Earlier this year, my friends Rosemary and Rukku and I decided to plan a long weekend somewhere in the U.S. to spend some time together and see/experience something new!  After deliberating for a bit, we all landed on Utah. None of us had been there, and there are FIVE national parks in the state!  Since we were only going to be together for a four day weekend, we narrowed our parks down to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park, which are about a two hour drive from one another.  Not only did I have an AMAZING weekend with my friends, but we saw some absolutely incredible scenery and some awesome wildlife.  We spent two days in Zion and one in Bryce Canyon, so there will be several blog posts about this epic trip!  Here are some pics from our first day in Zion…

Bridge to the Emerald Pools, Zion National Park, 2015

Court of the Patriarchs, Zion National Park, 2015

Big Bend, Zion National Park, 2015

Nature Finds A Way, Zion National Park, 2015

Plateau Striped Whiptail Lizard, Zion National Park, 2015

Emerald Pool, Zion National Park, 2015

Emerald Pool Waterfall, Zion National Park, 2015

Mule Deer, Zion National Park, 2015

Emerald Pool Waterfall, Zion National Park, 2015

Weeping Rock, Zion National Park, 2015

Boy Observing Nature, Zion National Park, 2015

Rukku and Rosemary at the Court of the Patriarchs, Zion National Park, 2015

Zion Shuttle, Zion National Park, 2015

Virgin River, Zion National Park, 2015

Stay tuned for part two, which will feature our hike in The Narrows – one of the most popular hikes in Zion National Park!