Seeing as how we had been up till real late the night before at Bryce , we got up Saturday morning not at the crack of dawn and headed south on Skutumpah Road into Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The road was a bit intense in a couple spots, so we were glad Dad was there and we could pile into his Explorer. About half hour later, the road crossed Willis Creek, and we parked at the trailhead. There were only four or five other cars there, and we only saw a few people the whole time, which was really nice - and surprising for such a beautiful and family-friendly slot canyon. Let's DO THIS THING! Within a couple hundred yards, the trail drops into the creek and stays there the whole hike. If we do the canyon again, though, I'd start right in the creek because there's a short slot and waterfall we missed out on. There are three slotted sections, each longer than the last, with maybe a quarter to half a mile of desert hiking in between. The wa...

Back story: Flights to Georgia were cheaper out of Vegas than Salt Lake. Like, a lot cheaper. So we decided to combine a trip to visit my family and Michelle's into one epic vacation. And looking at the map and the calendar, I couldn't help but notice that between us and St. George was a lot of southern Utah just begging to be explored, so I added and added to our agenda. Here's what the full itinerary looks like: Friday, 6/26: Drive to Bryce, hike, stay in Cannonville. Saturday, 6/27: Hike Willis Creek in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, drive to St. George via Zion and the Pine Creek swimming hole. Sunday, 6/28: Hang out with Grandma and Grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousin Elaina. Monday, 6/29: Drive to Las Vegas, visit great-grandma and great-grandpa, and stay at the Silver Sevens hotel and casino. Tuesday, 6/30: Catch flight at 8:15am to Detroit, lay over for 4 hours, and arrive in Atlanta at 9:07 pm. Pray for us. Wednesday, 7/1-...