Cedar City and Zion National Park

Ben and Adam in front of a one-room cabin in Grafton Ghost Town

Ben in front of the school at the Grafton Ghost Town

Ben and Dustin studying rocks

After three days in Las Vegas, we were ready to get back to nature. We decided to stay in a cabin at the #1 rated KOA Kampground in Utah in Cedar City. Boy was Mom glad she chose the cabin over the tent site as a huge thunderstorm hit just as we finished unpacking the car. Putting up the tent in the rain is not my idea of fun. We chose Cedar City because of its proximity to Zion and Bryce National Parks and also because it tends to be 20 degrees cooler than areas around Zion. You know we’ve been camping in some remote spots when Adam was in awe of the bathrooms at the KOA. Thank God we didn’t start out here, or I never would have gotten them to rough it in the wilderness.

Our first day in Cedar City we visited Zion National Park. I splurged so the boys and I could go on the Zion Outback Safari. It was a 3 hour guided tour with Dustin our driver. We visited the ghost town of Grafton and went on the back roads to the top of Gooseberry Mesa. As we had the tour to ourselves, Dustin kindly stopped so the boys could throw rocks off the cliffs, pick Juniper berries, hunt for lizards and wander as close to the cliff edge as possible. I am also convinced that he chose the roughest part of the road to increase the bumpy ride. For the boys, this was the highlight of the trip to Zion and worth every penny.