Bryce National Park, July 21-23

A few weeks ago we were able to spend a few days down in Bryce without our kids.  It's the first time we've ever left them like that, and it was long overdue.  It was really good for Matt and I to get away and have some time to ourselves, without the kid stresses.  McKenzie, our niece, was able to watch them for us, and they were well taken care of and happy to play with her while we were gone.  She's so good with them, and they adore her, so it worked out well.  I was nervous because I'm not used to leaving them, but I was able to get over it pretty quick once we left, and I knew they were well cared for with us gone.

We met my mom, her best friend, Books, Books' husband, Al, and her nephew, Steven.  We stayed in little cabins in Tropic, and spent all three days hiking in Bryce.  The first day Matt and I took to ourselves and hiked somewhere between 6 and 7 miles around part of the rim trail, down around most of the Peekaboo loop, and up the Navajo trail through Wall Street.  It was much longer than what we had planned, but tricky Matt just kept saying he didn't think it would be very much farther.  Then once you're in, you have to climb out!  There are lots of elevation changes through the hoodoos, down into the canyon, and back up, so it was a pretty intense hike for the first day.

The second day we hiked the Fairyland loop with the whole group, which was also considered one of the strenuous hikes.  We ended up taking two cars and parking them strategically though so that we didn't have to do the last two plus miles on the rim.  I was grateful, like everyone else, but Matt.  He decided he wanted to do the last couple of miles anyway, so he ran and we drove!  The elevation change on this hike was over 2300 ft, which is crazy.  Matt and I were both feeling pretty light and free though without Matisyn on his back and Emilyn strapped to my front.  Hiking is definitely more enjoyable and peaceful this way.  After a delicious, peaceful, adult dinner, we drove around and looked at the different lookout points.  It really is a gorgeous park, the views are spectacular.

The third day we decided to do a shorter hike and we didn't want my mom to miss out on the Queen's Garden/Navajo Combination Loop which sums up Bryce in our opinion.  So we did that three mile hike before heading home to see our girls, Grandma Karen with us in our car too!