The husband and I had time off at the beginning of last month (October) and while it is still COVID times, we needed to get away. To get out of state. While I wish we didn’t have to deal with COVID, it was exactly what we needed. It’s cold, wet, and gross here right now in Seattle, so we chose to go somewhere sunny. We went to Las Vegas and Southern Utah!

If you’re new here, we lived in the Vegas area for 4 years while Geoff went to medical school. We had not yet been back since our return to Washington. When we got off the plane, we were hit with the familiar heat, smells, and sights of the Vegas valley. Needless to say, we were very happy to be in a warmer climate. It only confirmed that long term, we probably want to be somewhere warmer. Sorry mom.

We bracketed our trip with time in Las Vegas. Flew in on Sunday, ran around town. Got my favorite poke (Poke Poku) for lunch, visited the outlet malls, and even got deep dish pizza (Giordanos) for dinner! That same night we drove to Southern Utah where we were meeting up with my in-laws who just also happened to be down there at the same time! Driving with the deep dish pizza in the back was torture because it smelled SO GOOD. But we waited till we could share it with my in-laws. And it was well worth the wait.

Since a majority of our trip was spent in Southern Utah, we had my in-laws show us around their future city of retirement. Went to some amazing food places, which I have listed down below. We are very excited for them and cannot wait for their home to be complete. They’ve worked so incredibly hard for this and the fact they’re getting everything they want, makes my heart full.

• Lamy’s – very good Mexican food.
• Iceberg – heads up, the mini milkshake? Is not mini.
• Icebox – try the pastrami burger.
• Nielsen’s Frozen Custard – similar to Iceberg, share.

While also in Southern Utah, we went backpacking. How could we not somehow spend some time outside in Zion National Park?! If you’re curious, we ended up doing the Hop Valley to Lee’s Canyon trail. It wasn’t bad at all. Geoff wanted to possibly do two nights instead of one…but thankfully I was able to convince him that one night was enough. Hahaha I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love being outdoors and backpacking. But hiking in the PNW is very different than hiking in the high desert. Thank goodness we chose to play it safe. The hike from our campsite, to our ending point (Lee’s Canyon) was mostly in the sun…and it was uphill. Which. Sucked. With little to no water sources (the Virgin River where one would normally get water had a bacteria in it that was not safe for consuming), it meant we carried ALL OF OUR WATER for the two days we were out in the backcountry. For the two of us, we took 10L and it was just enough to get us through.

We cannot wait to go back again and explore another part of the park. Hopefully this time there won’t be any bad bacteria infecting the water sources. Carrying all your water is pretty cumbersome. Have you been to Zion? Did you do any backpacking? If so, what did you do and did you enjoy it?? Tell me more!

While it is now cold and gross here in the PNW I am going to dream of warmer weather and planning for our next trip down. Hopefully very soon! 🤞🏼❤️