So Friday morning [...]]]> Gianluigi Proto, our 21 year old friend from Rome, Italy, has been staying with us while attending an English class at the University of Utah. He’s going to be heading back to Italy in a few weeks and we haven’t taken the time to show him many unique sites in Utah.

So Friday morning I got a wild idea to take him to Southern Utah to see Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park. I asked Gianluigi if he wanted to go; he said, “yes”, so he and I jumped in the car and drove to Cedar City.

We stayed at my brother’s house Friday night and then got up early Saturday, had breakfast with my brother and his wife at the Market Grill and then drove down to Springdale to see Zion National Park.

Gianluigi at weeping rock

The Forest Service has a pretty cool shuttle system that will take visitors right into the park. The shuttles come by about every 6 to 8 minutes, so it’s easy to ride to a stop, get off and look around and then get back on another shuttle to see a different stop.

The first stop that Gianluigi and I made was at Weeping Rock.

Geologists estimate that the water that weeps out of this rock has been traveling through the rock for over 1,000 years!

After seeing weeping rock, we stopped at a few other places along the way and then made our way back to where the trailhead starts for the hike up to Angel’s Landing. The Angel’s Landing hike is 2.5 miles long, one way. The first 2 miles are on a pretty good incline, but still a fairly easy walk. The last half mile is pretty steep and close to the edge. The nice forest ranger people have installed chains that go along the ridge so that us folks who hike up can have something to hold on to so we don’t get blown off the top. Cool, huh?

It rained on us while we were at the top. But what a view!

Here are some pictures of Angel’s Landing:

Gianluigi towards the top of Angel's Landing

The chains

Looking down

On Sunday, we drove to Bryce Canyon National Park. The sky was clear, but it was cold!

Thanks for going with me to see these cool places!

I have uploaded more pictures here