Trip to Zion, Part 1 of ?

We've been back from our family vacation to southern Utah for nearly three weeks now, and after looking at the hundreds of pictures we took, I've been pretty clueless about how to tell the story of our trip logically.  I don't want it to read like a travelogue, but I don't want to sound too scatterbrained either.  My OCD nature and my English degree sometimes prevent me from just letting loose, but I'm really going to try.  I know my missionary parents love to read about every single thing we're doing, but the rest of you can feel free to just skim. 

Vacation Advice:  Rent a House

Mike usually plans the details of our vacations, so I'm not sure exactly how he stumbled upon the idea of a rental house.  What I do know is that it has been awesome since we switched from booking two or three hotel rooms to simply renting a vacation home.  We've also discovered that the price is comparable if you're intending to stay a week or so.  We've rented a couple of different condos in McCall, and we loved it both times. 

This time we opted for a luxurious home in Virgin, Utah, about ten miles from the entrance to Zion National Park.  Good choice.  It was wonderful to be able to come "home" after our activities and simply relax into such comfortable accommodations.  I highly recommend it.

I don't want to sound like a travel agent, but consider the cost of eating out when you budget for your vacation.  That makes the cost of a rental home even more attractive when you don't have to pay to eat out two or three times a day.  This home had a super nice kitchen (way nicer than our own) and a couple of comfortable places to eat, and we cooked quite a few meals right there.  It also had two gas barbeques on the back patio, and even though it was blazing hot by dinnertime, we cooked out two or three times as well.

I've also come to love the convenience of having several places both to gather and to get away from each other while on vacation.  I've learned that we don't typically spend 24 hours a day together as a family, and sometimes it's nice to have somewhere to "get away" from the getaway, if you know what I mean.  When everyone has a private place to chill and to rest, it just makes the vacation seem a little more restful.  Besides, I'm claustrophobic, so it's good for my psyche to have room to spread out.

Oh, and the other cool thing is having more than one or two bathrooms.  Seriously, do you know what it's like when you go back to the hotel and everyone has to use the facilities at once?  That's always fun to try and prioritize.  (We've learned that there's usually a "spare"  bathroom in the hotel lobby.) 

Perhaps the greatest thing about a rental house is that you have a nice place to gather, not that it's not fun to sit all over the beds and the air conditioner/heater and such in a hotel room.  This house had a couple of gathering places:  the great room, where we watched some World Cup games on DVR, and an awesome media room, where we could all lounge around and watch fun movies.  This place had about 40 or 50 to choose from, and we brought some of our own as well.

Anyway, I didn't intend for this to be a travel brochure, but I do feel grateful that Mike found us such a nice place to stay.  When it comes right down to it, the vacation's not really about where you stay, it's about the people that you're with.  However, I have found that when everyone's comfortable, the vacation just goes a whole lot smoother.  Experience is a great teacher. . . but that's probably a story for a different post.

Always Part of the Family

I've learned in the past few years that it's an especially big treat when my chicks that have left the nest rejoin the flock for at least a few days.  When we were planning this summer's trip, we realized that it would be very much to our advantage to vacation where Karen and Andrew and Rachel could join us for at least a few days.  The three of them are so incredibly busy right now, but we did get them for about three days each, and part of those days even overlapped.  Jackpot!  It's always fun to have EVERYONE together.  I felt incredibly blessed.

I've also discovered that a family vacation is a fun way to get to know your in-laws better.  We have loved Andrew from the moment we met him, but we love him more the more we get to know him.  Karen did a good job finding him, and I'm glad he has some persistence and patience.

I've written very little about the actual adventures of our trip, but I should be able to record a little more in the next few days.  Adam is gone to cross country camp, and Matt leaves for Helaman's Camp in the morning.  Mike and I get to be empty-nesters for just a couple of days.  Awesome. . . except that I am working on Friday and Saturday.  Should be fun anyway.