Once we decided to make the drive to Colorado Springs for the Experience Compassion Conference, I put on my travel guide hat and started looking at travel routes and stops we could make along the way. By driving the southern route, I found out that we could stop at a couple of national parks! The really great things was that we could break up the trip by stopping at one park on the way to Colorado Springs, then stop at the other park on the way home! I just love when things work out like this!

So after driving for about 10 hours the day before, we made a day trip to Zion National Park.

We had just bought a National Park Pass on our last trip to Yosemite, so basically, we didn't pay anything out of pocket on the trip to visit this park.

This was our first view of the park, after the entrance sign.

I love all the different wild flowers at the different parks.

View up into the canyon from the river.

Our first hike was out to the Emerald Pools, there were hardly any pools and they were not Emerald. Maybe in a different season? Plus the path was closed off at one point and we couldn't hike any further. I am sure this area is really amazing after a big rain storm!