Bryce Canyon Beauty

Along the way, we’d heard repeatedly that Bryce Canyon was the best of all the Big 5 national parks in Utah. Although it was a bit of a drive, we wanted to visit this storied land while all the Crew was with us. To fuel us for the day, Gabby helped me make these pretty and yummy breakfast bagel sandwiches (I found them in my most recent Magnolia magazine). It was nice to chat with Gabby while she sliced the berries and I covered the bagels in Nutella and strawberry cream cheese. We got all positive reviews, except Brennen wanted the blueberries scraped off of his breakfast creation :)

With the cooler packed full of lunch options and cold drinks, we piled all eight of us into the van and headed for the park! As the boys logged onto marketplace and checked out what the southwest had to offer on two or four wheels, there was lots of vehicle talk inside our vehicle. Eventually I offered up Adventures in Odyssey, which Caelan said made it *an official family vacation*—she even requested the theme song dance that I made up when they were little! I did my best to remember the choreography, lol :) Graysen gave a quick recap on the in-between story (there is a lot of spy stuff, kidnapping, and bombs in these adventure tales lately) to catch everyone up—it turns out our new guys were once Odyssey kids, too, just not as up-to-date on the current cast of characters. So, we passed the drive time in a fun, nostalgic way--those two hours practically flew by!

As we neared, we were curious about the growing clouds of smoke in the distance, seeming to rise from our intended destination. Once we got closer, we comfortingly saw “controlled burn, do not report” signs and so we didn’t :) But it was very interesting to see the future burn piles alongside the entrance to the park. They (whoever "they" might be) fill the center with brush and small sticks, then surround this combustible core with the trunks of small trees in a teepee formation. There were LOTS of them, probably all about as tall as I am. We didn’t ask, but my guess would be these cautious clear-outs prevent more catastrophic fire events from occurring near the park.

Arriving at the visitor center, we grabbed our Jr. Ranger booklet and then attempted to figure out both the parking and busing situations. After missing a few of the latter during the day, we learned that you had to fight the older generations and international visitors for a ride. The typical rule: being polite + longest-waiting = first on the bus—while the correct and thoughtful way to proceed—meant getting left behind in Bryce National Park, lol. 

But, the extra bench time did afford us more opportunities to complete our Jr. Ranger book—Caelan took over the information gathering/scribing and everyone contributed! So that was fun! I interviewed Noah as a park guest, and decided that “to preserve national parks for future generations” we should implement a required course on basic manners for trails, buses, lines, smoking, and just being a human in general :) Fast forward to the end of the day, I made Caelan come do the pledge with me, and Buck joined us. We had, by far, the most enthusiastic Jr. Ranger supporter of a park ranger EVER! He talked and talked with us, admired our answers, asked us questions about other parks, shared memories he had, enthused over the international aspect of the visitors, and recognized the ridiculously high requirements of this park’s children's booklet (it was a lot!)—he was one of the good ones!

Working off of two guidebooks (one for hiking this specific park), internet advice, and the park's website—I learned that the best trek for our time frame was from Sunrise to Sunset, along the Rim, through the Queen’s Garden with a stop by Thor’s Hammer and a peek into Wall Street. Now . . . we started at the top of the steep canyon and wandered allllll the way to the bottom of it via slopes, winding us through the wild hoodoo formations that stuck up like “weird fingers” (I think that was Caelan’s description for our Ranger book) from the eroded cliffs. It was beautiful, unlike anything else I’ve seen on earth! All the oranges, reds, browns, and rusts shaped into spires and baubles and towers—it’s easier to just go see it than try to describe it, so you should! 

The teen trio of guys saw it all in fast forward, zipping through with the energy of youth . . . Gabby impressively kept pace. Caelan and Noah waited back for us from time to time, but when we broke out the walking sticks and hydration packs (just kidding, but sounds great!) they caught up to the rest of the younger crowd. Not to sound ancient or anything, but that was THE HARDEST part of the trail. Switchback after switchback, climbing back to the top of the mountain. Buck and I needed a lot of little breaks to catch our breath and calm our heart rates. Still—it wasn’t awful, definitely doable, just not at the speeds of those less than half our age (and probably weight!).

The little dots behind the silhouetted tree are our lead hikers :)

As we emerged from the depths, cell service returned and my phone began to ring. Odd. We had to wait for a train of mules and horses to cross our path, so I answered. It was my brother’s co-worker calling about a job opportunity he'd mentioned a week or so before we left on vacation. I told her, “If I sound out of breath, I am—I just climbed out of a canyon!” We have a meeting set up for when I return, which will probably happen before I have time to get all of these blog days posted (update: I was correct--we've had two meetings since, and I accepted the position :) I explained the job to Caelan as we walked to the general store, hoping for a water refill station and some souvenirs. Buck found another hiking stick badge—he will have a lot to attach after all the hiking we did on this trip! I believe a few stickers were purchased for bike décor, and Caelan looked for metal sign options to burgeon their new collection.

We bused (gah, that looks so wrong--why isn't it bussed?!) back to the van and dove into the cooler full of sandwiches and snacks. Buck was hiked out at this point, but agreed to drive a bit further into the park to see a few more sights. He opted to stay in the van (and made friends with a big black crow) while the rest of us peered at the Fairview (it was better than fair!) and then took a short hike to Piracy Point. Along the way, pockets of snow proved too much temptation for snowball tossers to resist. Chase grabbed a handful as Brennen and Graysen split down two separate tracks, at a run, to outdistance his throw. Gabby kept her snowball hidden until she got close enough to make an impact, but the boys got distracted by *off-roading* opportunities. We kinda didn’t do a great job sticking to the path—I think this “path shmath” attitude descended directly from my dad . . . we all remember the rattlesnake incident in Arizona, lol!

Well, a similar shock to the system happened on this mountaintop . . . Caelan wanted some action shots for a compilation video she was making, and was recording Gabby sitting on a somewhat precarious perch. Suddenly, we heard from our right, where the boys were last seen near the edge of the crazy steep drop-off---CRASH!!! Through the trees, I could see two of them looking down in silence. A second of panic set in and all three of us went running to see what that sound had been—the thought that one of them tried climbing a tree and it snapped was not beyond the realm of possibility. I certainly felt a massive sense of relief when all three of them came into sight, looking slightly guilty and slightly giggly. They’d kicked a log off the edge of the mountain, sending it crashing into the unknown below. Eek! I decided it was time to go back to the van. Interestingly, there is no “Choose your own Adventure” Jr. Ranger page: “What fines did you earn today? Draw them here!” We could have filled that one out lickety-split in literally every park we visited during National Park Appreciation Week. Wheee!

Before heading home, we decided to take a quick side trip to Mossy Cave (which wasn’t very impressive, mossy, or even "cave-y") and its neighboring waterfall—which was pretty cool! 

By now, we were feeling ready to head home—more Odyssey on the way, and back to our sand castle we returned. I think that was leftovers night, because we had soooo many options! Chase worked on the micro lego critters he’d been collecting at the park gift shops, and I think a few of the guys went to soak tired legs in the hot tub. I don’t have any more pictures for memory cues! 

One thing I know that happened pretty much every day was washing load after load of laundry. The VRBO didn’t have an abundance of towels and what was there had to serve as both bathing and swimming dry-off mechanisms :) I do like having in-rental laundry facilities on vacation! Kind of a practical way to end the story of a day filled with visual wonders and memorable times together, but my favorite day is up next, so let’s get to it!