Thoughts from our trip to Zion, Monument Valley and Moab
Jul 15th, 2015, 11:01 AM
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Thoughts from our trip to Zion, Monument Valley and Moab
We (me husband and 9 year-old daughter) were recently driving cross-country and spent a week in Utah. We had lots of stuff with us, including our bikes because we were relocating. It was early July.
We spent three nights in Springdale at the Desert Pearl Inn in a premium riverside room. We had stayed here before 4 years ago and enjoyed the location and the space. The rooms have a gorgeous back patio overlooking the river and the red cliffs. The rooms are also very spacious, which was important because we had lots of stuff we didn't want to leave in the car. There is a pool and laundry facilities. If we were to go back in the heat of the summer, I would stay in the lodge. This is because it is in the middle of the park and if you want to get an early start to avoid the heat and the crowds it is easier. In Springdale you need to get yourself into the park, either via the town shuttle or your car and then catch the canyon shuttle. The canyon shuttle takes 40 minutes to get to the end of the line and doesn't operate as frequently in the early morning.
We ate at the lodge and once again it was only so-so. In Springdale we ate at the Whiptail grill and enjoyed it. We got take out pizza from the Flying Monkey, which was good. We had dinner at Oscars, which had pretty good ribs, and lunch at Meme's, where the crepe was yummy.
The best thing we did in Zion was take our bikes up the canyon on the shuttle bike rack and then bike back down. We did this two evenings and it was great. Our daughter is a bit of an exercise whiner, so getting to take a beautiful ride all downhill was perfect. The only traffic past the lodge are shuttles and they aren't overly frequent. Even when lodge traffic can be on the road it isn't much. I also rode up and back on my own a couple mornings. It really is peaceful, unlike most of Zion in the summer.
We spent one night in Monument Valley at View Hotel. I got the special top floor room for stargazing purposes. It never crossed my mind it might be cloudy. We had a lovely view when we first arrived. Then it poured and was cloudy. On the bright side we got a rainbow. The food at the hotel (only place to eat as far as I could tell) wasn't as terrible as I expected, but I had low expectations. We started the loop drive in the evening, but had to abort due to the storm. In the morning I did the one hike you can do on your own, but it was quite foggy. DD and DH did the drive in the morning.
We were in Moab for our final 3 nights. We stopped of at the Needles overlook, which was worth the detour. We stayed at the Sunflower Inn. We had to get special permission to have a kid there. It was a lovely place. The breakfasts were great. We had a room that had two rooms, so we could spread out.
We ate at Twisted Sistas (good) the first night, the Moab Brewery (ok) the second night, and Miguel's Baja Grill the last night (good). We had lunch at Quesadilla Mobilla and Eklecticafe, which were both very good.
We did two trips with Moan Cliffs and Canyons. The first morning we did their fiery furnace hike. We got an early start at 8am. It was only the three of us and our guide. We had a great time. We also got the entrance fee to Arches for the week. The second morning we did a canyoneering trip in Chamisa canyon. It was fun, but I felt a little annoyed at the size of the group. We were told the group could be up to 7. If you look carefully at their website it says 7-1 ratio. We ended up with 9 people and 2 guides. One of the guides was in training. In the end it was ok, because it was a good group of people. But, it could easily have gone differently. AND, we did stand around more because having two guides really didn't speed things up that much.
We went into Arches both afternoons and did some short hikes and stops at viewing points. We also biked along the river on the short bike path on 128.
We had a good time, even though it was too bad we were stuck visiting in July and over the 4th of July weekend (Zion was packed).
We spent three nights in Springdale at the Desert Pearl Inn in a premium riverside room. We had stayed here before 4 years ago and enjoyed the location and the space. The rooms have a gorgeous back patio overlooking the river and the red cliffs. The rooms are also very spacious, which was important because we had lots of stuff we didn't want to leave in the car. There is a pool and laundry facilities. If we were to go back in the heat of the summer, I would stay in the lodge. This is because it is in the middle of the park and if you want to get an early start to avoid the heat and the crowds it is easier. In Springdale you need to get yourself into the park, either via the town shuttle or your car and then catch the canyon shuttle. The canyon shuttle takes 40 minutes to get to the end of the line and doesn't operate as frequently in the early morning.
We ate at the lodge and once again it was only so-so. In Springdale we ate at the Whiptail grill and enjoyed it. We got take out pizza from the Flying Monkey, which was good. We had dinner at Oscars, which had pretty good ribs, and lunch at Meme's, where the crepe was yummy.
The best thing we did in Zion was take our bikes up the canyon on the shuttle bike rack and then bike back down. We did this two evenings and it was great. Our daughter is a bit of an exercise whiner, so getting to take a beautiful ride all downhill was perfect. The only traffic past the lodge are shuttles and they aren't overly frequent. Even when lodge traffic can be on the road it isn't much. I also rode up and back on my own a couple mornings. It really is peaceful, unlike most of Zion in the summer.
We spent one night in Monument Valley at View Hotel. I got the special top floor room for stargazing purposes. It never crossed my mind it might be cloudy. We had a lovely view when we first arrived. Then it poured and was cloudy. On the bright side we got a rainbow. The food at the hotel (only place to eat as far as I could tell) wasn't as terrible as I expected, but I had low expectations. We started the loop drive in the evening, but had to abort due to the storm. In the morning I did the one hike you can do on your own, but it was quite foggy. DD and DH did the drive in the morning.
We were in Moab for our final 3 nights. We stopped of at the Needles overlook, which was worth the detour. We stayed at the Sunflower Inn. We had to get special permission to have a kid there. It was a lovely place. The breakfasts were great. We had a room that had two rooms, so we could spread out.
We ate at Twisted Sistas (good) the first night, the Moab Brewery (ok) the second night, and Miguel's Baja Grill the last night (good). We had lunch at Quesadilla Mobilla and Eklecticafe, which were both very good.
We did two trips with Moan Cliffs and Canyons. The first morning we did their fiery furnace hike. We got an early start at 8am. It was only the three of us and our guide. We had a great time. We also got the entrance fee to Arches for the week. The second morning we did a canyoneering trip in Chamisa canyon. It was fun, but I felt a little annoyed at the size of the group. We were told the group could be up to 7. If you look carefully at their website it says 7-1 ratio. We ended up with 9 people and 2 guides. One of the guides was in training. In the end it was ok, because it was a good group of people. But, it could easily have gone differently. AND, we did stand around more because having two guides really didn't speed things up that much.
We went into Arches both afternoons and did some short hikes and stops at viewing points. We also biked along the river on the short bike path on 128.
We had a good time, even though it was too bad we were stuck visiting in July and over the 4th of July weekend (Zion was packed).
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jaspertl
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Oct 23rd, 2003 05:04 AM
