Warning: When researching Bryce Canyon the very first thing we read was that pictures don't do it justice. SO TRUE! This place was so beautiful!
We woke up early Sunday morning and packed the car ready for a new adventure. We had to drive through Zion national park to get to Bryce and since the line entering the park was short we took advantage of the moment and pulled over to take our family national park photo. We're starting to have quite the collection of them.
Then we jumped back into the car and drove to Bryce Canyon. A two hour drive. We drove through Zion, through the mile long tunnel, (which i love), we saw checkerboard masa (Very cool but not cool enough to stop and take pictures) and then through the Red Canyon Dixie Forest. It was so beautiful. the reds where bright red in the morning sunlight and the rock formations where breathtaking. We should have stopped to take pictures but we where excited to get to Bryce Canyon.
We arrived at Bryce canyon around 10am we stopped by the visitor center to pick up junior ranger booklets and to plan our day. We toured the visitor center museum and watched a short movie about the history of the canyon then we got in the car and began our adventure.
We stopped at rim trail head and got our souvenirs from the gift shop before we began our hike. For some reason getting the survivors at the beginning of our adventures help keep the kids happy the rest of our travelings. We learned the hard way when we went to Crater Lake.
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| Grace bought squished pennies for Everett and Me. |
We decided to hike the Queens Garden Trail. It was a 2 mile hike down into the canyon and then back up. The kids where awesome hikers and we had lunch at the bottom of the canyon.
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| I can never get over the handholding that takes place when we hike. It's one of my favorite memories. |
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| Hoodoos! |
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| Gwenevere spotted the pregnant tree |
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| Everett was nervous of the drop offs and steep cliffs |
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| Climbing down the canyon |
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| Lots of little tunnels to walk through |
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| We took turns letting the kids take pictures to keep them happy and moving. Gwenevere is looking at my diamond ring through a magnifying glass |
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| At the bottom of the canyon. An older couple decided we needed our picture taken. |
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| We talked about the first nations who lived here long ago. |
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| Stopping for lunch |
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| Gwenevere made lunch to earn her meal badge for Girl Scouts. |
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| Because I love this little girl |
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| My happy backpack |
And then it was time to climb back up the canyon. This time we took plenty of breaks to catch our breath (mostly for my and my pregnancy lungs) hehehehe
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| The switchbacks |
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| Overlooking the canyon we just hiked. Truly amazing |
Planning the next phase of our day.
Once we got back to our car we decided we had enough time to drive the rest of bryce canyon and let the kids work on their junior ranger booklets. about half way along our drive we realized we wouldn't have enough time to finish the drive and get back to the visitor center in time for the kids to turn in their junior ranger booklets and get their badges so we turned around and quickly went back to visitor center.
James raced into the visitor center and was able to get Gwenevere her badge. But we hid it until she finished her booklet.
it was around 4pm when the visitor center closed and we where feeling fulfilled. So we decided to head back to our Airbnb.
the drive home was once again beautiful and relaxing.
We arrived at Zion's shortly before sunset and James spotted a short hike he wanted to check out. Grace was done hiking and I had a headache so we opted to stay behind in the car while Papa, Gwenevere and Everett explored some more.
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Grace chatted my ear off the whole hour we waited in the car.
Meanwhile, James' hike with the kids was amazing. |
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| looking out under the arch |
When the got back to the car we shared stories and drove back to the Airbnb.
Gwenevere cooked dinner for us. After having a super fun day I wasn't ready to stop stop exploring so we made the decision to get up early one last day and try to do a few more hikes in Zion before heading back to Vegas to catch Papa's flight home. It was another good day and we all fell asleep quickly.
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