Hiking in Bryce Canyon Part I

Peter and I kept talking about going somewhere after the October 15th tax deadline this year.  He's been so busy and I'm trying to help him live by the work hard/play hard motto so I kept encouraging Peter to go ahead with plans we had of going to Bryce Canyon. This is a place we really liked going last time and we ended up with absolutely perfect weather. 

Sarah had just been a couple of weeks prior with a friend and Nathaniel had another ACT test date so we just took Rebecca, John, and Will. I don't think Sarah or Nathaniel suffered from the loss and we didn't miss the teenage antics.

We had planned to camp but the nights were getting too cold by the time we were finally heading out so we ended up staying at a place that had earlier advertised as $180 a night and we got it for $80 when we checked back just a few days before. Germaphobic-anti-hotel woman that I am, I have to say it was really very nice. Indoor pool and jacuzzi were awesome and clean and there was tons of foreigners to talk to. Very fun.

 The first day we hiked into the canyon a little late in the day and we ended up coming back in the dark.

 Will finally catching up on some sleep in the stroller.

Coming back after the sun had set was a little tricky. It was only the last bit of the hike we were actually in the dark but for some reason the area we parked our car had all the lights out when we were trying to find our way back. It reminded me very much of one time when Jay and I were quite young my dad took us to Yellowstone and we were out one night at a picnic table after dark while dad was cooking beans in a can over a stove--which is funny because we never ate beans any other time. ( Jay and I both have bean obsessions from our bean-deprived childhood. Go figure.) 

All over the table were spray-painted block lettering in big florescent lettering "Beware of Bears." Mom was freaking out that we were going to be attacked at any time. "Bears! Bears!" she kept wailing while dad kept telling her to, "Just relax, Nancy!" It wasn't working. She wasn't relaxing. I was getting rather frightened myself watching her and was thinking to myself they'd probably get her first making all the noise she was. Poor mom.