That Time We Went to St. George - big post

So let me say (and I hope I'm not repeating myself on the blog) that I've had a hard time not being able to plan a vacation this year. Not because we can't, but because we are trying to save our money for house stuff right now and since we have no idea how much we'll need want once we're in the house we're just trying to stifle any major spending. This doesn't compute very well in my head...I need getaways, I love seeing new places, how can people go a whole year without doing anything??

One day I was on Facebook and a Utah page I follow mentioned a quick, fun, cheap weekend getaway to St. George that it had planned out. I thought why not? That's not really a vacation, it's just a weekend thing, and it might help hold me over a bit. The link had info on when they had farmers markets, street fests, where to stay, what to eat, where to golf, etc. We had never been to St. George before (driven through it on our way to Vegas a lot, but never stopped). So once I got home I mentioned it to Larry, we put in the PTO requests the next day and were set.

Here's the story of that trip:

We went the first Friday of the month because that's when they have the First George Street Fest with music, shops, food, etc. It didn't start till 6 so I worked until noon that day since it's just a 4 hour drive. Leaving that early gave us plenty of time to possibly stop for a late lunch along the way and get checked into the Seven Wives Inn (go check that link out, they are AMAZING!) by 5. We ended up making great time and got to the B&B early. We got checked in, picked from the menu for our breakfast the next morning, visited with the lady who helped us, and then headed to our cute little cottage that was beyond adorable. The best part is they had these little journals on a dresser of people who had stayed there previously. We read so many cool stories, some funny remarks, and got to see how far people had come (hello Italy and the Asian writing!!)

 

We decided to eat dinner at the Painted Pony. It was recommended on the Facebook page itinerary and had really good Yelp reviews. I was worried because online it said it was casual, but the dining seemed semi fancy (we definitely didn't dress up after half the day on the road). The food was delicious and pretty pricey, but it was worth it! The waiter was friendly with his recommendations as well!

French Onion soup in an onion
It was delicious

Small but yummy

After dinner with hit the Street Fest, which was filled with lot of fun things, but the thing I ended up being the most excited about was the antique shops they had. We found lots of fun gems I would have loved to buy. Also, the red rock around the city was so pretty! I immediately fell in love.

 

After walking around we decided to head back to the room to unpack and get settled. They also had this cute little fire pit area next to a chicken coop that we walked through real quick. It was seriously the cutest place I've ever been!

Saturday we decided we had to head to one of the nearby state parks. I had originally wanted to do some hikes (we knew we would be hitting Zion on Sunday for hikes, but I wanted to do as much as we could). Well when we checked in the lady mentioned that if we went to Sand Hollow Reservoir we could jump off the red rock there...hello! How could we pass that up? We decided Saturday would be for that. After eating the most amazing breakfast ever (I got oatmeal and I'm not the biggest oatmeal fan, but I literally gorged myself on this stuff!) we headed out. It took a little while for us to figure out where exactly the red rock area was, but once we found it and found a good spot to jump from I couldn't get enough. Larry claims the water was pretty chilly, but I thought it was warm (I mean it was only 10 AM and it was already 104 degrees...I think most people would love the water at that point). We would jump, swim around, sit on some rocks in the water, and repeat. I even had to cannonball a couple times because I'm still a kid at heart! Haha

Once we were done we saw there was a larger cliff that everyone else was jumping from and Larry wanted to try it. I was a little nervous about people watching me jump, but after watching so many people try I thought I have to do this. When in Rome, right? I told Larry to go first so I could get a video of him jumping and then I'd go afterwards...that's when I figured out how chicken I was! Everyone made it look so easy, but when you get to that ledge I couldn't help but think there had to be rocks down there I would hit. Or what if I went too far down and couldn't get back up? Luckily there was another lady with me who was just as scared so I didn't look too foolish (or at least didn't feel like it). I eventually (after MANY MANY minutes of people trying to convince one of us) I jumped in! It was scary because I went far enough down my ears started to hurt, but I popped back up and just laughed...It was fun, but I was good just doing it once haha.

 

After jumping and swimming around we headed back to the hotel for some lunch and a shower. We had plans to go hiking after swimming, but we were so wiped out and had just enough time to go get ready for our play that night that we skipped it (we'd be going to Zion on Sunday so it's cool if we miss a day right?). We ended up seeing Tarzan that night at the Tuacahn. Unfortunately we didn't hear that you could wear whatever you wanted to the Tuacahn. So while people were in shorts and tank tops we were in fancy clothes and it was sweltering hot! Like still 100 degrees at midnight hot! I felt so bad for Larry, in jeans and long sleeve button up shirt, I'm sure he was miserable, but he was a good sport. The play was really awesome, the theater was beautiful, and I'm so happy we got to see it.

We got back from the play and realized we forgot to order breakfast the next morning so I was automatically sad. I was okay with paying for breakfast somewhere else, but this place had the most amazing food I was bummed I wasn't going to get to try something else. Luckily I have the best husband so the next morning when we woke up he called them to ask if they'd make an exception and let us order still (orders are due by 9 PM so they can get everything ready). Oh man were we not disappointed with the food again. Larry got a fruit and yogurt parfait while I got an omelet...YUM! It was a good start to our last day out.

We went to Zion after leaving the B&B and did the overlook point hike right away (Oh man that line through the tunnel is the worst ever!!). We got some good picks, relaxed, and enjoyed the views. We didn't realize you have to ride a shuttle to get to the other hikes and everything looked so crowded, plus we were so ready to be home at that point we just took off (also my phone had shut down from over heating so I couldn't get more pictures anyways). I got to see what I wanted, I had never been to Zion before either so it was cool to see what we did see, but I was ready to be back in our air conditioned home again. For some reason the drive home seemed to be longer than the drive down, but man when we got home it was so nice to cuddle with the kitties and shower and relax again. I had taken Monday off to do grocery shopping and laundry so Sunday was just to do nothing but enjoy being home.

So while it was a short trip for us, it was SO nice getting away for a weekend. I loved every moment of it, Larry would've loved it more if it had been 30 degrees cooler haha. I am officially obsessed with the red rock and being down there, the towns are so cute and everyone is friendly. Makes me wish I had gone to college down there or something haha. That's our St. George trip and hopefully not our only one for the year :)