Bryce National Park- Day 3

Today we went to Bryce National Park… about 1 ½ hours from Zion, a beautiful drive through pastures, forest, and red rocks. We went straight to the shuttle and took it to the visitor's center. The kids got their Jr. Ranger books and then off we went to Sunset Point because there was a ranger program starting. Bryce is an interesting place. From the visitors center you can't see the attraction of the park, it only looks like forest so once we got up to the lookout point we could see why Bryce is a national treasure. It is so hard to describe but it looks imaginary… right from the forest bursts these statues of red rocks called hoodoos. There are so many of them and they tower in all shapes and sizes. So, the ranger program started and the clouds started looking ominous. Then at the end, the ranger was signing Noah's ranger book and the loudest crack of thunder came, so loud the ranger grabbed onto Noah because it scarred her! So, our trip was interrupted a bit by a huge downpour of rain. We ran to the Bryce lodge and enjoyed a great lunch there while waiting out the rain. Finally it stopped and we attempted our hike again from that same Sunset Point. We were going to do a hike called the Navajo loop which took you down into the amphitheater amidst all of the hoodoos. So off we went and when we get a little ways down, Leah says she has to go potty! So, it was back up to the top and to the bathroom. Then we gave up, decided to go back to the visitor's center. There Megan and Leah were sworn in as Jr. Rangers and got their patch and badge. We were about to go back to our car via the shuttle when we decided to try the hike again. Visiting a National Park for us is not worth it without boots on the ground so we went and got our car and drove back to Sunset Point and took the Navajo Loop, try number 3! So glad we did! The hike was down into the amphitheater but it was going back up that was hard. There was a part that had so many tight switchbacks and felt like it was straight up. We were all huffing and puffing back up but we pretended we were running the Amazing Race and we would get a million dollar prize if we made it up. That helped a little bit but it was still hard! After the hike it was to the general store for some ice cream. We stopped and watched some deer on the road grazing in the grass and then it was back to Zion again!