Day Eight: Bryce Canon National Park

We arrived at Bryce Canyon National Park this morning, after a nearly 3 hour drive from Torrey...which was a bit slower than we had anticipated, but it was pretty...and we saw some great fall colors in the Dixie National Forest, just outside of Torrey. Boy, was it cold this morning...after nearly 90 yesterday, we had about 50 degrees this morning...that's quite a change from what we'd been out in the day before. It was too early to check into our room for the next two days, so we started exploring the park. This is much different than the previous ones, but just as beautiful. Today we just drove to some of the overlooks, walked a short distance at a few, but no hikes today. We are saving that for tomorrow, when we'll walk down into the canyon so we can see the rocks (hoodoos) from a different perspective.

This afternoon we were able to check into our room...which is FABULOUS...it's the Best Western Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel...and boy, is it nice...we feel like royalty, compared to our first place in Moab...and the same price...just crazy!!! After getting checked in, we joined our neighbors from Puyallup and some friend of theirs for an early dinner!! We knew they were going to be driving through Utah this week, but didn't know if our schedules would meet up at the same place, same time...and surprisingly, they were in Bryce today, so we enjoyed visiting with them and hearing what they had seen so far...what a nice extra along our travels through Utah!!

So, here are some photos from our first day of Bryce...we did shoot sunset this evening, but it wasn't as spectacular as we has hoped, but it was still nice. We have all day here tomorrow, so we'll see what else we can see and do, beside our hike...it was a bit cooler here, although this has been a hot week...and Zion (our next step) looks to be warmer, and then the storms will return next week...boy, did we timed it all perfectly...we arrived on the day of a storm and will leave on the day of a (possible) storm...with warm and dry in between!

 Fall colors as we drove through Dixie National Forest...loved it!

Same tree, daylight, sunset...can you tell that Terri has a thing for trees!!

 Neighbors...friends, Nick and Glenda, with their friends they are traveling with...great to catch up with them!

Another beautiful sun...at sunset, due to the smoke from the surrounding fires.

 What would we do without a tripod...how else could we get photos of us...to prove we really have been to these places!