St George Weekend

On Friday night we drove down to St George, Utah, stopping at Kolob Canyon on the way, and arriving at the home of our good friends Chris and Rena Redmond. Chris had been our bishop while in Bloomington, IN, and Rena had been the Activities Chair (a calling I hold now in Palo Alto). Chris had also been one of the three owners of the business, Crimson Homes, which built our house (and he had given us a spa bathtub as a wedding present!).

Chris & Rena Redmond at Leeds

They moved to St George in 2005, and we haven't seen them since them. They live in a lovely home with the best swimming pool in their backyard. It has a hot tub, but the pool itself is even more fun. It is long and narrow, so Rena can swim for exercise. It gets 10 feet deep, and has a rock formation that gets up to about 10 feet. You scramble up it and then dive or jump off. Very fun! We went for an evening swim and had a blast.

The next morning we went on two hikes. We drove to Leeds, where Chris and Rena led us on a hike/challenge course. The first one was straddling a rock crevasse and trying to climb up it; I worried my arms would give out!


But thereafter I felt more and more confident, as we shimmied across narrow ledges and down & up slots in the terrains.



Chris really ran us hard, though, and by 10:30 am the sun was already hot, 95 or even 100 degrees! Still, the views were spectacular and made the run in the sun worth it!


After Leeds, we drove to Kanarraville, where we had lunch in the shade, and then headed up into a slot canyon. Taylor said it was similar to the Subway at Zion National Park. We loved it! Hiking in the cool water was so refreshing after the sun at Leeds.


The slot canyon too had some challenges, where we scaled waterfalls using rope ladders, and we slid down natural water slides and hiked through water and on the river banks.



I think Zion and its environs is one of my favorite areas in the whole wide world! The bright reds are so gorgeous!