Spring Break: Day 4 - Bryce Canyon

It was really cold when we woke up. Instead of the big hike we had planned, we decided to just hit all the main viewpoints and at least see all that we could. Here we are at the main entrance to the park.

We started off at Bryce Point, which is the most iconic place to see the Bryce Amphitheater. We were up 8300 feet! It felt like 13 degrees... so cold! And even the paved trails were covered in ice. So, we had to be careful walking around. This was our first view of the "hoodoos".

Here's Avery at the overlook:

And Morgan overlooking the Bryce Amphitheater.

Here's a video of the girls skating down the path to the lookout!

Our next stop was Inspiration Point. There was a trail completely covered in ice that went straight up to the lookout. The girls and Matt hiked up there, while I stayed on level ground.

A picture of the hoodoos.

Here is the path up to the top lookout point. Covered in ice and snow! You can see people at the very top near the trees. They are way up there!

Some pictures Matt took at the top.

They made it back down without any issues! Matt and I had hiking shoes, but we hadn't gotten the girls any. They were just wearing their Nikes. I think for our next hiking trip, we will invest in some hiking shoes for the girls, too.

Our next stop was Sunset Point. This is where the Navajo Loop trail starts. We were originally going to do that trail, but with the weather being so cold we skipped it. Also, the path was icy in some spots and the girls Nikes would make it a little scary for me!

Looking down into the canyon at the Navajo Loop Trail.

Avery did do a little of the Navajo Loop... can you see her??? She's that tiny pink spot at the bottom of the picture! Makes you realize just how massive this area is!

We made the long drive to Moab afterwards. We drove through some more blizzard-y snow storms because we went through the mountains. We made it to Moab and checked into the hotel. This hotel had an indoor pool, so the girls had to check it out immediately (of course!)

Then, the girls and I went shopping along the main street near out hotel. There were all kinds of fun shops. Here they are sporting their new fun socks! Avery got Mac-n-Cheese and Morgan got Funyons.

We grabbed dinner that night at a restaurant near our hotel called The Trailhead. It got pretty good reviews, but we all though it was just ok. We sat upstairs, but still had a good view of the Iowa womens' basketball game on the tv down below.

Spring Break: Day 3 - Zion

We spent the morning at the campsite. We had breakfast at the restaurant and Matt and Morgan hiked around a bit.

I forgot to mention that the camp gives out ear plugs for the guests because you can basically hear everything that's going on in the tents around you. So, when it's not storming and windy, these would come in handy to block out your neighbors partying! :)

Here is a shot of the campground from up above. Matt and Morgan hiked up the mountain and took some pictures.

They took a picture of Avery on our front porch.

And Avery took a picture of them up on the mountain.

Here's Morgan at the top. She loved that there was one little tree planted up there!

We went to the main tent for breakfast. The girls got hot chocolate and yummy chocolate muffins!

Matt and the girls played tether ball. It was chilly, but at least it wasn't raining!

Here is a picture outside of the main reception/restaurant.

The views were beautiful! We all enjoyed this night's stay even with all the issues with our first tent and having to switch tents at 10PM. Avery said if it was a bit warmer, she would want to stay here all week!

I love this picture! Morgan took her hair out of the braids and it was so wavy!

We went back to our old tent, which was still completely open and airing out. The girls showed us how to escape a smoky tent by getting down on the ground and crawling out. Ha!

A view from our tent

We checked out and got on the road to do another hike in Zion in the morning. By the way, we ended up getting a credit for our stay and free meals because of all the hassle of the non-working stove and having to change tents.

There were all kinds of signs warning of cows roaming and crossing the roads. Here was our first of many encounters with cows in the roads! Morgan liked to roll down the window and Moo at them. I'm pretty sure they did NOT understand her!

We got to Zion early enough to park in the actual park. But, it was so crowded. The line for the shuttle was over twice as long as the day before. We waited to board a shuttle for about 45 minutes! We were going to do the hike to the Emerald Pools. The bridge to the pools was closed at the normal stop, so they were having people start at The Grotto stop instead. The hike to the Lower Emerald Pool was 1.5 miles roundtrip, with an increase in elevation of 150 feet.

Again, the scenery was beautiful. Pictures really don't do it justice.

Morgan saw this hole in the rocks and of course had to climb through it!

If there's a rock up high, Morgan will climb it! It always scared me because I couldn't tell if the other side was a big drop off or "safe".

Water falling from the Upper Emerald Pool to the Lower Emerald Pool. It was beautiful!

Morgan saw this rock and pretended to push it - Ha!

The weather was warm and we were all hot and hungry after that hike! We stopped off at the Zion Brewery at the main entrance for lunch. Avery asked for a lemonade and they brought her this huge glass! She could barely lift it! :)

We tried the local beers, which really hit the spot after the hike!

After lunch, we set out for Bryce Canyon. It took about 2 hours to get there from Zion. We went through the Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel, which is a 1.1 mile tunnel through the mountain. We also drove through a snow storm. But, we made it!

Bryce Canyon City is at the top of the mountain, so we were up about 7,600 feet at our hotel. We got checked in to our hotel and rested a bit before dinner. It was really cold (like 16 degrees) and snowing off and on. We drove to a nearby town called Tropic for dinner to a place called The Pizza Place. There really isn't a lot in this area, but this place had good reviews. The pizza was great! And the best part was the girls got ice cream with their kids' meals. Morgan asked for a waffle cone, which was gigantic... like adult size cone with a couple large scoops of ice cream! She was super excited!

We crashed at the hotel and hoped for nice weather in the morning for our venture to Bryce Canyon.