Wanderbrush

For New Years Day, instead of recovering from a busy New Years Eve, we set out to one of our favorite places. Las Vegas! Well, the airport at least. Alas, we skipped over the casinos and slot machines and set off to Springdale, Utah.

My boyfriend and I first visited Zion National Park back in December 2022. We were visiting Arizona and decided to embark on a day trip up to Zion. The drive ended up taking us a lot longer than expected and we only got to spend a few hours in the park before we had to head back to our hotel in AZ. However, the first time we came out of the Mt. Caramel tunnel and were graced with the stunning views of Zion had us instantly yearning for more time inside the park.

New Years Day fell on a Wednesday this year, so we decided to take off Thursday and Friday and squeeze in a 5 day vacation to Zion at the start of the 2025. We landed in Las Vegas around noon on January 1st, got our luggage and rental car, and headed out of Sin City. Being from the east coast, we of course stopped by In N Out as we made our way out of the city.

The drive from Las Vegas to Springdale is about 2.5 hours. However, this drive is not short on gorgeous views of its own. We were racing to try and get to Zion before sunset, but that did not stop us from stopping at a pull off or two to bask in the views.

This was a quick stop we made at Virgin Canyon Recreation Area, right off of I-15 just a little bit before you leave Nevada and enter Utah.

As we made our way into Utah, passed through St. George and Hurricane, we quickly started to approach Springdale around 5pm. We had until 8pm to check into our hotel so we bypassed the turn for our lodging and barreled towards the South Entrance of the Park. We saw the canyon slowly going to sleep as the sun quickly set. I hurried to try and capture a few glimpses and pictures before darkness fully enveloped the park.

During this time of the year, there is no shuttle service in the park, so you are able to drive all through the park, including the scenic drive that takes you all the way to Riverside walk, or the trailhead for the Narrows. We drove all the way to this point and the darkness of nighttime was quickly on our heels. My boyfriend got a new camera for Christmas, so he took advantage of our ample free time to take some night photography shots along our drive.

Nighttime long exposure shot taken from a pull off along Zion Canyon Road.

After we soaked in some time under the crystal clear, star-studded sky, we decided to head back to Springdale to check into our accommodation for our stay. We stayed at the Driftwood Lodge, just a quick 5 minute drive away from the South Entrance of the park. At the end of my Zion series, I will post our itinerary as well as a cost breakdown for our trip. We stayed in a canyon view room and the views sure did not disappoint. The front desk staff was very friendly and our room was such a comforting place to unwind after a long day in the park.

Our view from the balcony of our room at Driftwood Lodge in Springdale, Utah.

After we assessed our room and dropped our bags in the room, we set out on our next important quest, finding food. We landed on Thai food after our lunch of burgers and animal style fries. We went to Thai Sapa in Springdale and ate our Pad Thai and Bach Sio while we planned out our next day. We chatted with some other fellow travelers while we waited for our table and compared itineraries to ensure we didn’t miss anything noteworthy during our visit.

After we were mentally and physically satiated, we retreated back to our lodge, unpacked, and prepped for our Day 2 adventure, *attempting* Angel’s Landing.