Anniversary Vacation

Brian and I celebrated our 5-year anniversary in June. Brian bought me a new cookbook from Better Homes and Gardens and on June 20 I made a candle-light dinner from the new cookbook. (Good thing we have 2 candlesticks since Elliott required his own during dinner!) Afterward we spent a lovely evening with family at Brian's cousin's wedding reception. Then we planned a summer getaway for the 2 of us.

 I have wanted to see a play down at Tuacahn in southern Utah for years and years now. So we bought our tickets and made a hotel reservation and found a place for Elliott to stay and Voila! I dropped Elliott off at Dewey and Liz's in Pocatello to spend a few days playing with his cousins. After he'd been there a few days, I talked to him on the phone and he said he didn't miss us and when I asked if he was ready to come home, he replied, "not yet." He had so much fun and was even worn out enough to take naps during the days. Thanks Liz for taking care of our little guy - we weren't worried about him at all! 

After dropping Elliott off on Wednesday, it was a clear evening so Brian and I started off our vacation with a trip out to Antelope Island to view the stars. It really helps to get away from the city lights and to have a great place so close to our home. Since I'd had a few hours a week earlier to see all the constellations from my  mom's house, I had a huge advantage over Brian. I can identify every constellation in the sky at this moment! The sky is brilliant and majestic and it's thrilling to identify Sagittarius, Scorpius, Ophiuchus, the Serpens, the Bootes, Corona Borealis, the Summer Triangle: Lyra, Aquila and Cygnus, Hercules, Virgo, Draco, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, the Big and Little Dippers, Delphinus, Ursa Major, Leo minor, (only half of Leo is visible now)and then after midnight to see Pegasus and Andromeda rising. We now use 3 different books with star charts and diagrams in them and we even used the Starwalk app on the Ipad. We enjoy looking at the stars together!

The next morning we slept in and then got ready and left for vacation! We arrived in St. George Thursday evening and the hot temperatures we'd been dreading had disappeared with the rain earlier in the day. It was so pleasant we walked a few blocks from out hotel to the campus of Dixie State College and walked around. It was very pretty. Then after a quiet evening, we spent Friday by going through the St. George Temple, walking around the visitors' center, the historic Tabernacle and square and Brigham Young's winter home. Also, I need to note that Brian is a nerd and likes to visit local libraries wherever he visits (he even visited the library in Dayton Ohio on a business trip.) So of course we wandered through the St. George library -to it's credit it is in a very lovely old historic building next to the tabernacle. Then we drove up on a ridge overlooking St. George and finally brought out the camera for some pictures. 

Brian with the St. George Temple in the distance. 

 Me in the same spot. 

 The D for Dixie on the hill and the white spire is the tabernacle.

The gorgeous red rock and the blessed overcast sky that kept it cool for our visit! 

 Friday night brought showtime and we drove through gorgeous scenery to the Tuacahn amphitheater in Ivins just outside of St. George. We were excited to see the musical, Mary Poppins!

 Ok, so maybe I was more excited than Brian, since he refused to pose in the cut-outs. 

 I just couldn't get over the red cliffs just beyond the stage. It is stunning!

 Another pose!

 And us in our seats! I admit that as the sky darkened, I just glanced up during the show and could see several constellations from my seat. So cool! Also cool were the visual effects of the show, including fireworks, Bert tap-dancing across the ceiling and of course, Mary Poppins flying in with her umbrella.

 St. George is also a great place to view the stars and after the show, star-gazed and even saw a few shooting stars. It was a very late night and so we slept in on Saturday. (We Ashtons and Cooks really value our sleep!) Then off to brunch and an afternoon spent at Zion National Park. It was gorgeous and again, not too hot - which for July in southern Utah is a miracle! We even ventured off the shuttle bus and hiked up the very short trail to Weeping Rock. 

 It was breathtaking to see the water dripping down from above and also very refreshing. 

 Brian and I at Weeping Rock with the vista behind us. 

 It is very beautiful and was so fun to see so many families out hiking together, even with their small children. 

I was wearing sandals and took advantage of wading through the Virgin River after we hiked to the lower pools. Brian would not remove his shoes and socks to join me. 

 We thought this cloud was trying to pose as a mountain peak, and it fit right in with all the others. 

 After getting off the shuttles, we decided it would be fun to drive through the Mt. Carmel tunnel that was built through a mountain to connect Zion with the east entrance and Bryce National Canyon. The tunnel was impressive, but no one warned us of the terrifying sheer-drop-off switchbacks we needed to drive in order to get to the tunnel. We survived though and were pleasantly surprised out how much we enjoyed Zion, even though we are not hikers. We drove back into St. George for dinner and then back to Tuacahn for Starlight Express. It was also very entertaining and we even got 3D glasses for the races. 

Then on Sunday morning we packed up, went to church, had a picnic lunch in the park (still overcast and cooler) and drove home. We dropped off some things at Brian's parents on the way through town and had a lovely dinner with them. Then on Monday, I drove to Pocatello to pick up Elliott. It was so good to see him! I even got to see  my aunt and uncle and their family who are in town visiting from Illinois. Yay for vacations!