Come to Zion 3: Bryce Canyon

Not long after Bryce puked, we made it to our motel in the super tiny town of Hatch, Utah. The motel itself was less than impressive, but our room was huge and air conditioned, so we didn't have too many complaints (yet).

The small town had no grocery stores and only two pricey diners. Mark and the kids stayed in the hotel and watched the Food Network while I hopped back in the car to drive 13 miles to the nearest grocery store to get supplies for dinner and breakfast. Without the family in the car I wasn't able to listen to our audio book (Harry Potter was our traveling companion this trip) and spent the 20 minute drive feeling bored. After buying food, I decided to listen to a TedRadio Hour Podcast on my drive back. Ironically, the podcast was all about the benefits of being bored. Ironic much?

The next morning we hoped to be up and out early to beat the heat. Unfortunately, when I couldn't get warm water in the shower. After double checking to make sure I wasn't being an idiot, I called the main desk. They sent down their bleary-eyed, bare-foot son to confirm I wasn't an idiot. Then the owner came down and informed me that the pilot light had gone out on the water heater. "Give it 30 minutes to warm back up," he instructed.

Thirty, forty, even fifty minutes later the water was still icy. Forget it. We had to get on the road. Mark and I took quick, cold showers. On the upside, when I went to check out we negotiated 50% off the room price, so I suppose the cold showers paid well.

Finally we made our way to Bryce Canyon. They also offered a fabulous and free shuttle system through the park. Since Bryce was still recovering from heat exhaustion and Mark had a migraine, we knew we'd be keeping our exertion level minimal. 

 

Thankfully, Bryce Canyon is a great place to go when you want great views for little effort. We would hop off the shuttle at each viewpoint, walk 100 yards, and have access to stunning vistas.

Bryce was excited to visit "his" canyon.

Some day I'd love to go back and do some of the hikes (ideally in cooler weather).

Since we weren't hiking, we made it through the whole park in just a few hours.

We ate lunch at one of the shuttle stops.

Then spent a bit of time at the Visitor's Center before turning our car back toward's Kira's.

Mark had wanted to hike down between the hoodoos. He had to make due with the visitor center version.

I consider it a successful day because no one puked.