The Paynes Go to Zions Nat'l Park

Echo peeking out her carrier

As before mentioned, we bought this awesome baby backpack-carrier thing and this was the weekend to test it out. Chance put a ton of thought into my birthday this year (which was so extremely sweet!), so he decided we'd spend Saturday at Zions and go hiking, and see all the really neat geological beauties there. He knows I love making memories, spending quality time as a family and geology so instead of buying presents that become useless after time, he put all the set-aside birthday money towards our Zions trip. Though, he did buy me a book written by a Geology professor - which was apparently $40 on Amazon but only $20 at a Zions gift store! Crazy.

I was still pretty nervous about doing any intense hiking since ya know, Echo is only 10 weeks... which means my body was/is still pretty out-of-shape and I'm breastfeeding her, and she's still pretty young... so we end up hiking the Emerald Pools 5 mile loop. Yeah. That's apparently taking it easy. I'm glad I did it though, but not so glad a few days later when I developed (here comes some TMI) some really fun plugged milk ducts in ma' boob. That was painful, and... not fun... and Echo didn't like the taste of the milk from that side so she wouldn't drain it which just made matters worse! I now know that clogged ducts are your body's way of saying "hey! Yeah... too much. Just take it easy."Also, a rare side effect (which of course happens to me), is that baby sometimes wont like the milk from the irritated boob because of an increased sodium and chloride content - which makes matters worse since the best way to clear it is to have baby nurse very frequently.

back view of Echo's ride

But that's getting off topic...

Friday afternoon we drove down to Richfield and stayed the night with his Grandparents, then we left early the next morning and drove the rest of the 2 hours down to Zions. Found a parking spot, walked to the closest shuttle (since that's the only way to get from different points in the park, like, you can't drive in unless you have some kind of special pass - we didn't know this...) and took a 10 minute ride to the Emerald Pools stop which was right where Zion's Lodge is. We stopped and ate lunch since it was noon, and began trekking on our way. One of the reasons I love being outdoors so much is the people. I really feel like the people are incredibly nice and just relaxed - and me being the person who constantly struggles with her type A personality, appreciates the counter. I try to be relaxed... but it doesn't come easy. Especially, ohhh my goodness, when it comes to Echo! Major control issues about what I think is the "wrong" way of doing things but it's actually just fine and different... but we're working on that ;)

The Emerald Pools loop isn't as long as 5 miles... I don't think... but we took a detour (because I thought it would shorten the trip. Bah!) and went up the Grotto trail, which added about 1-2 more miles to our originally planned loop.

Upper Emerald Pool

When we arrived at Upper Emerald Pool, we took Echo out and laid her flat on a rock so she could rest and stretch out. She's still pretty young and though we had her all cozy in the backpack, I think holding her head up was tiring her out. While hanging out and enjoying the peaceful and cool oasis, a nice couple asked us how old she was. We told them just barely 2 months. Then we struck up a conversation. I wish I could remember their names... but they asked her name, and we told them. Their next question was ",Oh, are you guys from Oregon (pronounced Or-eh-gone)?", haha... no... California (because no matter how long we live in Utah, I will never say we're 'from Utah'). But really, that was not a question I was expecting. Do people in Oregon name their kids funny names? Hm.

Turns out this couple was from Toronto, and have 4 kids who are all grown now. And, they're Jewish! I can honestly say I've never met a Jewish-Canadian (Canadian-Jewish?) couple! They were pretty cool people. We talked a little about religion, family, babies, nature - they had some pretty neat views and advise on stuff.


Later that evening we went to Oscar's Cafe, which is right outside Zions, and guess who we ran into! It was the couple! Chance and him both walked up at the same time to put their names on the waiting list. They're both like ohhh what a coincidence! We both chose the same place to eat! Then we split up and go window shopping in the nearby stores, they call our name to be seated, then 5 minutes later the same couple gets seated right next to us! Crazy coincidence. Again! They ordered an big nacho appetizer, and when they got it there was apparently waaay too much, so the guy was like hey we're practically friends here, why don't you guys take some of this? And they just gave us like half their plate! It was awesome. And so sweet, considering we were both beyond starving. So that was pretty neat.

Pretty much...

It came up in conversation that we're mormon, so they asked what exactly do we believe? I said well, we believe in the organization of the church in the ancient days, so in that sense we're pretty similar to Judaism - predominately that we have Temples, like they did in the old days. That seemed to interest them a bit. Then they said they're religious, but not "orthodox Jewish", I guess meaning they believe in it, but aren't really strict in following all the rules? They're kids learned Hebrew at a young age, and went to Hebrew School, but none of them remember it. Then the lady asked if we believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior, and we said yes, He's the focus of our religion. Then she said, we believe He was a prophet, but not the Savior of the World. Call me silly, but... I don't know, I guess I've never really had anyone say that to me? It kinda threw me off. And I should've expected that seeing how the basis of the Jewish religion and all...

Then the waiter came and the topic changed. Next thing we know, Echo starts having a major meltdown. Like, not just the normal I'm upset crying, but a full on I'm really, really upset and I'm going to scream at the top of my little baby lungs so that everyone from here to The Court of the Patriarchs can hear me. I don't know if anyone that far heard her... but she sure made sure that everyone in the restaurant could. Mission accomplished. Chance took her out and tried to walk around with her, and I could still hear the poor thing down by the street corner! I hurry and get our bill and box up our over-priced, not even half-eaten dinner, and meet Hubby and Baby by the car. 10 minutes down the road and she's still screaming, until finally... silence. Poor little thing was exhausted.

Court of the Patriarchs

It was a crazy exhausting, super-dee-duperdy fun trip and I'm extremely grateful we did it. I'm beyond proud of Echo and amazed at how much of a trooper she was. I'm thinking she really likes the outdoors - like her parents! We definitely need to go back someday soon, and maybe with a few friends so I could use them as baby-helpers. So friends, if we invite you to Zions, know ahead of time... we love you, but we have ulterior motives.