Vacation part 8b, in which we're still hiking

It wasn't long until we reached the end of the trail and the famed Double Arch Alcove. It was absolutely worth the hike. It was an absolute beautiful setting.

Here we are, dwarfed by the Double Arch.

You might wonder why the bottom of the picture looks so bright. No, it wasn't because of a bad camera or the wrong shutter speed or anything. What we never counted on as we were hiking up was the fact that there was still snow up there! As you might have been able to guess from our attire, it was warm out - warm enough that we didn't expect to encounter the white stuff! We were much more careful about creek crossings there, as that water was cold! Jonathan and I did decide to have a little snowball fight. The snow reminded me of when I was a kid and my siblings and I made a bunch of snowballs and but them in a bread wrapper in the freezer and brought them out on the hottest day of the summer. It was worth it just to think about what the neighbors thought: those crazy kids, having a snowball fight in the summer... The unfortunate thing was that the snow was in no way fluffy after all that time in the freezer. Nor was this snow.


Then it was time to head back. As we hiked Jonathan talked non-stop. He kept a running commentary the whole hike. We were alternately a train, police officers, pirates, alley cats (he's a big fan of the movie The Aristocats) or some combination thereof.



As we hiked, Jonathan (naturally) got tired. We would then feed him some trail mix or peanut butter crackers; it was absolutely amazing how quickly he would derive energy from these snacks. One minute he'd be groaning that he couldn't walk another step, and the next moment he would be running down the trail. We motivated him for quite some time by pretending to be police officers chasing a robber. Just when we were ready to "catch" the "robber" someone would put on their siren and spook the robber who would then "run on ahead." The boy has a very active imagination, let me tell you!

On the return trip, we decided to count how many times we crossed the stream. We counted 60 times. Which means that we crossed it (there and back) approximately 120 times each.

Once we reached the trailhead, we headed back for St. George, looking out for somewhere to eat. We asked Jonathan what he wanted to eat; he wanted a waffle. So we found an IHOP and pulled in, only to find that on Sundays, kids eat free! WooHOO!

Then the cook made too much French Toast, so I got an extra piece or two. Oooh, that hurts; you're twisting my arm... (actually all our leftovers became the boys' lunch the following day).

So Jonathan successfully hiked all 5 miles, crossed the stream (no, not in the Ghostbusters sense) some 120 times, climbed on rocks, climbed under trees, waded, threw snowballs, saw two log cabins, and had a great time with his parents!