Bryce

As usual, I have to tell a little story before I get to the topic of my post.

My husband can be kind of an antsy guy.  This is usually the explanation for the tropical vacations we have taken over the years...he just has to get away sometimes.  I don't have quite the same need but I go along with it (I mean, it's a tropical vacation...right?!)  But I usually would prefer to go the cheaper, closer, easier route.  I am a penny pincher at heart so big vacations are a little harder for me in that way.

Lately we have been talking about how we should be more active.  We have been walking in the evenings and talking about joining a gym.  Just still in the talking phase though. ha! But it is something we talk about fairly often, especially now that I am sitting at work for 8 hours a day.

And Frank has started getting into his antsy phase.  Every weekend he is like "why aren't we somewhere fun?" or "We need to go on a vacation" or things like that.

In an attempt to help out with both issues, I suggested that perhaps one weekend we could go up into the canyon and do a little hiking.  We have numerous places near us where we could go and find a lovely hike.  Exercise + a little bit of a get-away.  Take a picnic maybe!

I came home from work on Friday and Frank says to me, "Want to go to Bryce canyon for the weekend?"
Hmmm....Bryce canyon, though beautiful, is 3 1/2 hours away.  We have a lovely canyon that is about 15 minutes away.  Or we could get all enthusiastic and go up to Salt Lake to a canyon up there and it would be maybe an hour.  But, no, he wants to go 3 1/2 hours away, stay in a hotel,  and eat out for a weekend instead.  As usual, our ideas are similar but then again, oh-so-different.

Of course, I say yes.  And we pack up the car and drive to Bryce Canyon on Friday night.

Bryce Canyon is a gorgeous place.  We went there for the first time this last spring with our neighbors.  But it was quite cold and we didn't do any serious hiking on that trip.

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We had a great time and really enjoyed the beauty of that place.  The weather was perfect.  I am still trying to break in my hiking boots so this was a good opportunity to get some miles on them.  I mostly enjoyed the hiking but I may have said something along the lines of "I think I'm going to have a stroke" at one point or another.  I am not in great shape.  Ugh.  Getting into shape is the worst...why did I ever stop exercising??  I digress.

Here are a few way too many pictures of our hikes:

Our first hike was a combination of Queen's Garden Trail, Navajo Loop Trail and the Rim trail.  I think it was only 3.5-4 miles total but it goes down into the canyon and then back out...the long uphill portion was where I thought I might die.

There were other people around but it never felt crowded.  Once you get out on the hikes, there a a lot fewer people...most people kind of stay at the top looking down rather than actually hiking down.  We did see a whole group hiking in flip flops and one lady in heels though.  My feet hurt just looking at them!

We took a little rest under a rock outcropping (yay for shade!) and this was the view:

There are fun windows and arches you can hike through.

This is the end of the Queen's garden trail.  See Queen Victoria up there on the rock...or perhaps riding a camel (backwards)?

I'm sorry I can't be normal in pictures.

We came across a very friendly chipmunk.  Frank started rummaging around in his bag looking for something to feed it and I told him not to because it's bad for the wildlife and whatnot. This little guy was obviously very used to being fed because as we walked away, he followed Frank all the way up the hill hoping for food after seeing Frank looking in his bag.

We finally stopped at a little bench and Frank found a cracker.

The little guy was eager to get it.

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Later that day we  decided to hike to a small waterfall nearby.

I didn't want to do anything too strenuous  because I was still pooped from the earlier hike.  This little hike was perfect.

We also drove all through the Bryce Canyon National Park to see the various viewpoints.

That night we drove out into the darkness so that I could just sit and view the night sky.

I have only seen one falling star in my life and whenever we are in these remote areas I always say that we need to go out at night to see the stars.  

It has never worked out!  

It's always overcast or something else comes up.

So this night, even though I was tired, we drove out past any town lights and just looked at the sky.

It was magnificent, as expected.  

No falling stars but it was totally worth doing.

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The next morning we decided to drive a short way to the Escalante Petrified Forest State Park.

Frank loves cool rocks and petrified wood so this was a nice hike to see some amazing examples and to just enjoy the perfect weather.

Petrified wood has so many gorgeous colors!

It really was amazing.

On the way to and from the Escalante state park, we came across some road construction.

They were repaving half of the road so we had a wait as only one lane was open.

We passed multiple trucks carrying the fresh asphalt product and, if I haven't mentioned it before I must do so now...the smell of fresh asphalt is one of my most favorite smells in the whole world!

I tried to get a picture of the roller on the fresh road but I kind of missed.

I'm sure the workers thought I was a little nuts as I stuck my head out the window the whole way and just smelled the air.

This particular smell takes me back to a specific childhood memory.

They must have been repaving our road and I remember walking along on a lovely spring or summer day and just feeling happy.

That smell is now ingrained in me as a happy smell

and I just love it!

So on that quirky note, I end my story of our lovely weekend in Bryce.