Bryce Canyon

This is the first vacation we've ever taken as a family where we didn't have the whole itinerary planned out months in advance. For some reason, Asia wanted to go to Park City for a few days, wander around Southern Utah for a few, then go visit friends in Boise. Other than that - there was no advance planning.

Over the years, I've heard great things about Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park... they both were on my wish list... so when we left Park City, we drove in the general direction of Bryce.

When we got there, we did some research at the visitors center and settled on a 3 mile hike that would include the Queen's Garden and Fairyland Loop. The park literature promised this was the "best 3 mile hike in the world!"

Well, the world's a big place, so I'm not sure I could go quite that far, but we weren't disappointed. Bryce is a gorgeous landscape - with pink, orange and purple cliffs and striking hoodoos sticking up everywhere... it is an amazing place to hike. So hike, we did!

After Bryce, we drove south so we could stay somewhere close to Zion, which we planned to visit the next day.

Asia's half hearted research had shown quite a few places to stay along the way - but had neglected to point out that all of them were dingy, old and downright scary. We just kept driving until we came to a lovely little town about 7 miles north of the Arizona border - Kanab, Utah. We found a nice place to spend a couple of nights, got some Subway, swam in the pool and chilled until bedtime.

I love road trips... love giving the kids these memories and spending time together in this unique way. The kids do SO remarkably well - they all get along so well and we share lots of laughter... and they're great little hikers. I really enjoy this stage in our family's life together - where everyone carries their own weight and we can tackle adventure as a unit... good stuff.

More soon...