Zion

My friends Meldee and Don took a vacation recently to Zion National Park in Utah.  Meldee was kind enough to share her photos of this majestically beautiful place.

She writes:  

These pictures were taken on a hike we took along the Virgin River to a park they call "Temple of Sinawava".  We did it early in the day.  I loved the constrasts in the red rock walls and the bright green brand-new leaves on the cottonwood trees and the gorgeous blue sky!

The Temple of Sinawava is a vertically-walled natural amphitheatre nearly 3,000 feet (910 meters) deep.  The canyon rim is mostly desert, but the canyon floor supports a forest watered by the North Fork Virgin River.

She continues:

This time of year there are places along the canyon wall that just have water running out of the wall.  Different from what you expect in the desert.

There were lots of flowers if you thought to look for them.  I saw that people didn't even notice them, walked right on by...

In 1909, the canyon was first declared a national monument, and in 1919 it was declared a national park.  It was Mormon settler Isaac Behunin who, in the 1850s, named the canyon Zion because it was a place of peace.

Thought for today: How many times do we fail to notice the beautiful things God has placed right under our noses - or right by our feet?   As you go looking for your place of peace, don't miss the flowers along the way!