Zion Valentines Getaway

Valentines weekend we headed down to Zion to stay at Zion Mountain Buffalo Ranch. The ranch is just on the East side of Zion and is very expansive and scenic. We left Saturday morning and drove the back way through Cedar City and around to the East of Zion. There was tons of snow just outside Cedar City up on the mountain pass. We almost wanted to get out of the car right there and ski off into the woods. The snow was 8 feet deep in places.

We kept on going however and got to the ranch with enough time to see the turkeys foraging by our cabin and to take a short ski out by the buffalo field.


Later that night we headed down to the buffalo cafe for a valentines dinner for three. We had some awesome buffalo filet steaks that were wrapped in bacon and covered with a lobster bisque and shrimp. It was the ultimate in surf'n'turf. Sara had some raisins, bread, and crackers.

Sara prefers to just people watch in restaurants, she doesn't miss a thing.
I can't believe I forgot to take pics of inside our cabin but I did. We had a gas fireplace and it was really cozy. They even brought us fresh roses in a vase. Also one of my favorite things about traveling (and I know it's silly) is getting to use those little sample soaps and shampoos. We had a particular treat this time. There was Zion soap in a mint julep flavor made by a Belgium soap maker in Zion and also we had some soap and shampoo from England. It was the best smelling and functioning soap I've ever used.

Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast at the Zion lodge in the park, which is never a disappointment by any means. We stopped by the gift shop there and got a Christmas ornament that says Zion NP on it for my ornament collection. Then we headed out into the park to see how far we could get up the Angel's Landing trail.

The top of Angel's landing is on the tip of that big rock behind me. Dan has done this trail several times to the top but I had never been on it. It is one of the most challenging trails in the park for steepness and several people have fallen right off of it to their deaths. We thought it would make a great family hike, the trail was icy in spots too, so extra fun. At one point I got nauseous because the trail got too icy and I was scared but we turned back at that point. We made it maybe half way up.

Walters Wiggles, icy! We turned around at the top.


That trail is all ice!
Beautiful view of Zion Canyon.The trail we just came up.

After this hike, and since we were only gone about 2 hours, we decided to have more adventures in the park. We went snow shoeing that afternoon on the East side of the park.

Here's the thing about Dan. He snowshoes in shorts (and says it's because he grew up in Hawaii and doesn't like pants) Sara is dressed in 2 snow suits to keep warm.





The next day was Monday morning and we got up to get ready to go home. Before we left we ate at a neat cafe called the Thuderbird Restaurant in Mt. Carmel, home of the "ho-made" pies. The menu had some interesting historical background about the lady that started the restaurant to feed the workers building the tunnel in Zion.

We ordered biscuits and gravy and the waitress warned us they were big. We had no idea. They were about a 7 inches tall and smothered in gravy and cheese. Luckily we were going skiing that morning before we left. If you're ever in Mt. Carmel Utah though I highly recommend this place. It was a nice ending to a great weekend for everyone.