Bob Marley and Zion

We've been listening to a lot of Bob Marley these past few months, and this has been stuck in my head for the past 2 days:

"We're jammin' (jammin', jammin', jammin')
And we're jammin' in the name of the Lord;
We're jammin' (jammin', jammin', jammin'),
We're jammin' right straight from Yah.

Yeh! Holy Mount Zion;
Holy Mount Zion:
Jah sitteth in Mount Zion
And rules all creation."

 -Bob Marley, Jammin'

(hear it here)

After spending our last few days with my sister and her family in Mountain View, CA, experiencing heat for the first time in a looong time (oh, lovely Monterey and your 70 degree highs...), and having a reaaallly rough evening with li'l Coop (and being super scared that was what our next 30 days would look like), we officially hit the road on our cross-country "Oregon Trail" move:

Monterey, California -> Groton, Connecticut

via 8 National Parks

5,065 miles

We spent our first night in Barstow, CA and Cooper literally slept through the night.  10:45pm to 7am.  What a way to take away our anxiety! 

After visiting Calico Ghost Town outside of Barstow:

 we drove to Zion National Park.  We did a shorter night hike and then an all-day hike the following day.  Temperatures were OVER 110F in southern California and Zion, but Zion is the perfect park to hike in the middle of the heat.  Zion officially has our favorite hiking trail: the Narrows.  The trail is the river, so you're hiking up the riverbed between the stunning canyon walls.  Amazing.  It kept us cool and Cooper slept in his carrier.  

We LOVED Zion and it is definitely on our list of places to return to.  We think Coop will love it, too!