Utah Road Trip, Part VI

After a snack, we completed the scenic drive and ended up at the Bristlecone Loop hike, at over 9,100 feet elevation.

There was so much snow left on the ground! It was fun to tromp through it.

We felt like we were so far away from the Southwest beauty we'd been enjoying, up in the pine trees.

But then you could look down, and there were the red and orange and yellow rocks.
 

We stopped to check out this beautiful arch on our drive back down through the park. 

Utah Road Trip, Part V

After we all had breakfast and packed up from the motel, we headed back into Bryce Canyon. We made our first stop the Visitor's Center.

I'm a sucker for museums and visitor's centers, and this one was excellent.
 

We enjoyed the interactive exhibits, where my 15-year-old could pretend to be a groundhog. As you do!

A highlight of the trip was the reaction of the four kids when they first saw the amazing hoodoos, the pillar rock formations.

Lots of ooohs and ahhhhs. 

We hiked down among the formations and got an up-close look at them.

The colors are amazing:  red, pink, orange, yellow.

The face you make when you're practicing coin-flipping, for your upcoming play, and flip your coin right off the cliff.

Utah Road Trip, Part IV

When I was researching about Bryce Canyon, I read that sunrise is magical and worth getting up for. The children were not excited abut this idea, so we adults decided to let them sleep, get up and out, and then return to the motel for breakfast and packing up after our sunrise magic.

Bryce Canyon is quite high elevation, and it was very cold in the early morning - like well below freezing, with an even colder wind. Some of us weren't quite prepared for this level of cold, though we layered up as best we could. 

But was it worth the numb fingers?

Oh.

Yes. 

It.

Was.

Watching a new day dawn at one of God's most interesting places is an experience I'll never forget!

And, we were back at the motel breakfast - an excellent breakfast indeed in plenty of time, as our motel was only 15 minutes from the beauties of the canyon! THAT is a nice change from most of our experiences at national parks. 
 

Utah Road Trip, Part III

We pulled into Bryce on Tuesday afternoon after a peaceful Utah drive. We four adults checked out the town while the kids relaxed in the motel rooms. Then, when we returned for dinner, we gave the kids money to get food at Subway, while we ate at the Cowboy Ranch House across the parking lot. 

It was a perfect solution! Kids got to relax, we got a nice adult meal.

The Ranch House had good food, drinks, AND a mounted jackalope!

Stace was intrigued by the tiny Bryce Canyon airport across the way. 

He also found this interesting scene near our motel.

Utah Road Trip, Part II

On our second day at Zion, we spent more time at the Visitor's Center and gift shop, and then did a little hike to the Emerald Pools, where you can walk behind a waterfall.

 

We saw so many deer in Utah!

Also, wild turkeys!

On our drive out of Zion on Tuesday, we finally saw the herd of Bighorn Sheep we'd heard about from the shuttle drivers.  

This Mazda has been a great car for us, for four years now. We're thankful!

On Tuesday afternoon, we drove out of Zion and up to our next motel, near Bryce Canyon National Park.

Utah Road Trip, Part I

Thankfully, we were all fully recovered from our brief illness when Spring Break came, because we had plans for a road trip to two of Utah's national parks.

But first - a quick stop to top up the car with oil. This car has been fabulous for us, and we might be taking it for granted! 

We then set off Sunday for St. George, Utah, driving four to Las Vegas and then about two hours further on the I-15.

We checked into our hotel and got recommendations for dinner. We walked around the downtown area a bit, where Stace found an English telephone booth. Then we had dinner at an Olive Garden.
 

On Monday, we checked out and drove to Zion National Park, where we met up with Colleen, Rigo and the kids, who were joining us on the adventure.

We took a shuttle from the town of Springdale to the Zion Visitors Center, and then boarded a National Park shuttle. The shuttle system is very well organized, and we enjoyed it. We hiked the Riverside Trail, which parallels the Virgin River and takes you back to where you can access the famous Narrows. 

When we reached the end of the trail, these three bravely hiked through the river to get closer to the Narrows. 

This involved hiking IN the 42-degree snowmelt river, in their hiking shoes and clothes. You can rent proper equipment, but we hadn't planned to do that.

They enjoyed their further walk, but all said they were chilled through and through.

While we waited for the intrepid explorers, Violet drew and Cora and I worked on her lines for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Beautiful Zion!