Leg three of our family road trip! After staying the night at a Best Western in northern Utah, we started the drive to our final destination - Bryce Canyon National Park. On our drive down the highway, we decided to stop for breakfast in Midway, Utah. What a cute and quaint little small town! The breakfast was amazing. Then, back on the road again. After about three hours on the road, we stopped at The Creamery in Beaver, Utah, for some ice cream. I mean, who can pass up ice cream. After driving for about an hour more, we made it to Bryce Canyon City. We checked into the hotel and headed back out to visit the park at sunset. Oh, how I had forgotten the uniqueness and majesty of this national park.
The next morning, we headed out early to hike Queen's Garden to the Navajo Loop Trail with the kids. Aiden was less than thrilled. In fact, he was kind of a pain -- pouty and reluctant to complete the hike. Madilyn was happy as long as she could take photos with my phone. It was a beautiful hike, especially with the sun rising behind the hoodoos. However, as we remembered from our hike at the Grand Canyon, hiking down is optional, up is mandatory. The incline to get out of the canyon was pretty steep, but we did complete the entire three mile hike in less than an hour and half. Not too bad.
The next morning, we headed out early to hike Queen's Garden to the Navajo Loop Trail with the kids. Aiden was less than thrilled. In fact, he was kind of a pain -- pouty and reluctant to complete the hike. Madilyn was happy as long as she could take photos with my phone. It was a beautiful hike, especially with the sun rising behind the hoodoos. However, as we remembered from our hike at the Grand Canyon, hiking down is optional, up is mandatory. The incline to get out of the canyon was pretty steep, but we did complete the entire three mile hike in less than an hour and half. Not too bad.
We then headed back to the hotel to grab the dogs to take them on another hike. As Bryce Canyon National Park doesn't have a dog friendly trailhead, we headed to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to hike the Escalante River Trailhead. It was one of the most scenic hikes we have ever completed. The kids loved climbing the boulders and wading in the river. The river was so cold, but the kids didn't care. The dogs also enjoyed their freedom to wander off and on the trail and in the water, too. We found a perfect spot along the river to have a picnic. After a couple of hours, we returned back to the car to dry everyone off and head back to the hotel before dinner.
While on our way out to dinner, we decided that we really were not that hungry and would rather just get on the road to drive back to Arizona. It had been a long magnificent week, but we were ready to get home. We had spent over 93 hours in the car and had driven over 3500 miles. We were spent. So, we loaded up the car, and headed back to Phoenix with an arrival time of midnight.
Comments