Saturday began with us waking up to a cold rainy morning. We let the kids sleep in a little because we'd had a busy day at Capitol Reef the day before, and we knew we had some busy days ahead of us!
We had a wet but beautiful drive from Torrey, Utah to Bryce Canyon. The drive took about two and a half hours along Scenic Highway Utah 12. (side note - we've now put 1,000 miles on the minivan since we started the trip!). The scenery on the drive was another amazing experience of Utah's constantly changing landscape. The colors of the rock changed as we went along - browns and yellows and then more pinks and brighter reds as we got closer to Bryce.
While Kevin and I were enjoying the scenery, the kids were doing their own things. We've developed kind of a routine during our car drives. First, they write about the day before in their trip diaries (thanks for suggesting these Marti, they're great!). They they might write a postcard. And their favorite part of riding in the car - games on the ipods! So they've been pretty oblivious to the scenery while driving. There was one time when Daniel looked up and uttered, "Oh, wow!" at the amazing view, and then he promptly went back to his game! Oh well, I figure these down times help them enjoy other experiences more!
We got to Bryce after lunch and the weather was still overcast and a little rainy. We had planned to go horseback riding but we changed our minds about that, since the weather was so yucky (don't worry, we'll go in Zion). The temperature was in the 50s, which is the coolest we've had on our trip so far!
I was glad we had our ponchos, but I still felt annoyed about the rain. Thank goodness Kevin had enough good attitude to balance out the kids' and my bad attitudes! He kept encouraging us by saying, "Come on, it's an adventure!"
We went to the visitor center and picked up junior ranger activities and some souvenirs (three more stuffed animals purchased plus one more for my niece.) Then we hopped back in the car to drive around the park.
It had stopped raining, so we were able to get out and see the views without much hardship. And what views they were! All the reds and pinks! All the hoodoos (the tall spire type things)! And we learned that Bryce Canyon is not actually a canyon, but a plateau. One of the rangers said that usually a canyon has a river at the bottom of it. Canyon or plateau, it was still spectacular!
We took a short ranger led walk along the rim of the "amphitheater." We learned a lot about how the hoodoos are formed, learned how frequent and dangerous lightning strikes are, and saw some more great views.
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| Kevin in front of the Natural Bridge |
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| the Sinking Ship |
After that, we checked into Bryce Canyon Pines (definitely a motel!), and then we ate dinner at the restaurant there. Let me just say that the kids have not been eating great during the trip. They've had lots of mac 'n cheese and bologna sandwiches. So tonight, I'm thrilled to announce that each child had both a green bean and a carrot with their dinners!
In the evening we went back to the park and attended another ranger program, "Astronomy through the Ages." It was very interesting, but long, over an hour. The kids were tired, but they were troopers. The best part of the program was going outside and seeing bazillions of stars everywhere! There were a couple telescopes set up to look through, but we were more impressed by just looking with the naked eye. We could see the Milky Way, and we even saw a comet!
We got back to our hotel around 10:30pm, tired and weary. Tomorrow (Sunday) we'll be up early to drive to Page, Arizona and take a smooth water raft trip down the Colorado River.
5 comments:
We have some of the same pictures (kids in front of the sign)! So did anyone fall off the rim :) The twins were 4 years old when we did this and I was terrified b/c there were no guard rails. Sounds like you're having a great time!
I know what you mean Stacy! I was nervous with the kids and no rail! I always made them walk on the inside.
I love it. Especially the "a" green bean and "a" carrot. That's what vacations are for ---- throwing all the usual stuff aside and having some lik-m-aid! I was showing Megan where you were on the map - she is sooo excited about seeing Anna's new animals.
Love the stories. Keep them coming. I'm trying my darnedest to figure out how we can do this!! Ha!
"Come on, it's an adventure!" Nice job, Kevin.
Great shot of Kelly and those hoodoos (or whatever).
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