My 9 Days Away: The Play-by-Play

This post goes over what I did on my trip, including a few things I didn't share on my Facebook stories. It's overall a more detailed account, with more picture for those who want to click through. I'm going to reflect on how it affected me emotionally and mentally in a second blog post I hope to share soon after this.

Side Note: I originally thought I was gone eight days until my husband contested my rounding down. I didn't think traveling on Friday counted.

Aug. 8th, Thursday (Home / Maple Grove)

You'd think I would have learned my lesson the last time I booked a trip, but I didn't.

Once again, I forgot to check the calendar and take into account a little thing called 'school' when I booked my flight. It worked out in the end; there was no way I wasn't dropping the kids off for their first day of school. I didn't feel the same need to pick them up, but I did want to take Quin to his first day of Kindergarten. I bought a couple of surprises for the first two days that they could open when they got home. I also talked to them on the phone and via video with the Marco Polo app while I was away, which helped.

I'd originally planned on Antelope Island, but my mother-in-law 'just happened' to visit it while she was there a few weeks prior and convinced me otherwise. There were other factors, but in the end, I decided I wanted to spend a lot more time down in Zion. It made more sense to land, pick up the rental, stop by Walmart and a camping store, grab what I needed, and get a head start down. I switched my reservation to the Maple Grove campground at Fishlake National Forest. I'm glad I did. It was a gorgeous drive. It was sprinkling when I got there, so I hurriedly set up my tent when it slowed down, ate some of the food I'd brought, and went to bed.

Aug. 9th, Friday (Maple Grove / Zion Ponderosa)

I did not sleep well. Someone in an RV left a timer or something outside that went off at 2 a.m. for a good hour before it shut off, only to alarm again at 6 a.m. Fun times. I got up, tore everything down, loaded up the car, and hit the road.

Zion National Park was all booked for campsites when I looked a few months ago, but I'd found out there were several ranches and resorts near it offering campsites I could reserve. I picked Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort. I could stay there and also have access to all the things guests in the tiny homes, lodges, cabins, glamping tents, and every other rental they offered, could use. I noticed I could also book a shit ton of stuff to do as well that looked like fun.

I love exploring abandoned places, so when I saw there was an abandoned mine hike/tour offered, I decided to book it. When I arrived to go, it turned out the other 17 people who were supposed to be there too were running considerably late, so I got a private tour! I enjoyed learning about the landscape, the former Uranium mine, and how they didn't have much information on it since it was a former government project.

At one point my guide had me yell at some rocks on the other side of a gorge to listen to the echo that rebounded back to us. It had also been raining a lot, so when we entered the mine, she pointed out the rocks in the ceiling being wet (something she'd said she'd never seen before). It was fun seeing the way the light reflected off of the water and walls in the tightly crammed space. It was muddy and chill enough that it felt good to escape the heat in. At one point my guide had me turn my headlight off and took a picture of me with the flash of my camera on. It was a cool experience for sure. I'm glad I did it! Afterward, I went to my site, set up my tent and got ready for the next day. Unfortunately, a group of college boys were set up across from me and were obnoxiously loud until around midnight. The good news is, every night after that I slept considerable better.

Aug. 10th, Saturday (Zion Ponderosa)

The level of excitement I had for Saturday was some of the highest of the trip (the other being Monday). East Zion Adventures had a spot available for the S.W.A.T shooting, one of their more popular activities. They also offered Skeet, but they didn't often have people sign up for it. I'd asked if it would be possible to do it as well, so the woman who handled the bookings reached out and asked T.O.L. Tactical. They were amazing and said they could do it after S.W.A.T. if I was interested. It's been so long, but I think I'd done Skeet before. Either way, I loved it more than the other shooting we'd done with the military rifles (though that was an absolute blast too, don't get me wrong).

After Skeet, the instructor told me about a hike I needed to do, which the front desk at the resort had also mentioned. I hadn't thought much of doing it until he described how amazing it is seeing all of the park at the end of the trail. He said many of the pictures featuring Zion on the front of postcards and books were taken there. What really sold me was when he said you could look down on Angels Landing, and how it was a fairly easy hike with a big pay off.

So I went, and it is now probably one of my top favorite hikes I've ever done, simply because of the incredible view.

I'm pretty afraid of heights (and unfortunate fact that keeps me to the bouldering level of rock climbing) but at the point, it's not a clean drop off like it appears. However, I didn't want to get much closer than what I got. An extra bonus to the hike was that it hardly had anyone on it. I went during the hotter part of the day, but I would have expected more people than what I saw. I think it's probably because it's a harder trail to find as it's not accessible inside the main part of the park due to a rockfall, but I'm not 100% certain on that. You can reach it from outside the park though (more on that in a little bit). When I reached the point, there were three people there and one of them kindly took my picture before leaving. I was able to sit up there by myself for a little bit, which I now fully appreciate after experiencing the busyness inside the park.

