Hot Springs-A nice treat after a 4 day camping trip!

We checked into the High Country Lodge cabins (cute, cozy lodge with a good breakfast) outside of Pagosa Springs

 

and headed to the Springs Resort for a sip.  It was nice and relaxing.  They had many choices to choose from:  natural to manmade pools, warm to hot pools, small to large pools.  We sampled quite a few!

 

 San Juan River in background:

Unfortunately dinner was calling for the kids so we cut our visit short.  Next time I'd allow 3-4 hours to get the maximum benefit.  Amazingly a couple of restaurants had long waits so we headed here (small house) where we  

 ended up eating outside but had good food.  The heat lamps didn't do enough to warm any of us up but we were so hungry we almost didn't care.

 The next day we visited this artists shop (Handcrafted Interiors) before we headed out.  They had all sorts of crazy cool things.

 Stopped here (A Mimi's Cafe) for a quick snack.  Had extremely yummy, fresh Chinese food!

 Sadly, it was time to head home!

Headed to Arizona and Four Corners

Adding another state:

 Salt River Project-Navajo Generating Station (coal fired power plant) near Lake Powell:

 Views going towards Four Corners:

 Four Corners:

 State Seals:

Quick lunch before heading towards Pagosa Springs:

A tour of Springdale and catching a couple of last minute things before leaving Zion National Park

On our last day at Zion we took a tour of the town of Springdale, collected some Moqui balls to bring home and then quenched our thirst at the Zion Canyon Brewpub.

 

Great views and

wonderful outdoor seating!

 We still needed an ice cream sandwich to get rid of our hunger.  

 We headed over to the Visitor Center so the kids could get their Junior Ranger badges.

 We hadn't stopped to see the Court of the Patriarchs yet.  They are from right to left:  Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.

 The next day we headed out the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway.  It had been dark when we'd come in that way so it was all new territory.  The windows in the tunnels were pretty cool.

 Bighorn Sheep:

 Checkerboard Mesa:

Watchman Trail

This trail started out of the campground.  There weren't many flowers out this time of year but we did run across some along this trail.  The Indian Paintbrush were pretty.

Walking up the trail provided nice view of the Towers of the Virgin and the West Temple.

 Looking for wildlife:

 Then we found this deer right in front of us, no need for binoculars!

 Hike: Watchman Trail
Trails Used: Watchman Trail

Distance:  4.53 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 2.2 mph
Overall Time: 2 hr, 03 min
Total Ascent: 1153 ft.

Made it to the top of Angels Landing!

Had a beautiful sunny morning for our hike to the top of Angels Landing.  

 It's a short but very steep hike.  They advise against small children doing it but if the children and the adults are careful and want to, I see no reason not to try it.  I had one child (age 6) who wanted to do the whole thing and another (age 7) who turned around about .5 mile from the top since he started to feel uncomfortable.  We did make sure that we had a hand of Q's on the steeper sections and she knew she needed to listen to us as well.  When we told her to sit and wait, we expected her to sit and wait.

 The waterfalls along the way were pretty.

 Nice views down the valley:

 One of the steep sections, lots of switchbacks, and yes I think that guy is green was running up!

 View of trail from above:

 Right before everyone split off (Daddy, Gma, and C headed back; Q, me, and Poppa kept going up)

 Taking a Poppa break; I don't think Q noticed the uphill at this point, she's very competitive and just wanted to get to the top since her brother didn't.

 Looking back:

 At the summit!

Hike: Angels Landing
Trails Used: Angels Landing

Distance:  6.24 miles
Difficulty: Moderate to difficult but steep
Overall average: 2.0 mph
Overall Time: 3 hr, 08 min
Total Ascent: 3700 ft.