Gwilliam Gazette : St George

We wanted to plan a family reunion of sorts for when Jacob got home from his mission and decided on St George, because it wouldn't be too hot there yet, it's close and it's been years since we were there.

It did not disappoint. We had a great Airbnb that was huge, and had access to kids water slides, lazy rivers, adult pools, hot tubs and 10 minutes from Snow Canyon State Park, which we've never (officially) been to. (Our "unofficial" visit to Snow Canyon was HERE)

The first evening, we went to a very very very nice local park. It was huge and had so many things for kids (of all ages) to do!

Yep, even Hannah fit!

Maybe they're just a "little" big?

NA! It's made for this!

This was like a self back massager

It didn't take Marissa and Matt too long to get dizzy on this

This one everyone could get on!

Just like the olden days - sister play time

We finished out the night by visiting the kid pool area

The next day we headed to Snow Canyon State Park

Our first stop was Jenny's Canyon. A short hike to a small slot canyon for the whole family

Next up was the Petrified Sand Dunes. These dunes were very interesting. It seems that more than 183 million years ago, sand covered much of what is now Utah. These dunes, up to 2500 feet thick in some places, eventually cemented into stone. Then, over time, water cut and shaped the sandstone the way it is now. Then, to make things even more interesting, only 1.4 million years ago, and as recent as 27,000 years ago, nearby cinder cones from a huge volcano erupted causing lava to flow around the area creating lava tubes and mountains

Along the petrified sand dunes, were lots of "Moqui Marbles" which only occur in several places in southern Utah. The are small brownish-black balls made of up iron and sandstone. The have a sandstone center, and outer iron shell and are usually as big as marbles. They have also been found on Mars! It is not entirely known for sure how they form, but it's thought that the iron particles slowly move through the sandstone, collecting other iron particles and then attracting each other, eventually form a ball.

They were all over the sand dunes

This is what the Moqui Marbles look like before they break free from the sandstone - like warts

Yep, Jacob and Hannah had to do their handstands

VIDEO:

Some of us then headed to see the lava tubes. There are two tubes in the park officially, that you can go and explore. You do need a light, as it's completely 100% dark once you get in

It was pretty cool exploring.....we had enough though and didn't go to the other tube

When we got out, it was really crowded!!

As we were walking back to the car, we wondered how many other tubes were underneath where we were walking?

After Snow Canyon, it was pool time!

The next day we and Marissa and Matt headed out to find the "Vortex" while Meghan Corey and kids went to the park/pool. The Vortex is an odd geological formation at the top of other sand dunes (outside of Snow Canyon) and the trail is well.....not really a trail...you'll see......

Yes, we are on the trail..hopefully...most of the trail was up and over and around more petrified sand dunes. We had to look for cairns to mark the trail....and look at a trail app to make sure we were still on the right track. The hike itself isn't too bad - 1 1/2 miles each way, but the terrain was steep at times

The good thing about the petrified dunes was that the way it formed, there were "steps" that made going up what would normally be too steep to climb, much easier to climb

We found the "cairn forest" which meant we were close.

We found it! The Vortex is on the top of a ridge, so you can't really see it until you come right up on it. It's about 60 feet deep and looks like a toilet bowl shaped by thousands, maybe millions of years of water swirling around in it and wind.