Bryce Canyon National Park

On Friday night, Mike made a comment about how well our air bed was keeping the air; and what a comfortable sleep it was providing for us.  Well, the airbed leak gods must of heard him, cause on Saturday morning, we woke up on the ground.  All of the air leaked out over night.

So not only did we almost freeze our butts off, we also had a hard ground to boot!  We packed up early on Saturday morning and headed the very short drive to Bryce Canyon campground.

The first sign (at the gate) said all campgrounds were full!  What???  We had seen numerous sites that had a departure date of the 15th, and there was no way that by 10 in the morning they were all full. 

Turns out that they weren’t and the person responsible for updating the sign, hadn’t gotten to it yet.  Boy what a relief!

We picked out a nice big site and were set up shortly after.  It only takes us about 15 minutes from start to finish, including making the bed up.  Once we were done that, we headed off to find the showers.  Got back to the site, had lunch and just relaxed for a few hours.

Late in the day, we got in the car and made our way to the end of the views.  Since all of the view points are on the left side, the park recommends that you drive to the end and work your way back.  So that’s what we did.

Five years ago, we did the exact same thing, and five years ago we were wowed and bedazzled by the sheer beauty of Bryce.  And we certainly weren’t disappointed this time either.  Of all the places that I been to and seen, Bryce Canyon is still the prettiest place that I’ve ever been to.

We spent a good couples of hours, working our way down and since it was getting close to sunset, we decided to save the amphitheatre for the next day.

Had dinner and a fire.  Pumped up the airbed and off to bed we went.  Not near as cold as the night before… thank god!  And again, was on hard ground by the morning.

Sunday, we headed out to Ruby’s, which is a large complex outside of the Bryce Gates.  They sell all kinds of camping gear, supplies, etc.  But the only airbed they had was a “full” size and we knew that wasn’t going to work. 

Asked the clerk where the closest Walmart was and the answer was 90-100 miles in any direction that we picked - North, South, East or West.  Guess we would be spending one more night on this airbed.  I tried to find the leak, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

In the afternoon, Mike decided that he was going to go for a hike into the Queens Garden.  So, while I typed the Grand Canyon/Zion blog, he started the mile plus hike from Sunset Point to Inspiration Point.

Turns out he should have done it in the other direction; as a large part of the hike was uphill.  It took him just over an hour; and by the time I was done the blog, drove over to the other parking spot, he was only another 10 minutes or so.

And so far, no aches or pains from the uphill trek… not bad for a guy who’s 61!

Today we were packed up and on our way shortly after 9:00 am.  And our destination was Richfield, UT.  We arrived here early afternoon.  Booked into a Quality Inn.  I got my hair cut while Mike got an oil change on the car.  Our computer told us a couple of days ago that one was needed.

And when we met up again, off to Walmart we went and bought ourselves a new airbed.  This one is a double high bed, and since it didn’t have a built in air pump, we bought one of those too.  Mike is under strict orders to not mention how good the air is holding…

We came back to the hotel, did some laundry, ordered a pizza for dinner and just came back from the hot tub a short time ago.

Tomorrow we’re headed on another scenic drive.  We’ll probably spend a night or two in Capital Reef NP before heading to Natural Bridge, Mesa Verde and the four corners.

It’s been 5 weeks since we left home and have put just under 10,000 kilometres on our SUV and have seen some beautiful scenery so far.

Please click here to look at our pictures.