Day 16 – June 3, 2024 – Springdale, UT
Today we decided to check things out around here to get the feel of everything. We walked up to the south entrance and the line was too long for the bus, so we decided to hike the Watchman Trail, which is a 3 ½ mile trail round trip. We got some nice view from the top of the viewpoint. After that trail, we walked back to our BNB, ditched our packs, put on flips flops, and headed next door to the Hangry Goat for a couple of bowls that had chicken and brisket along with rice and beans. We then hit the coffee shop that is below our BNB and John had a double espresso (whoa!) and I had an iced chai tea latte.
We then headed back to the park and picked up the bus heading north into the park and the plan was to get off at Weeping Rock to do a hike, but it was closed due to a landslide, so we stayed on and got off at the Grotto and did a short ½ mile hike to the Zion Lodge. We got back on the bus, and it dropped us off at our stop near the visitor’s center and came back to the room to clean up and get ready for dinner.
Tonight, we had a marvelous dinner at The Spotted Dog Cafe! We started with a cocktail, I had a French 75 and John had an Old Fashioned. We split a Field Blend Salad, which was spring mix, beets, candied walnuts and craisins with blue cheese crumbles and a citrus vinaigrette. For our entrees, I had the Red Trout, that was lightly grilled with wild and brown rice, chayote, berries, and grilled radishes. John had the blackened ahi tuna (rare) with shiitake mushroom Parmesan risotto cake, avocado mango salsa and chayote and grilled radishes. For dessert, we had an Italian Lemon cake with a glass of limoncello. It reminded us of being in Italy last year and was a dream! We had a great waiter, Freddie, and he did an awesome job. It was a meal to remember 😊
We headed back to the room, watched a little TV as the sun set and called it a night. Tomorrow is a full day with the bikes and some hikes in between. Nite all!
