Joe got himself a new super-duper lens!

Every time we go on vacation, Joe sees it as an opportunity to add to his already extensive collection of super-duper camera lenses.  This is no exception - seeing national parks apparently required a new super-duper (and super expensive) lens, to capture the magnificence of the landscape!
So, I wanted to make sure he got every opportunity to use it, and got up at 5am (combination of jet lag, and of the fact that I was asleep at 8:30pm last evening).  By 6:00am,  I kept asking Joe "do you want some coffee", and "are you awake", as a gentle way to get us going (the fact that the man has not killed me yet is a one of the purest sign of true devotion...).  It is pitch black here at 6am, because we are on the very west side of the time zone, but by 6:30am, we were on our way, and were rewarded by the sun rising on Zion:

(note the quality of the colors achieved by the new super-duper camera lens!)
We also got to meet a herd of long horned sheep, which apparently is pretty rare:

(note that the colors are not as pretty, because this was taken with my i-phone and not with the super-duper lens!)

We parked at the Zion National park visitor center- just the driving there is magnificent, with stunning views (in fact, so stunning that it is a bit dangerous, as one tends to look up and around, rather than pay attention to the rather steep switchbacks....)and even the parking lot is pretty....

and then we took various shortish hikes - to lovely pools and "weeping" rocks (rather than real water falls, the rocks here seem to weep, and create wonderful ecosystems of hanging gardens).

 (water falling from the rocks in front of the trail, on the way to emerald pond)

 Me, with a big overhanging rock on top of me....

Looking like a hiker!

On the way, we met some of the wildlife:  The already mentioned long-horned sheep, a few blue herons:

and squirrels who, in spite of the numerous signs asking tourists not to feed them, just come to you and beg for food.....

Also got to admire the many wild flowers that bloom this time of the year, including these gorgeous lilies (they smell as wonderful as they look pretty), and cactus pears:

And we got to the top of some spectacular overlooks!  Here is me waving at Joe from a footbridge that felt sturdier than it looks (I'm the blue dot waving back at Joe)

And a rare picture of Joe an I together - on top of the overlook trail - just to prove that he is in fact here too.....

By the time we made it back to the house, we were too tired to go back out for dinner, so we just grilled some steaks on the deck....

Tomorrow, I will try to hike the "narrows" - as the name indicates, the narrowest part of the canyon, requireing special water shoes, and hiking/wading in water that can be chest deep.  It depends a bit on the weather, which has been unstable, and the locals work very hard at scarring the tourists about flash floods....  will see early in the morning.  Joe will provide logistics support.
We did get some storms today too, but nothing to get the Virgin river to flood, just enough to provide pretty skies, and welcomed shade: