hear conversations of people behind you and up ahead. I had to ask my group to not make me laugh(as most of you know I cackle.)
- Once you're out of that little canyon you'll get to the next set of snakelike switchbacks. These are short but they are a lot steeper.
- At the base of the chains, there are porter potties, and there's supposed to be toilet paper but there wasn't. I had my own from our previous trip so I used that :) Here's where it gets crowded...seriously. Many people are sitting and relaxing eating their lunches; while others are waiting for the chains to open up again.
- THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER IS P A T I E N C E!! I cannot stress this enough please be patient and courteous, it's not that hard to be nice. The reason I say this is because the chain portion of Angels Landing is all one way. You basically have to wait for the one group to go up and the next group to come down when you're at the chain portion. There are portions were there is a rest stop so you don't have to wait forever it's just common courtesy to be on the lookout and see if a group is coming or even ask, "hey how big is the group let us know who's last so we can go." it's very simple and most of the time people will respond and it flows naturally.
- we had one guy completely screw the line over and he decided to go while everyone thought oh we should go too then and those people, funny enough, where the ones that had the most difficulty with the climb...sucks to suck.
- You're at the chains for at least another hour before you get to the summit. I KNOW, an hour?! but trust me you want to take your time, be courteous to other people, take breaks if you need to, the elevation gain is no joke.
- Once you finally get to the top it's the most spectacular view of the valley. The closest thing to this feeling was climbing to the top go half dome. Half Dome is a bigger defeat BUT this is a great beginner trail/climb.
5 / 2 2: 𝓦𝓮𝓭𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓭𝓪𝔂
Wednesday was a much calmer day, we expected rain but it didn't rain at all! Instead we were greeted with the sun and cool breeze. We went into Zion around 10-ish after getting breakfast with Kevins friends and there was absolutely no parking in the park. We parked outside the park for $20 and went in the pedestrian entrance and since we had a car pass for the week we didn't have to pay for anything extra. A lot of the trails were closed but that didn't stop us! We went to the Lower Emerald Pools and to the Canyon Overlook trail!
The lower emerald pools was a short and easy hike and really beautiful. The water falls into a small little pool and flowers grow on the side of the rocks and I found that very beautiful. Life surviving where it can.
We also stopped by the Museum in the park and it was fascinating; you can look at the history of the park from both the Mormon settlers side and the Native American side. I think this part of the park also has a hidden gem and it's in the back.
Here you can take a look at a few mountain peaks, The West Temple, The Altar of Sacrifice (my fav name tbh), Sundial, Beehive, and Bridge Mountain. It's a pretty awesome view and it's said that they were named after what they looked like.
After saying goodbye to the main park Area we drove a little bit further through the park and tunnel to get to the Canyon Overlook Trail. This was perhaps my second favorite part of the park. It's a very short hike but the view will leave you speechless. This hike doesn't call for hiking shoes, but it's still recommended! Looking back now I wish I did this during sunrise, but the clouds wouldn't allow that anyways.
The view is spectacular and what you once saw at the bottom of the canyon is now seen from a different angle.
Definitely worth checking out! We continued our journey North into Cedar City, with no real plan actually. It was suppose to rain and snow and Kevin was worried about this car being able to handle the weather so we were very precautious. We went to our next Airbnb and just relaxed. Actually, I first did some laundry and then relaxed we grabbed some Italian food at this cute this romantic restaurant Chef Alfredos, they had decent food and really good Merlots hehe.
We also went to the market to get Eggo waffles (duh!), milk, and cereal. We like eating breakfast at home most of the time now that I think about it, but Eggos are good for any time of the day!
5 / 2 3: 𝓣𝓱𝓾𝓻𝓼𝓭𝓪𝔂
Thursday was very much a chill day. We slept in a little this day because we had no real plan. Bryce was too far and there was too much snow for us and Dixie Forest was also full of snow and the roads were icy. We were just going to stay in but our wifi was also down so we were in a rut. After googling, we came across the Parowan Gap Petroglyphs on the map and I remembered looking at these before when I was looking for stuff to do. It was about a 30 minute drive and we drove past many sheep farms and I wanted to steal one so bad.
When we got there the wind was fierce and cold. If I were to put my arms out and lean forward, the wind could hold me up.
Native Americans used this gap to go through the Red Hills. There are some carvings that are at random, but there are two main ones that tell a story. I don't want to spoil that because you should see this place yourself. They are at least 1,000 years old. The gap also created fierce wind almost as if the wind is eerily speaking to you.
We left and got lunch at The Pizza Cart and they had some pretty good stone oven baked pizza, maybe some of the best I've had! Afterwards we actually hit up a local brewery! Policy Kings Brewery is a actually a local business and it was great. I love helping local businesses when I can and this place was perfect. They hey had beer and cocktails at reasonable prices, no food but light snacks like pretzels and chips. They also had lots of board games, a stack of cards at every table, giant jenga, and a giant connect four.
We chilled pretty hard until dinner. Originally we were going to get BBQ but they closed early unexpectedly so we got Thai food at Erawan Thai, which I gotta say was pretty freaking good. I got the pad Thai because that's always a safe bet but also because I wanted noodles. Kevin got the green curry and that was good as well! I was feeling a little sick and dehydrated so we went home early and chilled for the rest of the night.
5 / 2 4: 𝓕𝓻𝓲𝓭𝓪𝔂
Friday was our last day in Utah and I was pretty sad to leave. Every trip, I feel happy leaving LA and sad coming back home. It's strange LA has always been my home but sometimes it feels like its too much, what I would give to have enough money to buy a house next to the forest or mountains and live my days there with Kevin and many farm animals. We ate our quick breakfast and said our goodbyes to our Airbnb space and started heading home. We actually left at 8:30 a.m. and got to my Abuela's house at 2 p.m.! We went to pick up Joe and I wanted to see her again and spend time with her before we hit rush hour traffic.
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