Bryce Canyon - Day 2

Breakfast was included with our awesome room, and the buffet each morning was delicious! Since Bryce Canyon is a National Park, it is always crawling with tourists. It was fun to hear all of the different accents in the morning and be reminded how lucky we are to live so close to such a beautiful place!

As the girls get older and more advanced on their bikes, it is fun to think that one day I will be dropping off more than one person to ride Greg's favorite trail. Until then, he gets to ride solo.

While Greg was having the time of his life, we were having fun ourselves at the local park. It is sad to think that one day these girls will be too big to enjoy the little things we've come to do on our trips, like playing on a random playground. Regardless, we still had fun, and Sof was a good helper with Quincey.

Smokey the Bear getting the sweatiest hug he's had in a long time.

Even though the Indoor pool is next to frigid, the girls and Greg had chosen to swim while Quincey took a much needed nap, and I perused the store downstairs. By the time I made it to the pool, the girls were in the shower, playing "grannies" and I just about died laughing when I walked in to hear their cute little Australian accents they learned from watching Bluey. 

Meet Janet and Rita, everyone.

After everyone dried off and Quincey woke up, we headed into the park with our bikes to ride back out on the trail - my absolute favorite thing to do!

We parked at the Old Lodge and toured the place - I've never been inside and it was super cool to see the architecture! My Grandpa Jolley grew up in Tropic, just down the canyon from Bryce Canyon, and when he was a teenager, he was a cook in the Old Lodge - it's actually where he met my Grandma. So it was a fun memory to relive as we walked around, knowing my cute grandpa had spent so much time there. 

Grandma Jan and Grandpa Todd met us in the park with their ebikes. It was fun to see them.

The girls played a game to see if they could weave in and out of the lines - their weaving became pretty impressive!

This sign in the Ruby's Inn store made me chuckle. I now identify as part mermaid!

Because we have relatives that live in Tropic, my mom claims we can use the "local discount" which saves you 20% off anything in the store. Sof scored a thread wallet for a steal and can be seen here with it! I was laughing pretty good - there's someone about my mom and finding a deal when she shops on vacation. I ended up dreaming that night about getting a local discount on something - so it sure made an impression 🤣.

It was fun to have my parents stay and eat dinner with us at Ruby's Inn. The Dinner Buffet is just as delicious as the Breakfast.

I loved this picture in our room, so naturally I snapped a pic.

Quincey was around 18 months when we made it to Bryce, and she was such a fun age to travel with! No matter where I go, she will always find me. It's pretty impressive :).

Bryce Canyon - Day 1

Cedar Main Street is one of the cutest in the state, in my opinion. There are some boutique stores that are connected internally, meaning there are open walls between them. Being October, they have created a fun shopping tradition called "Witches Night Out," where if you show up dressed as a witch, you get a certain percentage off your purchase. The girls and I had fun going and purusing the stores while Greg patiently waited for us to return.

Bulloch Drug makes the best milkshakes. The girls know that if they go with Grandma anywhere, all they have to do is ask, and they'll get it. It's starting to be really bad, but I don't think ice cream was such a bad idea, here :).

We drove over to Bryce Canyon from Cedar - a way no one but me has been before. It's been so long since I've drove that far up Hwy 14, and I forgot how beautiful it is! Once we hit Hwy 89, we turned left at Tod's Junction and headed NE towards Ruby's Inn.

We made it! 🤣

The plan this time around was to stay in the Hotel. In the past we have either camped or stayed in a little cabin, but the weather at night was turning chilly at 7,000 ft. elevation, so we opted to stay in the actual hotel at Ruby's Inn. We arrived before our room was ready, so we decided to drive into the park and do a short hike.

After our hike, we were thrilled to find out our room was ready! We were given a room on the top floor at the back of the hotel, and it ended up being a great location! We were just down the hall from the pool, lobby, restaurant, and store. The girls loved it!

Dinner was delicious! Quincey had a lot of fun exploring and looking around at the other guests.

I'm just a little sad that I didn't end up getting this for Greg.

