Posts Tagged “bryce canyon”

Since we’re staying in the same town tonight as we did last night, today’s drive was basically out and back. As Isabel mentioned we went to Bryce Canyon which is north of our base here of Kanab. We’re now positioned nicely for our drive south tomorrow.

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We got an early start (for us) this morning in Kanab and headed up towards Bryce Canyon. First we drove through these crazy rock formations that have eroded so they look all windswept:

Also on the way, we stopped for breakfast at this place:

It’s called the Thunderbird Restaurant (Home of the Ho-Made Pies) and it has a really interesting story behind it; basically this couple came here to the middle of nowhere in Utah in the 1930s and started a gas station. Eventually the husband died, but the woman continued with the business and eventually built up the whole area with hotels and everything to serve the people visiting parks in this area — not an easy feat in a time when female business owners were rare. Kudos, Thunderbird Restaurant. They also had these zines at the tables written by a salty old local grandma in the late 1980s. And, of course, we sampled the ho-made pies!

We continued on our journey and discovered that just outside Bryce Canyon National Park, there is the totally awesome Red Canyon:

We were on a bit of a schedule today because we wanted to get back in time both to eat dinner and to watch the VP debate, so we didn’t stop to learn much about Red Canyon, but it was definitely beautiful.

Around the time we got to Red Canyon, we started being able to pick up the Bryce Canyon National Parks informative radio broadcast and were duly informed by the recording that we should “not feed, agitate, or attempt to befriend any of the wildlife in the park.” I wish you could hear the tone the speaker used because it was pretty hilarious. Brian teased me the rest of the day about how much I want to hug elks and bison now and how I have to be kept in line. We were also cautioned against inappropriate footwear on the trails. Remember, the wrong shoe choice CAN KILL YOU.

Bryce Canyon was really, really awesome. Brian and I both absolutely loved it even though we had a very short visit. Like Zion, Bryce features a shuttle system, but it’s already stopped running for the season (and unlike Zion’s, Bryce’s shuttle is not mandatory). We drove all the way down to the bottom of the scenic drive first, then we drove back up and stopped at viewpoints along the way. One of our favorite stops was at Natural Bridge:

Technically, it’s an arch. Isn’t it pretty?!

Another interesting thing going on at Bryce right now is that they’re conducting a series of prescribed wildfires (apparently natural fires aren’t happening quickly enough this year and they need to help nature along for the health of the plants in the area):

They had signs everywhere saying PRESCRIBED WILDFIRE; DO NOT REPORT. I guess they have a lot of people freak out when they see smoke in the park (understandable). We’ve really learned a lot this trip about how fires are an important natural occurrence and how they are actually healthy for the environment when they happen naturally.

Near the end of the scenic drive, we took a turn to go to Bryce Point, and then things got really crazy. Check it out!

It was absolutely beautiful, amazing, grand, overwhelming — neither my words nor these photos can possibly do it justice. I definitely want to go back when there’s time to go through some of the walking trails in the canyon. But today, we had to get back in time to eat at the Rocking V Cafe in Kanab, Utah. I’m glad we did that because we had a truly amazing meal there! Then we checked into our room at the Shilo Inn (we did move from the Super 8 ) just in time for the debate. We now have laundry in the dryer and are ready to move on tomorrow!