Bryce Canyon National Park

We are staying at Kodachrome, really close to Bryce, so we thought we'd take a day off to hang out in Bryce, low key, get some internet and phone calls in. We did Queen's Garden/Navajo Loop which is about 2.2 miles and passes by some of the coolest hoodoos (spires of multicolored layered sandstone). It's always great to see Bryce - it looks like Disneyland and is so fanciful and enchanted and magical.

There are a bunch of tunnels cut through the hoodoos, some arches, lots of crazy chesslike pieces in rows. And a steady stream of tourists.

We explained to many people that Leo did this loop when he was 3 and that he ran up the steep switchbacks of the Navajo Loop, faster than the other adults. Well, it was hot and he was tired and it didn't seem like we'd even make it back home at the pace he was going. We had to keep seeking shade. Finally, we were at the switchbacks and steep hill up. We took a long rest and snack, and then he decided to run to the top of the trail. We hiked as fast as we could and hoped he'd stop at the top and wait for us.

Leo got his junior ranger badge too. He had gotten it here when he was three, but his friend "borrowed" it and we never got it back. He had to pick up trash, do a ranger program and do a bunch of worksheets but earned a nice badge for his junior ranger hiking vest.

In the top of the last photo, you can see the black smoke in the sky from a prescribed burn on route 12.