Riding in a car and on a horse

Today, in hindsight, was a little rougher than others. We had to get up early, eat a quick breakfast and hit the road. It was nearly 4 hour drive to Bryce canyon. We stopped and tanked up and ate a Subway sandwich on the road.

On the way to Bryce Canyon we had to drive through Red Canyon. The scenery looked out of this world. We didn't have any camera ready on the way in - something we were going to make sure didn't happen on our way out.

Once there, we hit the visitor center, watched a short video about the park, and asked the Rangers for advice on trails. Oh, and Theresa managed to get our ride time moved up too! Since we had moved the time up we didn't have much time before our ride to hit any trails.

We met our wranglers, Amber and Lindsey, and got a quick verbal instruction as how to ride the horses. Theresa was paired up with Ute, I was on Alice, Emma on 7Up, Amanda on Keyston, Dana on Jessie, and Kasey on Peek-A-Boo. Kasey's horse had another horse, Rocket, that was really attached to it and wanted to go along on the ride even though it didn't have a rider. In fact, oncewe headed out Rocket escaped from the corral and ran over to Peek-A-Boo. The wranglers managed to get Rocket back and off we went.

The ride wasn't through the Canyon but in the woods and along the rim. We spotted a few Antelopes who were keen on keeping the wranglers dog away from its fawn.

After the ride we all walked a bit funny for a bit. We streched our lages out by walking the touristy old western buildings they had set up. Once comfortable with walking we took the rangers suggestion and headed up to Bryce Point. The view was incredible. I am finding I am using that word far too much. Everyone was now getting short of patience. We figured it was due to not enough water, a sore hindside, an early morning start, and a not-the-best lunch.

We decided then to hit the road to Zion Ponderosa Ranch. It was another 90 min away. We stopped for groceries. Theresa had split up the list so each pair of kids could shop. They were in a better mood by then and looking forward to jumping in the pool at the ranch.

Once at the ranch, Theresa and I unpacked while the kids got in suits and headed to the pool. We then made dinner, called the kids to eat, showered, and called it a day. We have decided to let the kids sleep in this morning since we are not really in a time crunch to get anywhere.