First Stop (after about 3 hours drive): Zion National Park in the Southwestern part of Utah. One advantage of an RV (vs. sleeping in a tent) is that you basically just have to park it, connect the electricity and water (as long as these connections are available) - and you are done!!!
Therefore there was enough time for a quick and rather cold swim in the Virgin River before our first outdoor meal under the Western sky. Followed by a Ranger talk about Zion National Park in the national park’s open air theatre.
The next morning we then went up the canyon with the shuttle bus service. Quite convenient, at least this way you don’t spend half of the day stuck in traffic or looking for parking spaces. We did a few hikes and photo stops along the way to see (a small part of) this majestic park. Unlike in the Grand Canyon, here in Zion you are on the base of the canyon with massive sandstone walls all around you. It’s a bit like Yosemite, just that somebody coloured the rocks in red.
The highlight of the hikes was that we saw a snake that was at least 2 meters long. Quite impressive to all of sudden find yourself face to face with something like this. At least it wasn’t a rattlesnake...
In the afternoon we then drove another 3 hours to our next stop: Bryce Cannyon Nationalpark. With plenty of stops along the way to keep up morale and ice cream intake-levels.
One of our favourite moments was a small village general store in deepest Utah backcountry where the store owner offered a new copy of the “Book of Mormons” to every customer. Well, that’s the holiday reading sorted then...
Once we arrived at Bryce Canyon Campground, things had to move quickly. Because it was only a few more minutes before the Saturday night rodeo started in town. A welcome opportunity for cowboys of all ages to show off their skills and bravery. The grown-ups tried to stay on top of bucking broncos and wild bulls (for at least 8 seconds), whereas the future generation cowboys tried their luck on little calves. And for the smallest ones (who could barely walk) it was holding onto little lambs.
After a really cold night (close to zero degrees outside), we then woke up to first celebrate Fiona’s 6th birthday. With birthday candle, presents and the whole works...
We then went on a long hike along the rim of Bryce Canyon. As people say, you always discover new aspects about yourself when travelling. Well, I learned today that I had a real feeling of panic when I saw Lucy and Fiona running around the (largely unprotected!) canyon rim. Strange because I certainly don’t suffer from vertigo when it’s just myself. Well, at least there are two grown-ups and two kids of us, so we could resort back to man- (or better kid-)marking. Still, I have to say, I was fairly relieved when we finally had completed our hike. A shame because of it I couldn’t really enjoy the awesome scenery.
Once we “survived” the rim trail we had a picnic back at the campground and a refreshing swim in the outdoor pool here. While it’s freezing cold at night, it is really hot during the day. In the evening we saw a movie about Bryce Canyon National Park (which was much less emotionally stressful, I have to ay). And then we finished off Fiona’s special day with an open campfire. Whoever said that grilled marshmallows tasted well; I thought, they are just a sticky sort of mess...
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