I wish I could have stayed up there longer, but shortly after arriving at the end of the trail, the wind picked up and I could tell a storm was coming in. And then lightening flashed and I quickly skedaddled. Shortly after, flash flood warnings started blowing up my phone, but I was high enough up not to worry, and once I got back on the trail things started to settle down in my area.

I highly recommend the Observation Point Trail. An alternative route to it is up by the resort where I stayed. You can drive to the trail head parking, I believe, but you can also go to the rec center at Ponderosa. From there you can book a shuttle for pretty cheap and have them both drop you off and pick you up at the road leading to the trail. Here's a blog from someone who also has done it, but he gives better directions to get there than I do. Families can probably do it if they have little ones, but parents might end up carrying them for parts of it. Watch them, though. At the end of hike when you're reaching the point, there are a few spots where I looked over the edge to find a straight drop down. But you have nothing to worry about if you keep them on the trail.

Aug. 11th, Sunday (Zion Ponderosa)

I'd originally planned on visiting Saturday, but because of the bookings of the other activities I ended up bumping things around and went to Zion on Sunday. Parking was a mess, and I didn't know what to expect once I was inside of the park, so I ended up parking in Springdale instead and entered the park via that way. I did the Emerald Pools, which was a bit of a misadventure. The first stop to them had a bridge that was closed, so it was suggested to get off at the next stop and enter it that way, which is what I did. However, I ended going the wrong direction and ended up at that stop and bridge anyway. It took me going the wrong way more times than I care to admit to as I tried to figure out where the stupid start to the trail was. I finally said screw it, threw my canyoneering shoes on, and jumped in the river to wade across it. Finally, I got on the trail and made my way to all three levels of the pools.

On the way back, I quickly realized I turned the wrong way and found myself on a different trail altogether. It was nice being by myself and not having to worry about anyone else because I decided to just stay on it until it ended somewhere. I'm still not certain which trail it was. I saw something about Court of the Patriarchs, but I didn't see a hike listed like that on the little map I was given. It was a great trail either way. Not as many people on it, well maintained, and fairly easy. I enjoyed taking pictures and hiking it. By the time I finished, I did the math and realized it was probably best to head back to the resort so I could hopefully shower and eat before it got too dark.

Aug. 12th, Monday (Zion Ponderosa)

This was another one of my favorite days! I did a two hour horse back ride through the mountains in the early morning, had an hour break, and then a two hour UTV ride after that.

I rode Buster. I liked being the last rider, as it let me get away with more. I wasn't doing anything too egregious, but I had fun having the horse actually listen to me rather than plod along in autopilot behind the horse in front of us. He was a nice little gelding. I surprised Jack when I told him that horse riding out of all of the things I did while up in Zion was not my favorite. I've ridden well over fifty horses in my life. I've ridden a lot. I've had many memorable moment with horses in my life, so as lovely as the trail ride was, it didn't really top my list. It was nice and I loved being in the saddle again, but it fell near the bottom in the rankings of the activities I experienced while there.

The UTV takes the top spot of the entire trip. One of the people who was in my S.W.A.T. group was actually the guide, so that was fun! I got to drive my own UTV all over the mountain up there at the resort. It offered similar views to the horseback riding, if not the same ones at certain points, but it was so much fun zipping around over large rocks and dirt paths. I enjoyed the adrenaline rush much of the tour gave and loved looking ahead or to the side of me to see the gorgeous views. I don't know when I'll ride one of them again, but I'm going to be keeping a lookout on any other adventures I go on, because that was hella worth it.

I was completely caked in dirt by the end of it (pic of it in the slide show below), washed up, and then decided to spend a lot of the afternoon sitting in the hot tub or working on evening out my tan lines next to the pool. While there, I weighed my choices for the next day after looking at the weather and considering the odds. It had rained every night I'd been there. I didn't really want to spend another night only to wake up and wait for my tent to dry. So I called the Cromwell, changed my reservation to earlier, and spent much of my late afternoon packing up what I could and doing laundry.

Aug. 13th, Tuesday (Zion Ponderosa / Las Vegas)

I woke up, put away everything but the tent itself, and headed into Zion for another day of hiking, whatever trail it ended up being. I'd hoped I could do the Narrows, but as it rained while heading into the park, my hopes for that quickly died. I wanted to at least walk down to the start of it, and a ranger there said that was safe enough, so I did. I decided to throw my water shoes back on and walked up to part of the river. After going for a little bit, I decided to head back. I'd stop along the way to play on boulders or walk across fallen trees, which only brought back memories of doing similar things when I was a kid. It was fun. I wished I'd hung around and climbed on more. Next time. As I was walking out to the shuttled, a sign had been put up saying the Narrows were closed as rangers turned people away. I'm glad I got to see what I did, but I was disappointed I didn't get to do the Narrows. I told Jack I was going to start watching Southwest flights and the weather, and if I see a deal pop up in my inbox, I'd try and fly up for a weekend and try to do it again. Or I might have to wait until next summer, but not during the rainy season.

