Saturday, June 20, 2026
Heading out from Vegas! Case in point why we have to go carry on only… and the Toyota Sienna minivan has a BIG trunk!
Drive to first stop, Vegas > Valley of Fire State Park.
First stop, Beehives!
Visitor Center:
Picked up a map and chatted with the sweetest park ranger older lady, Carol.
Tons of foreigners here! Waiting with me to ask questions were two pairs from France (Paris!), some people from Austria, Germany, China, and Japan. I asked the guy from Paris if this (red rocks/desert/100+ degrees) was a “a little different from Paris??” And he laughed and said, “Very!” 🙂
Atlal Rock. Awesome petroglyphs!
Near the “old” visitor center: bighorn sheep!! Aren’t they the coolest?
Scenic drive through the park.
I liked how the road looked between the rocks.
Me pretending to be a travel influencer in a silly pose… hahaha. 😆 This is why I don’t do things like this, because I look quite goofy. 😜
Trail at Mouse Tank:
Majority of long trails in Valley of Fire are closed in summer (heat!). We just did one short 0.5 mile round trip hike and that was PLENTY through the sand! Gorgeous though!!!!
A few more scenic stops. Loved this park! Definitely recommend. Nice that long hikes not necessary to still enjoy amazing views! (Could have done a few other shorter ones too but in interest of time/heat we didn’t.)
Super cool- red rock meets white rock.
Balanced Rock:
The cabins:
At the elephant rock trailhead:
They agreed to this family shot:
LOVE THESE!!
On the way out of valley of fire, headed toward St. George.
Utah state line:
Food stop in St. George!! Obligatory In and Out burgers!! Yummmmm… my parents’ and the boys’ first time.
Back on the road- next stop (final stop) = Springdale, Utah, just outside Zion National Park and our home for the next 3 nights.
First impression- love Springdale! Such a clean, classy looking town. Has like an, “upscale nature vibe”, if that’s a thing.
View from outside the grocery store! Quick stop for a few things.
Checking into hotel:
Rocks everywhere!!! Amazing.
Settled in, then headed to Zion Canyon Brew Pub. We ate those big burgers too late so weren’t really hungry for a proper dinner, but we got beers and enjoyed the views and shared a mango shrimp ceviche.
Note- Utah has VERY strict alcohol laws! Ivan had to run my mom back to the hotel for her ID because they had to literally scan our IDs before we could be admitted to the beer garden area. 😳 She was like, clearly I’m over 21!!!! lol. But no dice, ID was required.
The boys opted to stay back and watch a World Cup game.
Drive from Vegas to Zion is about 2.5 hours total but we were in car longer with all the stops through Valley of Fire. They just wanted to chill and then go to the pool.
We got back in time to watch them in pool a bit and relax outside a little before bed.
That’s all for day 2!
Sorry these posts are going to be photo heavy and text light- just not much time but want to keep up since summer is crazy later and I doubt I’ll have time to do full posts later!! I’ll maybe jump back into these and add some more details if needed later. Enjoy the pics at least! 🙂
Off to our e-biking day! It’s a beauty of a day:
GRATEFUL KAE 