Family Vacation 2015, First Leg: Bryce (Family Hike #6)

Back story: Flights to Georgia were cheaper out of Vegas than Salt Lake. Like, a lot cheaper. So we decided to combine a trip to visit my family and Michelle's into one epic vacation. And looking at the map and the calendar, I couldn't help but notice that between us and St. George was a lot of southern Utah just begging to be explored, so I added and added to our agenda. Here's what the full itinerary looks like:

• Friday, 6/26: Drive to Bryce, hike, stay in Cannonville.
• Saturday, 6/27: Hike Willis Creek in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, drive to St. George via Zion and the Pine Creek swimming hole.
• Sunday, 6/28: Hang out with Grandma and Grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousin Elaina.
• Monday, 6/29: Drive to Las Vegas, visit great-grandma and great-grandpa, and stay at the Silver Sevens hotel and casino.
• Tuesday, 6/30: Catch flight at 8:15am to Detroit, lay over for 4 hours, and arrive in Atlanta at 9:07 pm. Pray for us.
• Wednesday, 7/1-Tuesday 7/7: GEORGIA!

We get back to Vegas late Tuesday night, drive to St. George, and head home on Wednesday.

Two things to know: they're setting records for heat in southern Utah. It's about 105-110 every day. Also, our van is kind of acting up. The two mechanics I talked to on the drive down both said it was the transmission overheating. Did I mention Vegas is even hotter than St. George?

Here's Day 1 of our vacation:

Excited to start!

 

 

I left Michelle with the kids at Burger King in Fillmore while I had the locals check out the van. They said to avoid cruise control and ease off the gas and we should be ok for now. Also, a giant crack magically appeared in our windshield. This will be glass claim #4 in the last year.

 

Watching Planes on the tablet.

Grandpa had told us he wouldn't be able to join us because of work, but surprise! He was there in Panguitch and had booked a room right next to ours at the Grand Staircase Inn. We were all glad to see him and thrilled he could come along.

We made it to Bryce about 8:30, and night was definitely closing in. But we weren't going to let that stop us. We drove to Sunrise Point and headed toward the Queen's Garden trail.

 

You will see that Addison was in a bit of a silly mood, compounded by being freaked out at the drop-offs. This picture is funny because it looks like he's standing in front of a picture, not actually at Bryce.

 

 

The white hoodoo way down the cliffside ended up being our destination for the hike. Grandpa's traffic-cone orange shirt really added to the photos he was in.

 

The two family members terrified of heights stuck together. I was under strict orders to keep a death grip on the other kids' hands.

 

Leah loved the "hoothoos."

 

We spotted a Great Basin rattlesnake, who had just eaten something delicious.

 

End of the hike. Now we head back up.

We got back to the top (about 2 miles total) with a lot of cajoling, a few tears, and a couple kids who really needed to use the potty. After a lot of hunting around the cabins in the pitch black, we found a dormitory-style lodge with open bathrooms. Then we drove out of Bryce, down the mountain, and to Cannonville. The kids finally fell asleep a little after 11:00.

Day 1: Success!

Pretending to be asleep.

Not pretending.

Also not pretending.

Zzzzzzzz.