Heading on back, I decided to do one more hike before heading to Las Vegas. I jumped off the bus at the Watchman Trail and hiked on back to the Visitor Center.

I showered, finished the last of packing up, and got back on the road. It was a beautiful drive down to Las Vegas, made even better with the sun setting over the mountains. Trying to park once I reached my hotel was a lot less fun, but I managed to find the entrance for guests and then got all checked in.

Aug. 14th, Wednesday (Las Vegas)

I woke up early, got ready, and turned my car back in at the Venetian. I shopped around for most of the day. My favorite shop I found was a rare book store. I crossed my figures and hoped they had one of the books I desperately want, but they did not (it's a first edition of The Princess Bride. They said they get a lot of requests for it). There weren't a lot of shows available on a Wednesday night, or at least none of the ones I was interested in seeing by myself.

In the end, I was running short of time so I begrudgingly settled for the Italian restaurant in the hotel before leaving for the Chippendale show at the Rio. To be fair to the restaurant, it was pretty good. Jack and the kids love everything pasta and it might be their favorite cuisine. Italian isn't my favorite—I know that's weird. I've heard how weird it is my entire life whenever I tell people. Everyone loves Italian, while I'm over here ordering the least Italian thing on the menu. Salmon.

But the show was a lot of fun. I've been to Thunder from Downunder, and really Chippendale's was basically the same thing. Sexy dance numbers, with braver-than-me audience volunteers going up on stage, and the cast interacting and dancing up on the crowd members (that was fun). There was an after party after where you got to mingle with the men, but I only stayed for a little bit because my feet were killing me and I was honestly pretty tired. But it was a great show, and pretty good time.

I also got to wear a dress I've been waiting months to wear. When I first got it and tried it on, I thought 'it's going to look great if I'm tan enough.' I can tan, but it takes a while to build up and then it usually fades pretty fast. Five days out in the sun did the trick though. At least for me.

Aug. 15th, Thursday (Las Vegas)

More shopping, but this time I saw a museum I wanted to visit! I love museums and this one was pretty cool. It was the Arte Museum's "Eternal Nature" exhibit. I want to go back in October because they said they're going to have new parts added to it and I think the kids would enjoy it too.

I ended up not doing a show that night, but I did go to a nice steakhouse restaurant a friend recommended. I'd taken one of my favorite black dresses, so I was excited to have an excuse to wear it again.

The SW Steakhouse served delicious pretzel bread while I waited. I ordered a spicy margarita called "the perfect storm", oysters on the half shell (kudos to them for having oysters that good for a desert state), a filet mignon with asparagus, and a chocolate chip cookie soufflé. I finished everything but the drink because I'm a pathetic light weight that doesn't like getting anything passed happily buzzed or occasionally tipsy (though that probably has more to do with me having a drink every three of four months—I might have one in social settings, but that's about it).

Overall, the food tasted fantastic and the service was very, very good. It was one of the better steakhouses I've visited and I'm very glad I went. After, I grabbed a Lyft ride back to my hotel and got ready to leave the next day.

Aug. 16th Friday (Las Vegas / Home)

I woke up earlier than expected, around six in the morning, and decided to get ready. While I was in the shower, I heard some people in the hallway screaming. When I got out, the rukous was still going on, so listened for a minute as someone yelled that their friend was getting beaten up and raped. I popped my head out, unsure of what to do. A girl was standing out in the hall banging on a door while a man stood next to her clearly trying to help. They asked what floor they were on, I yelled "the eighth", and then I dipped back into my room to call the front desk.

As I was talking to them, I heard security arrive and hung up. Things continued for a while out there until someone was arrested. I poked my head out again and offered an officer standing there a statement. He knocked on my door later on and asked me what I'd heard or seen. I found out later on from a couple who had also overhead much of it that the girl in the room wasn't getting raped, but they could hear the man beating the shit out of her. Apparently it started out as argument over cologne. So that was certainly a start to my morning. I dropped stuff I didn't need anymore with the bellhop, grabbed an iced chai, and headed to the airport.

Jack and the kids picked me up, but my dog missed me the most. The greeting I got was intense, lol.

Overall, it was an incredible trip. Everything, other than the Narrows, worked out how I'd hoped. It was nice to have things go my way for once (it's felt like that hasn't been happening much lately). Part of me is glad to be back, but another part just wants to go right back. It was incredible, and I'll write more about how it was emotionally and mentally in the next post. It was the best trip. I loved it.