St. George

Two weeks ago Sammy and I jetted out of Provo for a little vacation time, and we lived up every minute of it! Our first stop was St. George, Utah. From Provo we drove straight to Tuacahn Theatre to get in line for standby tickets to see Tarzan that night (it was sold out), we arrived right on time and got tickets. Tuacahn is an outdoor theatre which was neat and we enjoyed the show!

After the show we headed back to our place for the weekend. Sammy had booked us a room at Entrada...if you've seen High School Musical 2, you've seen this place. I never thought a desert setting was as pretty as this place was! The following morning we were ready for our 9 am tee time!

No, neither of us are golfers. This was my first official round of golf and Sammy's 2nd, but Entrada is known for their beautiful and unique course so we thought it'd be a fun activity - and we had a blast!

Since we're beginners we only played 9 holes, but took advantage of our cart and drove through the whole course so we could see it all. What makes this course really unique is the black lava rock...

I really enjoyed it and actually hope to golf again sometime soon. You'll notice in the pics that Sammy is wearing flip-flops - the only footwear he packed for the entire trip (this is important again later). Every time a ranger came by we tried to hide his feet so he wouldn't get in trouble with the dress code!
We finished just in time to watch the Ghana vs. USA soccer game in our room (yes, I was cheering for Ghana). I was so happy for the victory, but sad that they're out of the finals now. After a little relaxation we headed back outside for some poolside lounge time...We then topped the night off with a yummy Thai dinner! The next day we knew we'd be meeting up with the Nielsen clan at Lake Powell in the evening, but we needed something to do with our time before then. Sam's friend had recommended we go to Zion's Park and do the Angel's Landing hike; he had said it was somewhat rigorous, but we could manage it within 2 hours. Sounded good to us, so off to Zion's we went!

We made it to Zion's and noticed everyone geared up for their outdoor adventures. Sam was in his flip-flops, but told me he'd be fine on the hike. We figured with just a 2 hour hike we'd be fine without water if we just drank some before our start. So we started.... this picture is taken near the start. The point of the cliff in the middle is the finish!

We managed the switchbacks with great timing, then came this part...

And let me tell you, this hike does not take 2 hours as a friend may say...it's more like the 4-5 hours the signs at the park states. That said, water is definitely needed. Lots of it (especially if you're doing this mid-day as we were). Well, we didn't have any water, but we continued on...

There is a 1500 ft drop on each side of this pathway; at least if you're scared of heights there are chains set-up to hold on to! haha I had never done a hike like this, but loved it!

We made it to the top! The view down one side...

Remember me previously stating that Sam was in sandals? Every person we passed made a comment. We even ran into some teenaged boys and one said "Oh you're flip-flop man? You're a legend around here!" ha, not the smartest move. What else wasn't smart? No water. As we started to descend I told Sam I was getting a little dizzy, but was fine to continue. Within a few minutes I was getting more dizzy and then my legs started shaking so I sat down immediately. Sam asked a nice stranger man behind us if he had any food. The man gave me a granola bar and had me drink out of his camelback....it made a world of difference! After a few minutes we started back down and didn't stop until we were at the bottom and in front of a drinking fountain!

Lessons Learned: When in St. George, do stay at Entrada. Don't forget the dress code if you're golfing. Do visit Zion's National Park and hike Angels Landing. Don't do it in flip flops. DO have water! And lastly, Do be an obnoxious newlywed couple and ask a stranger to take a kissing picture (because you'll love it afterwards):