The indoor pool at Ruby's Inn is always freezing! Quincey was happy to hang out with her Daddy in the hot tub after enduring the arctic temperatures of the pool.

Day 1 at Bryce Canyon was a success! Everyone was happy to be there, and we had a lot of fun things planned. Best Fall Break Ever!

Fall Break - A Temple, Parks, and a Scary Bike Ride

Fall Break came around and we thought it would be fun to spend a few days in Cedar, then head to St George and go through the newly renovated St. George temple, then head finish up over in Bryce Canyon for the last few days.

Somehow this happened. My girls are notorious for not sleeping in the car. Quincey proved me wrong, bless her.

Once we got to Cedar, Greg wasted no time taking the girls to the fun mountain biking trails.

It was fun to have Great Grandma Jolley stop by to see us.

The "Temple Lizard"

The renovations to the Temple were absolutely amazing! They managed to keep the gothic architecture and decor while modernizing it. My mind was completely blown when we got to the 3rd floor and saw an assembly hall identical to the pictures you see of the Kirtland Temple. How in the world had I never known that was up there?! It was amazing to sit and look around.

It was also special to show the girls the room where Greg and I had been sealed 13 years ago. It is still as beautiful as I remembered, right off the Celestial Room.

Contrary to a hangry Claire, I convinced everyone to go into the Visitor's Center for a little bit, so we could look around and find out more info. They had some cool pictures from when the Temple was originally designed and being built.

It's nearly impossible for us to visit St. George without stopping at our favorite Tonaquint Park. Luckily it was warm enough for the girls to still don their swimsuits and play in the water.

While I was squishing Sof in a dinosaur egg ...

Claire was watching safely from above.

Claire makes me laugh!

After getting back to Cedar, Greg was optimistic in thinking he had enough time to ride the Blowhard Trail before the sun went down.

Even though I grew up in Cedar, the view on top of Cedar Mountain takes my breath every time.

 

Off he goes!

I know I normally have 40ish minutes to get back down to the spot where I pick up Greg, so I took my time driving back down the canyon, with the windows down, enjoying the neverending beauty.

Greg was losing daylight fast, but he stopped to take a few pictures himself.

I eventually made it down to the spot where Greg is normally waiting for me. I didn't think much of it, thinking he would pop out of the tree's any minute.

After waiting about 15 minutes, and it being almost completely dark in the canyon, I was officially nervous and decided to go looking for Greg. I grabbed my phone as a flashlight, a blanket in case I found him somewhere off the trail, and started jogging up the trail. I ran past 2 rock climbers and asked if they had seen anyone come by on a bike, and when they said "no," my nerves hit another level. The trail was rocky and twisy, with a few dropoffs, but I kept jogging, hoping I would eventually run into Greg. When the trail took a sharp left turn up a steep and rocky climb, I thought I saw a light, so I kept going. All the while, I had been yelling for Greg, with no answer. I kept going and yelling until finally, about a mile(?) up the trail, I saw a reflection, which ended up being Greg. He had lost daylight so fast, that he was unable to finish the trail on his bike, so he was slowly walking down the trail, trying to stay away from the drop-offs. Greg is normally super calm and level-headed, but when I found him on that trail, he was scared, as he rightfully should have been. We didn't have cell service, so I was beyond grateful to have finally found him. He didn't have a light, so he had been doing his best to make his way down the trail as carefully as he could. After grabbing me in a bear hug (to steady both of our nerves), we turned around and slowly made our way back down the trail. Luckily, I had brought my phone as a flashlight, but quickly learned it might be smart to stash a few flashlights in the car, for emergency purposes.

My mom had kept our girls for us, thinking we wouldn't be gone very long. 1.5 hours later, we finally rolled back into town where we had cell service. My mom had taken the girls to the park, bathed them, and gotten them ready for bed. While we were stressing on the mountain, they were having the time of their lives.

The day ended a lot scarier than I would have liked, but I learned, as I have learned many times being on Cedar Mountain, that God hears us and answers our prayers, all while providing very good learning experiences.