Bryce Canyon Vacation 2022

 We had an amazing family vacation this year. We've been looking forward to going to Bryce Canyon and spending a week there with the kids. 

Day 1 (Monday)

We got up Monday and finished getting packed and starting driving down. The kids did really great in the car and we just had one stop on the way down in Beaver for a bathroom break and to stretch legs for a minute. 

We have zero other pictures from day 1, which is not because there was nothing happening. We got there a little later than we wanted, so it was around 5:30-6 when we got to the park and found our campsite. When I had looked at the weather for the week, we had seen that it was going to have some type of rain storm basically every afternoon. Our tent is not awesome in the rain and is not really big enough for our whole family. Shantel recently went to the summer range (without me) and said that the tent was the perfect size for her and the five kids. So last minute we decided to buy a new tent for this trip. We've been planning to get a new tent soon and ended up deciding that even if this was not our forever tent, if we spent $100 on a new tent, it would be worth that to stay dry for an entire week. So we picked up a tent at Wal-mart on our way out of town that was a 10 person tent and much bigger. We also got two new kayaks that I'll talk about below. 

Anyway, with packing and grabbing the last things we needed at the store, we were not there as early as we wanted. Just as we were pulling up to the park it started to rain and when we arrived, it was raining (not hard, but steady). Based on the weather, it was supposed to keep raining for a few hours which left us with quite the dilemma. We did not want to wait until dark to set up the tent (what if it did not stop raining) and also, we wanted to be able to make dinner. We also did not want to wait and then have it actually be raining harder when we really had to set up the tent. In the end we decided to have the kids stay in the car while we set up the tent. We did go set up our canopy so that we could work some of the time under the canopy and try not to get as wet. 

It was a total fiasco. Shantel and I were just laughing at the whole thing. Although not laughing as hard, because it really was not great. As previously mentioned, we bought a brand new tent that morning...a new tent, that we had never set up before...ever. We were trying to figure out how to set it up while it kept gaining and getting more muddy and raining harder. The canopy was not really big enough and then having the canopy made it hard to move after the tent was set up. Some how, we finally got the tent up and managed to avoid total disaster. The tent was muddy on the outside, but not really wet on the inside. Then we got the canopy over the table and got out stuff and made some dinner while the kids huddled under the canopy and tried to stay warm. We did little mini-pizza's that were very delicious. Then it was still raining and muddy, so we got the kids all inside the tent and got to bed early. 

On a side note: the tent turned out to be perfect. It is really nice and big. It has a covered area in the doorway that was awesome and came in handy all week and was great for storing stuff outside the rain. We actually put the canopy right up to the covered tent area so we could walk out of the tent right to under the canopy where we stored the table. The tent also kept us dry all week and did not let water leak in which would not have happened with our old tent, so it was amazing. 

Day 2 (Tuesday)

Our first full day in Bryce was fantastic, and probably my favorite day. We did the Wall Street and Queen's Garden Loop trail. We started at sunrise point and worked around and ended at Wall Street and Sunset point and then walked back to sunrise point. It was a 3.2 mile hike which was a pretty decent hike for our kids. We loved hiking down through the Hoodoos and then back up through Wall street. We brought a really good lunch that we ate half way through. 

Lucy was so adorable, she rode with Shantel most of the way, but in the bottom flat area we let her walk for a little bit. She found a rock that was her "camera." She started to ask us to pose and say "cheese." She would keep taking pictures. Then she also figured out that you could set it down and set a timer and then she would run back and pose with us for the picture. It was so adorable. 

Wall Street was such a cool finish to the hike as we worked back and forth back up to the top of the lookout points. 

That afternoon we went to the visitor center and looked at the exhibits and watched some of the movies. 

We went back to our campsite for dinner. 

Bryce Day 3 (Wednesday)

On Wednesday Shantel scheduled a horseback riding adventure with Lydia. They got to go riding through Red Canyon on a four hour horseback ride. 

I drove them to Ruby's Inn where they took a shuttle to go on the ride. After we dropped them off Caleb said he was not feeling well and I got him a bowl and he ended up throwing up and was sick. I had planned to take them to the rock shop and do some other fun things, but instead I took him back to rest. Lucy also was tired and not feeling great, so I put them both in the tent. 

I decided that the thing Austin would like the most would be to do a fire, so while we did not plan on doing a fire, I let him build a fire and roast marshmallows. I helped chop some small pieces of wood, but he was in charge of lighting it and getting it going. He loved it, he could not have anything better than getting to build and keep a fire going all morning. Once the fire was going well, he got to roast marshmallows and make smores. Lucy finished her nap and came out to join for smores. 

Here are Lydia and Shantel on the horseback ride. They had a really awesome time and loved the views and getting to go for a ride. 

That afternoon Shantel stayed with Caleb and Lucy back at camp for a couple hours and I took Lydia and Austin on a view point tour. We decided to go hit a bunch of different viewpoints that had pretty short walks. 

First up was Paria View and when we saw it, we thought- this is going to be the best viewpoint, until we got to the next ones. Next we went to Bryce Point and then Inspiration Point. 

Then we went back to the campsite and Caleb was starting to feel much better. 

So we decided to go for a drive all the way to rainbow point at the end of the road. On the way we stopped at most of the view points along the way including Natural Bridge. Then we drove back and we loved Bryce Point and Inspiration Point so much, we went back there with Shantel and Caleb and Lucy now so they could so those as well. 

