Orchestra Tour - Day Two

Here is a shot of the tour buses.  The bus Helena and I were assigned to is on the right.  They look really low to the ground because they have an air ride feature that makes them lower to make it easier to step in and out of them.

While they were definitely more comfortable than school buses would have been, I was really glad to get off of it!

What follows are just a bunch of photos of our time in Zion National Park.

Helena and Kim on the bridge that leads to the Emerald Pools hike.

I was struck over and over with the vivid color contrast between the red rocks and the bright spring green foliage.

This was the waterfall at the top of the third Emerald Pool.

We hiked with a group of four other girls.  Their names are Allissa, Erika, Camille,and Kim.  Kim was one of Helena's room-mates.

A Close up shot of the girls in front of the waterfall.

It was quite windy right below the falls.  Notice how Helena's hair is swirling around her head!

On the way back down the trail, we noticed an outcropping of rock that had this stupendous view beyond it.  We burned several minutes letting each of the girls pose while I took photos of them all.  I need to burn disks for all of them so they can have these photos to play with!

If it weren't for all the other hikers coming and going, it would be a really zen place to do your yoga!

I told them to do a 'Lion King' pose for this shot.

The views everywhere were just stunning; and this was just on one of the easiest hikes in the park!  I hope to be able to go see even more amazing sights next month when we visit as a family.

I love the texture on this rock background.  The lighting gave her hair some red highlights.  It made this background work really well for her.

The sun came out from behind the clouds for the remainder of the afternoon, so I was able to get this shot of sunlit water falling at the lower Emerald Pool.

The rock formation bows inward, so the waterfall is to the left of this picture, yet it actually falls from the rocks on the right.

Helena wanted to have me take her picture while sitting on this rock wall.  It drops off on the other side, but it was hard to see that in this photo.

After the hike, we returned to the lodge and had some ice cream while sitting in the sun and shade on the big grassy field.  I really appreciated the opportunity to just relax and enjoy the warm weather!  I like my vacations slow and unscheduled, so that hour of lounging around doing nothing in Zion felt like a mini vacation to me.

There was a boy named Daniel who kept climbing the huge tree in the middle of the field.  He was like a monkey!  We told him to be careful that Mrs. Smith didn't see him, or she'd yell at him.

The final image of the day is of Helena and Kim soaking up some sun.  There was a game of ultimate frisbee going on, but these two decided it was more relaxing to not join the game.  I have to agree!