Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon Queen's Garden.
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We arrived at Bryce Canyon in the late afternoon. I went straight to the laundry mat and spent about an hour getting caught up on laundry (five people can certainly dirty a lot of clothes in just two days)!! The inn here is pretty nice and has quite a history. The Paiute Indians once lived here and called it Paunsaugunt. It was later settled by the Mormon settler, Ebenezer Bryce, thus the name Bryce’s Canyon. Homesteaders Reuben and Minnie Syret built the first lodge in 1920 and it is the location of the lodge and inn that is present today. Bryce Canyon became a National Park in 1928. The most interesting features about this area are the hoodoos that are caused by water carving away the plateau. The Paiutes called the hoodoos “Unka-timpe-wa-wince-pock-ich”, which means “red rocks standing like men in a bowl-shaped recess”. According to a Paiute legend, the hoodoos were once men who were changed to stone by the trickster coyote. The kids went swimming and we took it easy this evening. It rained during the night.

More Queen's Garden.
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Monday morning, we took off for the canyon and a hike. We walked down into the Queen’s Garden, which was about 1.6 miles. What an awesome place! After hiking, we had a picnic lunch and went back to the trailer for a nap. We bought Harry Potter books for the boys and they read it in two days. They have promised not to reveal anything to me before I have a chance to read it too. Our plan was to take a horseback ride this afternoon, but they were already booked up. I will have to say that this place is even more crowded than the Grand Canyon area was. To sign up for the horseback rides, we had to go to the lodge, which was absolutely beautiful inside. During the winter, this area gets several feet of snow (25 feet of it at one time two winters ago according to the guy at the gas station, which covered the lodge entirely). The roads leading to the lookouts are left unplowed for cross country skiing. If you like wintery vacations, this would be an awesome place. Since we couldn’t do the horseback ride, we drove to the rest of the viewpoints. We found Thor’s hammer and the poodle. A storm came in right as we finished our drive. The lightening was something else. Tomorrow, we drive to Hanksville, UT and will stop at the Capitol Reef National Park on the way.