Bryce Day 4 (Thursday)

A month or two ago we were asking the Renchers about their summer plans and they told us they were going to Bryce Canyon. We had no idea we had both decided to go to Bryce this summer. Then we asked them what dates- and it was the exact same week as us. They had an Airbnb outside the park they were staying out. We had planned to meet up one day to do something together. The day before we were going the Renchers called to see if we were interesting in renting a pontoon boat with them and we were all in. 

So on Thursday, we drive to Navajo Lake (about an hour from our campground) to go paddle boarding and kayaking. It was the perfect place because 1) it was beautiful and 2) we had the pontoon boat that could go take us out in the lake, but there were not speedboats etc., so the kids could just go around where ever they wanted. Shantel has really been wanting to buy 2 more kayaks so we had three for when she takes the kids boating, so we bought to new kayaks to bring with us and tied them on top of the van. So they kids went out in the kayaks and loved it. Then we figured out how to tie the paddle boards (ours and the Renchers) to the back of the boat and drag it along so everyone could ride on the back. 

Here is Lydia riding. She did an awesome job, she kept wanting more turns and got braver and braver as the day went along and by the end she was standing up on the board, jumping in the air on the board and trying to switch boards with Shantel. 

Here is me driving the boat - Lucy also ended up falling asleep in my arms later on and I snuggled her for a while as she slept. 

Shantel and Lucy out on the water. 

Austin taking a turn riding on the paddle board. He also did an amazing job and got braver each time he went out. Eventually he was even able to stand up on it while it was going. 

Lucy and Caleb taking a nap. 

One of the best highlights was Shantel doing a somersault on the paddle board during her turn. It was incredible to see he do a full somersault on the paddle board without falling in. The first time she did it, she celebrated a bit early and ended up falling in and then was determined to do it again without falling in. 

The day was beautiful and it actually worked out because it was not too sunny, which can be hard for Lucy, it was mostly just cloudy and cool (72 degrees). However, a few hours into our time (we rented the pontoon boat for 3 hours) the clouds got darker and really started to move in. We decided to start driving towards the shore. However the boat is not very fast, so it was slow going. Then the rain started to come down and it was a full on downpour. Everyone tried to huddle under the cover on the boat with a few of the Renchers just using towels to cover their heads. It was raining so so hard and was so fun. Our kids were panicked and came running to snuggle up to us as much as they good and they were yelling. Shantel and I were just laughing and the Renchers (except Wendy who does no like to get cold) were laughing and it was so so fun as the rain was so hard. It actually stopped raining as hard about the time we got back to shore. We had such a fun time with the Renchers. They invited us back to the airbnb and we went and did showers there and then we played Carcosonne with them and hung out for quite a while. 

When we got back to our campsite we did a fire that night and our kids were so happy. 

Bryce Day 5 (Friday)

Shantel really wanted to watch the sun rise at sunrise point and on Thursday night asked which kids wanted to wake up early to go with her. Caleb was the only one who wanted to go, so before 6 am she got Caleb and went to sunrise point. I love how happy you can see him here to be with Shantel. 

When they got back we did a pancake breakfast. Shantel asked Caleb what shape to do for the pancakes and he said to make them into Hoodoos, it was so cute and the perfect pancake shape. 

Our main hike on Friday was the mossy cave hike. The mossy cave was not really that awesome (you could not go in it, just look at it behind a fence), but the river by it was awesome. We went and hike to a waterfall and then after let the kids play in the river for a long time and that was a really fun part of the day. 

After the hike we did souvenir shopping in Bryce Canyon City and also got ice cream with the kids.  

We also stopped at the entrance sign for a picture. 

Our neighbors and friends the Young's were also happening to be visiting Bryce Canyon that weekend, so we met up with them and all went swimming at their hotel pool and then they came back to our campground and we did a fire and roasted marshmallows. 

Bryce Day 6 (Saturday)

On Friday, Shantel had taken Caleb to the sunrise and Austin said he had wanted to go, but Shantel had heard him so no. However, she is so wonderful, so she said she would take him the next morning and she went to see the sunrise again, this time with Austin. She got up even early (like 5:30 am) to get there while it was still dark. She even took Austin in his sleeping bag, she just picked him up in his back and took him like that to keep him warm. 

We did one last fire that morning and the kids were so happy. 

Then we got our van all packed up to go. 

We decided to do one last hike before we headed home. The hike for Fairyland is in Bryce, but the parking lot is actually before the pay checkpoint. We just decided to hike for a little bit. We ended up loving the hike so much. It was perfect for the last day and the kids could touch the hoodoos and we really enjoyed it. It was the perfect last day hike. It also did not have so many steep cliffs, which was nice for a more relaxed hike. 

Also- we tried to get Austin to take a picture of just Shantel and I and you can see Lucy fighting to come over by us. 

We had such a great trip and loved it so much. Other notes that did not make it in earlier. The campsite was amazing. We were in loop D on site 93 and we loved it so much. There was a good site and then a big hill back behind us with no campsites until you got across the road. So we had just a couple site next to us. It was so beautiful and the kids loved digging in the dirt at our site and also going for walks around the loop on their own or longer walks with either Shantel or I. There were also a million chipmunks and the kids loved seeing so many chipmunks. I'm so grateful we were able to have such a fun trip and spent time together as a family.