Road Trip 2015 Part 1: Zion National Park

A composite image of the moon rising over The Watchman in Zion National Park

Still bored in this silly self-isolation thing, so I’m gonna do another retro roadtrip!

This was our second anniversary road trip, in the desert southwest! We flew to Las Vegas, then drove straight to Zion National Park in Utah, then back to Vegas, then to Los Angeles, then back to Vegas for a night before flying home. Let’s go!

April 2, 2015

They say marriage is one giant compromise, and this is definitely no exception. Mandy HATES hiking! But I really wanted to do some hiking and epic photography in Zion National Park. What would it cost me? A day of shopping in Beverly Hills. (Yeah, my Visa was a little nervous….)

We were in Bellingham WA quite early for our flight to Las Vegas. Upon touching down, we rented a SWEET blue Mustang Convertible. Gotta travel in style, right?

The drive to Zion National Park was quick and painless. We had a nice hotel in Springdale, the Majestic View Lodge. We didn’t do a whole lot after the drive, but we DID have a nice steak dinner at Arkansas Al’s Steakhouse!

April 3, 2015

Started off our morning with a giant breakfast at the legendary Oscar’s Cafe!

Zion National Park - Breakfast Burrito at Oscars Cafe-001.jpg

Now THAT was some good morning fuel!

I was pretty stoked for today – we were going to hike the world famous Angel’s Landing. Not for the faint of heart, and DEFINITELY not for those who are afraid of heights, but it’s definitely one of Zion’s most insane hikes. I mean, you’re on a razors edge, hanging onto a chain bolted into the cliff. I LOVE THIS!! (There HAVE been 17 deaths on this trail, after all. NOT US!)

Afterwards, we took the park shuttle to Weeping Rock… Which wasn’t weeping very much this time of year!

And with that, it was one of my favorites times of day… DINNER TIME! Back in Springdale, we hit up the Bit & Spur Saloon. I tell ya, the food in this town is AWESOME.

And then it was golden hour, baby! We drove back into the park, and found a spot below the main road where we could grab some insane sunset shots of The Watchman. Definitely the best time of day for shooting epic landscape photos. These remain some of my most favorite photos to this day!

April 4 2015

Sadly, our time at Zion was almost over. While Mandy was still asleep, I drove back into the park to shoot the sunrise over The West Temple, The Altar of Sacrifice, Meridian Tower, and The Sentinel.