Shaun, Bryce and I took an impromptu trip out west to see Zion and Bryce Canyons. I think it is fairly obvious why we chose to visit Bryce Canyon and if you don't know what it is, you should google it. Or look at our pictures to see how amazing a place it is. We flew in and out of Vegas and drove to Zion and then Bryce canyons. There are lots of stories from the trip, but I'll just tell you that we had a wonderful time and got lots of fresh air. The air was pretty thin in areas so maybe we starved those tumors for oxygen and the trip was therapeutic in more than just a psychological way. And for good measure Shaun ate a lot of plant life just in case they have anti-cancer benefits not discovered yet. Anything that helps.
One of the big features of our trip was to see the stars at Bryce Canyon. Its been said that you can see 10 times as many stars there than in any other open field. We can attest to this now. True, we didn't actually count the millions of stars, but we did lay out above Bryce Canyon after dark and was amazed by the sight. If you ever want to feel infinitely small, that is a good place to go.
Hiking was also a big part of the trip so its a good thing we had a hiking backpack for Bryce. Now Shaun and I are both in reasonably good shape (him better than I) so we expected to be able to do the easy to medium hikes without any problems. Well I guess when you add 35 pounds of dead weight (he slept in the pack a lot) on your back, it makes things a lot more challenging. Add the elevation changes and steep cliffs and we were in for a challenge. But we powered through and got some amazing views of the tops and bottoms of canyons. The trail down Bryce canyon was a bunch of switch backs down the face of the canyon (see picture) then we got to walk around the actual canyon floor which was covered in fir trees. Such contrast from the red rocks surrounding the beautiful green trees. But what goes up must come down or I guess in this case the reverse. We had to climb back out of the canyon. Luckily Shaun had Bryce for this stint because it was really hard! But we made it! And were totally exhausted the rest of the day.
Enjoy the pictures. I think the Natural Bridge was my favorite view, but they are all amazing. I will have more in snapfish if anyone is interested.
