Bryce Canyon weekend

Our Spring Break was scheduled so early this year: starting on Monday, March 15 and going until the next Wednesday, the 24th.  It was early and it was long.  None of our cousins had the same break and I couldn't stand the thought of staying home all week and trying to entertain the kids.  We tried a couple of different things-our first two ideas fell through but I scrambled and was able to find a cute little house down by Bryce Canyon for a couple of days.  I had been wanting to go back since we were down there when Stockton was almost one.

We left on Thursday morning, grabbed lunch on the way, and arrived in Tropic, Utah in the afternoon.  We unloaded, picked rooms, and then drove over to the park to look around.  We had Brynn's 4th grade free parks pass so going in and out of the park wasn't a problem.  We checked out the lookout at Sunset Point and then walked along the rim to the Sunrise Point lookout.  Stockton wouldn't even get close to the railing and we realized that hiking the following day might be a test for him.

 

While I love camping and really enjoy having our trailer, I will admit that I love this way of seeing the outdoors even more.  The little house we rented was perfect.  Three bedrooms, one bathroom, tiny kitchen, living room.  It cost the same or less than a hotel room.  We never had to pay to eat out.  That night we went back for dinner (taco salad with taco meat pre-prepped) and then relaxed in the living room and watched a movie (Hook) before sleeping in real beds.  So nice.

Brynn and Molly shared the first night.  The second night Ivy moved in with Molly and Brynn bunked with Stockton.  Molly made a lot of bracelets and things that we tied to our water bottles.

Justin makes a mean camping breakfast and he took over breakfast duties this weekend as well.  After some yummy breakfast burritos, we headed out to explore.  We went to Mossy Cave first.  This hike is actually just outside the park but was a must on all the websites I read.  In the summer, this would be heaven because of the water feature but in March the river/stream is dry.  I liked the bridges, the view of the hoodoos, and the cave itself was neat to see (you didn't actually go in the cave).

the kids did find these "ice plates" that they enjoyed dropping and watching shatter

When you find three "hike the hoodoos" sign you can get a prize at the visitor's center.  This was our first find.

 

After Mossy Cave we drove into the park to do the big hike there.  We started at Sunset Point (or Sunrise, I get the two mixed up) and walked down into the hoodoo's following the Queen's Garden trail.  We knew that some of the hike would be a mental challenge for Stockton with his increasing fear of heights and the first part of this hike really tested him.  But he had no choice and he made it.  The first third of the hike is hiking down into the hoodoos.  We lucked out and had no snow on the trail, although it was muddy in places. (It snowed the weekend before we were there and the weekend after so our timing was perfect.)

Hike the Hoodoos #2

 

The middle third is hiking on the canyon floor amidst the hoodoos. It's really cool.  This was Stockton's favorite part.  He could breathe easy and enjoy the park.  See that photo of the strange man?  He was next to us on the trail and offered to take a picture of all of us.  I about died laughing when I was scrolling through my photos later that night and came across his selfie.  I couldn't resist putting it here on the ol' family blog!

weirdo

Hike the Hoodoos #3

Then comes the switchbacks.  They are a challenge because they are so steep!  We did this hike on accident in 2010 with two kids and it was hard.  At one point during that hike, Justin was carrying Stockton in the pack and Molly on his shoulders.  I think we barely made it!  But we all killed it this time around-Ivy especially.  She has this funny thing when she is hiking that she likes to be in the front.  This is a huge motivation for her and during those switchbacks she hauled booty just to make sure no one passed her. (No one from our family, specifically.)  There were a couple of times she got far enough ahead to worry me just a little because I lost site of her (I am always caboose on our hikes just so I can keep track of everyone).  This part of the trail is mostly in the shade and the trail was wet making some places fairly slippery with mud-it would have been much harder going down.  We were all breathing heavy when we made it to the top but it felt so good and gave us some incredible views!

starting the ascent

Thor's Hammer

 

I had to go back and find these photos from 11 years ago! Our family looks a little different!

  

We {unintentionally} took the long way back to the car while we searched for a bathroom.  The one closest to the trail was closed for cleaning and, for some reason, we hiked almost a whole additional mile looking for another bathroom and then our car.  Not our finest hour.  But, we found the car and a picnic table in the sun and ate our lunch before going exploring some more.  We spent the next hour or so driving further into the park and stopped at every overlook we could.  The elevation got higher, the air got colder, and there was more snow on the ground.  There is supposed to be a good hike at the top but we figured it would be too snow-covered and we were pretty tired so we turned around when we got to the top and headed back. 

The kids were anxious to get some souvenirs so we went back and forth between a couple places before everyone had what they wanted and were happy.  They each used their money to get a souvenir: Molly-T-shirt, Stockton and Brynn-hats, Ivy-colored pencils. I insisted we get out for a photo shoot by the Bryce Canyon entrance sign before leaving the park.  We went home, had hawaiian haystacks (sauce made ahead of time), took showers, and watched "Yes Day" on Netflix before doing some bed swaps and going to sleep.

We were driving home the next day (Saturday) but we wanted to do something in the morning before the drive.  I found a place called Red Canyon that was on the same road as the turn off to Bryce so it didn't require a detour.  We did a hike called Pink Ledges that was pretty much just a loop.  Justin took the girls to climb as high as they could in one place-I lost sight of them for a while.  It was a shorter hike than the day before but pretty views.

 

We were done with all we were going to do at this point.  We walked around the visitors center a little bit, took a few more photos, and then hit the road.  It was an easy drive home.  This was a successful little getaway and I hope that we can start doing more things like this.  The kids are at such good ages now and I would love to explore more of our beautiful state!

 

**This is our new car, a 2017 Ford Explorer.  It was the first road trip we took in it and it did great!  When Justin and I were looking, we each had a feature we didn't want to budge on-me, leather seats; him, captain's chairs.  We were able to find something that fit for our family in the price range we had set for ourselves.  Our Pilot was so old and, while it was great for us, it didn't really have any "fancy" features so this one seems almost luxurious to us.  I love the back-up camera, the bluetooth, the climate control features, the blind spot warning, how the seats fold up with the push of a button-and that's just to name a few!  It has been so nice!