Welcome back to National Parks & other public lands with T! If you are seeing this on Twitter or Facebook, please visit the blog to see all of the photos and read the story by clicking the link.

When visiting Zion National Park, we stayed in the Watchman building of Zion Lodge. These were reasonably priced accommodations with a rustic motel vibe and common areas in each building with fireplaces, seating and board games.

The convenience of being inside the park made staying here worthwhile…there are long lines to get from Springdale to the Visitors Center each morning and then more lines to board the shuttles since no cars are allowed on the park drive.

The original lodge was built in 1924, but had to be rebuilt quickly after a fire in 1966 destroyed it. Remodeled in the nineties, it was restored to its appearance from the twenties, but it…