Into the Tunnel

2009 marks Zion National Park's centenial. We heard about an opportunity to walk through the tunnel, as part of the celebration. It was an incredible, once in a lifetime experience.

We hiked it with Tom & Paula and 296 other people. Some showed up from out of state and many were decendants of the men who built the tunnel. 2 men died during the construction.
I love old things, history. I was amazed by the original craftsmanship. The cement road is the original road, laid in 1929. I wish my driveway was holding up that well. The workers started blasting from both sides of the mountain and met in the middle-they were only off by a few feet.


I the first gallery (window) in the tunnel was my favorite.

Family Time & the Creature

We have had a fantastic weekend. We caught up with Zach & Katie, who we haven't seen in a coon's age. On friday I took Zealand to the indoor playground/inflatable bounce house. He was very brave and we both enjoyed it. Saturday we met my brothers' soon-to-be-inlaws. They are so much fun!

When it got dark we camped out in our backyard. We gave Z a flashlight and read stories just like our normal bedtime. Of course, it didn't work. After 90 minutes of him climbing around, shining the light on everything (and the cat attacking the tent, trying to get the light) we told Zealand that if he didn't go to sleep, it was time to go in the house for bed. He laid right down and pretended to sleep. I didn't buy it because he was giggling and wiggling. At about 11:00 we finally put him in his crib. I am exhaused, especially because Hootie, our cat, woke us up at sunrise, as usual, to tell us that it was time for her to go outside for her daily attack on our neighbor, who walks past our house every morning. I put her right out..I'm sure this means she will do the same thing tomorrow at sunrise.

When we got up for the day (Jeff had a random meeting at 7am- YES SUNDAY) a strange creature was on the porch, shouting terrible things. He's much happier now. I think he just had low blood sugar.