Bryce and the Grand Canyon

It has been a crazy couple of days. We woke up yesterday morning all set for another national park after a quick stop by a rock store. The rock store turned out to be one of our favorite highlights of the trip. All five us toured the store in awe of the amazing collection of rocks, fossils, and gems. We planned on staying about a half hour but it turned out to be more like an hour and a half. After that we went to Bryce National Park and it was fantastic. It is Sherrill’s favorite national park of all and after seeing it I can see why. Pictures will not be able to do it justice, but I’ll put some on. After Bryce we drove to the Grand Canyon Lodge where we stayed for the night. We were in a log cabin with four beds and two bathrooms. It was really two units with a connecting door which worked out very well for our family. Like most log cabins there was no internet access so I could not post anything yesterday. I woke up at 5:00 AM to watch the sunrise at the Grand Canyon. I hiked a quarter mile out the Angel Point Trail and waited until the sun rose at 5:30. I had never seen the Grand Canyon before and seeing it this way was great. I took quite a few photos. I hope that they can convey the scene. Later in the morning we hiked the best trails at the Grand Canyon and had a fantastic lunch at the Grand Canyon Lodge. After the Grand Canyon we drove to Page, Arizona where we are as I write this. We are at the Budget Inn which is quite a bargain, but yet again has no wireless internet. I am typing this in our room and then I am going to drive to a nicer hotel and see if I can access their internet from their parking lot. If this was posted on Monday night you will know that my plan worked. If not you will know that I am still driving around Page, AZ looking for free internet.

Tomorrow we are driving to Four Corners, Mesa Verde, and the Petrified Forest. Based on the travel time between stops it may be a nighttime stroll through the forest, but we have made good time the whole trip so we are hopeful for another great day. Tomorrow night we land in Gallup (or is it Gallop?...if only I had internet) New Mexico. I can’t wait!!

The sunrise picture is the start of the Grand canyon pictures. The ones before it are of Bryce.

Trip Statistics: Total distance travelled: 5,259 miles

Radar traps: 14

Tickets: 0

Wildlife yesterday and today: a herd of deer, a psycho jackrabbit, and a mole who zigged when he should have zagged.