Bryce Canyon Pictures: Part 1

After our stay at Zion, we drove straight to Bryce Canyon National Park. This is one of my favorite places I have ever been fortunate to see. The first time I saw the canyon, I thought it looked like some kind of fairyland with the dusting of white snow sitting on the red hoodoos and green trees. (There is a trail there called the Fairyland trail, so I am not the only person to ever have that impression.) Noah really liked it there and he was a trooper of a hiker. He said hi to pretty much everyone we passed on the trail and everyone thought he was so cute and friendly. Here are some pictures from the canyon hikes we took.

Dan and Noah hiking in the canyon:

Bryce Canyon:Noah pointing to a bird in a tree:

Dan and Noah:King of the mountain:Noah and I hiking:We saw a ton of deer in the canyon:More pictures to come!

We Are Kansas

Congrats to Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks on a great season for a very young team. I stole this video from Suzanne.

Zion National Park: Part 2

Here are some more pictures from our days in Zion.

Noah and I in the canyon:

Noah at dinner in the lodge restaurant: The hail storm that cut our picnic short (nothing like hiking back to the trailhead with sharp balls of ice raining down):

Dan coming through the waterfall:

Noah not liking the waterfall a whole lot:

Noah and I running on the trail:

My guys hiking:
Horse crossing:

Temple of Sinawa:Dan and Noah: Looking over a big cliff:

Zion National Park: Part 1

Our first big stop in Utah was Zion National Park. I have been there a couple of times and I love the place. I think it might be Dan's favorite place to hike and camp. It was just as beautiful as I remembered it.

Dan and Noah's King of the Mountain faces:In Zion canyon: Lunchtime on the trail:Dinner at the lodge: The cabin we stayed in on our third night:Noah hiking:
Waterfall over the trail:Noah horseback riding outside of the canyon:

Camping Near Zion

Our first night in Utah, we camped near Zion National Park. Here are some pictures from camping!

Noah and Dan making coffee on Dan's new camp stove:
Mmmmmmmmm, roasted marshmallows:

Noah was so proud of his big rock:

Our campsite:

At the campfire:

Western Slope Vietnam War Memorial

On our way to Utah, we stayed in a hotel in Fruita, Colorado, to break up the drive. Fruita (along with being the mountain bike capital of Colorado) is the location of the Western Slope Vietnam Memorial. Since Dan's dad fought in that war, we decided to stop and check it out. It is a really nice one and I recommend stopping there if you are ever out in that direction. Here are some pictures.

Noah checking out the place:

A bench at the memorial: Dan and Noah:

Noah thought the helicopter was really cool:

One More Day

One more day and two more national parks...we decided not to drive home today. Instead we are going to Moab and Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. Yay for vacation extension.

Yesterday started out cold but turned into what was probably the most beautiful day of the trip. It was sunny and all blue skies, so we took a hike down into the canyon on the Navajo and Queen's Garden trails. Noah hiked a lot of it, but I got a good workout in carrying him UP the side of the canyon at the end of the hike. Great pics to post when we get home on Thursday!