Our first stop after Death Valley was Las Vegas. We spent the weekend there, then moved onto Zion National Park. One night we went and drove down the Strip and got to see all of the lights. We also got to see both of the light shows, but only briefly; from the car. We walked down the Venetian, a building that look as though you are outside walking the streets of Venice! The store fronts look like buildings, and the roof is painted like the sky. And the coolest part of it was that it had a canal winding through it.

Zion National Park had beautiful red walls and “normal” trees. By “normal” trees I meant; when the last few national parks you’ve been to have had funky trees or palm trees, it is nice to see a tree that looks like home!

We went on the Emerald Pools hike. There were three pools that ran off the cliffs, making some refreshing waterfalls that we got to walk right under!!!

On Thursday, November 17 we went canyoneering!!!!!!!! It was SO cold, the guide said it was the coldest day he had ever been canyoneering. We were walking through snow along the trail, and when we headed back out to the truck it was still there. I love snow, but when your mind is set on warmth in the winter and it’s around zero degrees, it feels very cold!!!

Our first practice rappel. We had to lower ourselves down, at our own speed. The only thing the guide helped with was attaching you to the rope and instructing you from the top if you needed help. He also had a rope that he was letting out as a safety thing.

One of the rappels; we had to walk down the side and then let ourselves swing into the wall and continue on down.

The part you can’t see was the hard part. After you went over the ledge it was completely vertical, so when you reached the bottom you would be basically sitting on the ground before you realized you were done the rappel.

The first canyon we rappelled was called Slot Canyon, and this must be where it got its name from. We had to squeeze through this crack to get out of the canyon. And for the few claustrophobic people in my family, it felt like an even tighter squeeze.

This is me. You can laugh, I won’t be offended. When I saw this picture I laughed SO hard! It looks like I am stuck, but I’m not, everyone else did this, too. It just wasn’t caught on camera… This was the last rappel of the day, and where I appear to be stuck was the hardest part. The crack is super narrow and goes really far back into the rock, and, a bonus, it’s sheer. So we basically had to shimmy until we could use our feet again.

We had a GREAT time, and lots of fun! One of the funniest parts was when Lanaya used her head as a grip to slide down a rock. She had her head mushed up against one rock and her feet on the other, and was lowering herself down on her rope.

Actual proof that I was in snow!!! We moved onto Bryce National Park and did it in a day. Then drove for five hours to try and get somewhere warmer because the camper cannot freeze! We drove on the top of the canyon and stopped at some of the view points, then left.

Natural Bridge; just one of the viewpoints we spent a few minutes looking at the amazing view.

Looking at the beauty as we speed away towards some warmth.

We made it to the Grand Canyon, where we stopped for two days. The views were phenomenal!!!

I loved the look of the sky in this photo, and the colours.

On Sunday we left for Phoenix, and stopped to do a bit of schooling along the way. There were some old remains where the Natives had lived a few hundred years ago, on top of a hill.

And finally Phoenix!!!!!!! We got here on Sunday and left today. We hung around the camper, went swimming, and did our Christmas shopping. We also went on a hike up Echo Trail. It was 1.83km (1.14miles) and we gained 1 264 feet. It was more fun thinking back on it… We made it to the top with no injuries, we were almost at the bottom and BAM I hurt myself. But I could still walk so it was okay!!! I, being the smart person that I am, decided to slide down the handrails, because, honestly, why would you climb down when you can slide down?!?!? It was going great, and then I lost my balance and fell off(feet first) and scraped all the skin off part of my shin. But I womanned up, and kept going, although I didn’t slide down anymore rails…

This past weekend the Dennison’s have been very generous hosts! They invited us over for our first American Thanksgiving, including us in their family festivities and feeding us an amazing meal!!! They also had us over on Sunday afternoon for another delicious meal. Another awesome thing from this weekend was going to a Young People’s!!! I had a great time, and they were all super friendly!

Last night we went to Chad and Cynthia’s for a snack after Gospel Meeting, and their daughter, Christy, had a corn snake, a guinea pig and a hedgehog!!!! We got to hold all of them, but I only touched the snake.

And the worst news of all: Dad’s bike, Mom’s bike, and my bike were stolen!!! They cut through our 3/8 inch cable of braided steel.