After sleeping like the dead last night, we woke up around 7:30, took stock of any aches and pains, and got ready for today’s activities.  We headed to Bryce Canyon National Park which is about an hour north of Kanab.  It was mid-80s (temperature, not decade) when we arrived and warming quickly.

We put on our hiking boots, which by the way, are now covered with blood red sandstone dust, and headed to the visitor center.    As we expected, the Ranger suggested that we hike the Rim Trail which, not surprisingly, runs along the rim of the canyon.  We recognized that this would be a challenge for me, but what the hell, if it doesn’t kill me, it will make me stronger.  The ranger advised us to take the shuttle to the end of the hike, Bryce Point, and then hike the 4 miles or so back to the visitor center.  It is stunningly beautiful.  I, of course, would not get within about 5 feet of the cliff edge, even when there were guard rails.  (To keep Steven from completely losing it, I didn’t go right to the edge. Aren’t I sweet?) The National Park Service describes it as a “Forest of Stone” and that is a great description.

They also say that photos do not do it justice, and quite frankly that has been true for all the places we have visited so far.  As I seem to keep saying on this blog, my words cannot do justice to what I am seeing, and I am sorry to say that while the photos are unbelievable (thank you Sue), they, too, fall short.

The hike took somewhere around 2.5-3 hours, we meandered a bit and talked to a very interesting couple from New Jersey…ok…I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but really, they were quite nice.  As we neared the end of the hike we had a picnic lunch.

In order to get to and from Bryce, we traveled through Red Canyon which is part of the Dixie National Forest.  This photo is just something that we passed through on the road…It doesn’t seem to have a name, but I really liked it.  We took it while driving, and if you look closely you will see someone who seems to have a death wish, standing right in the middle of the road.  Despite my best efforts, they survived.

Once we finished we hopped back in the car and came back to the AirBnB late in the afternoon to “chill”,  By chill I mean not sweat outside in the 97 degree heat.

Steven neglected to mention my favorite part of the trip. Ho-Made pies!