Zion: Monday, April 19th

The Junior Ranger books required that the kids attend a Ranger-lead program. I found one that I thought would interest them: Zion Zoology, held at the Museum’s back patio. I took the kids back to Zion, unfortunately arriving after lunch meant that we were not able to park inside the park, so had a bit of a walk before being able to get the bus.

The patio location gave fabulous views of the Towers of the Virgin and Bridge Mountain. The kids enjoyed the program, which discussed the various smaller wildlife found at different times of day in the Park. Perhaps most interesting was the small bat, weighing about the same as a nickel, which could eat thousands of mosquitoes each evening (given my mosquito bite reaction, I am becoming more and more appreciative of bats at each location!). Nate was fascinated by the dried lizard encased in a glass block; he really wanted to get it out! At the end, the Ranger showed us the skeleton of a lizard they’d found recently. Why is it that dead things hold such an interest to children?!

Given that this was the last component of the program, the kids were able to get sworn in as Junior Rangers before we left the area. Jake continues to find the native history interesting and spent quite some time looking around the exhibit in the museum. He asks a lot of questions about the way they hunted and how they lived. I can see a project on ancient weapons in his future!