Road Trip - The rest of Utah

So, don't get me wrong, Utah is a great, but we are going to be happy to get out of the desert. Our third stop in Utah was Capitol Reef National Park. This park is awesome. Not only are there not that many people, but the scenery and hiking are amazing, and you get to pick fruit! We were able to explore a couple slot canyons, hike in something called the frying pan (aptly named I must say), and drink some beers while playing cribbage. The weekend was a little bittersweet because of the 2nd anniversary of my Dad's accident, but I'm sure he would be proud of Lacey and I for taking a chance on this little trip of ours.

Lacey picking tart cherries

Joey and Megan on top of Cassidy Arch

Our lizard friend in the slot canyon of Cottonwood Wash

Joey, Megan, and Us at the end of our slot canyon adventure

We left Capitol Reef on Monday after spending an extra night there. The campground was awesome and only $10 a night, so staying the third night seemed like a good plan. We woke up on Monday and headed out for Bryce Canyon National Park to meet Eric. He is also on a journey of the un/underemployed, so we thought meeting up at Bryce would be great. 

On a side note, while we were looking for a campsite Sally (Our Honda Fit) reached 3,000 miles on this trip. We've been stopping at all the 1,000 mile marks and documenting what we see. This one came at the campground, 2,000 came near a small farm in CO, and 1,000 came in Mesa Verde NP.

We secured a great campsite at the park and played some dice while waiting for Eric to arrive from Flagstaff. When he got to the park we headed down the rim road and caught a glimpse of some of the southern overlooks. Bryce is a pretty amazing place. It actually looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. The next morning we got up, ate a good breakfast, and headed out on a long hike connecting the Queen's Garden complex, the Peak-a-boo loop, and the Navajo loop.

View from Sunset Point

A hoodoo on the Peak-a-boo loop

More hoodoos on the Peak-a-boo loop

The 7.5 mile hike we did was down, then up, then down, then up, and had a bunch of up and down in between. It was pretty amazing, though, and we'd do it all over again. We parted ways with Eric this morning after taking a quick picture at the park entrance sign and doing a short hike to the Mossy Cave. 

We hope Eric has a great trip to Denver across the dirt roads of UT and CO, and we are on to California with a stop tonight in Henderson, NV to gamble a little bit, get a shower in, and get the brakes checked on Sally before we continue back West. 

I'll leave you with a couple pictures of Us, and we'll update again after Sequoia!