Touring Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef With the Grandkids!

 

Our next stop on our memory making trip was Bryce Canyon National Park.  Our first stop was at the Visitor Center where I was happy to see that they moved the information desk rangers outside under a tent.  The kids did a little shopping and we picked up their Junior Ranger books.  We only had the afternoon and we had missed a ranger talk.  I really miss not being able to see the overview movies as it really would help to orient the kids better about geology, etc. 

 I will let the pictures show what they saw!

 

Who would have thought there'd be an ice cream truck at one of the pull outs?

And they did earn their Jr. Ranger badges!

Showing badges along with a souvenir snake and whistle!

 The next day we moved camp to Capitol Reef National Park, which still ranks as one of our most favorite parks.  In 2016 we spent our summer as volunteer camp hosts here at the Fruita Campground, which was a lot of fun.  It was exciting to be back in the park and see a few familiar faces. 

We stopped and got their Jr. Ranger books then headed for a Ranger talk on “Birds of Prey” at the amphitheater. It was interesting!

 

Ranger Eric

Next on the list was getting a homemade cinnamon roll from the Gifford House.  We watched a couple of bucks attempt to eat pears off of the trees.

Next we were fortunate enough that the park opened one of the apple orchards that day.  Kids ended up picking about 5 pounds of fresh granny smith apples.  We turned that into a pie for supper!

Ron in the background talking to old friends.

You pay $1 a pound.

We hiked a little ways down the Grand Wash trail, but I guess these kiddos are not used to altitude and the heat and they drank all of their water up pretty fast.  They really loved rock climbing!

Lucy and Aiden peeking through the rock!

Aiden always helping his cousin.

Ron and Aiden peering into an old uranium mine shaft that still has dynamite behind the bars.

Kids decided to wade in the creek.

Getting sworn in (ranger is hiding behind the glass)

The newest Junior Rangers!

The campground we stayed at was really nice, Thousand Trails in Torrey.  Kids enjoyed playing on the playground.  And the full moon view was awesome!

Beautiful full moon

I think Papaw had a distinct advantage!

Lucy couldn't stand Papaw's hair that was sticking straight up!

After our stay here we will start the journey to take them back home to Sweeny Texas, by way of South Fork Colorado where we had some fun and cool times!  Stay tuned!