In our original plan, we were supposed to get to Bryce Canyon early. Since Canyonland however, we’ve seen that late afternoon is a very good time for visiting the parks. It’s cooler, with fewer people. So we stayed at the hotel this morning, enjoyed the swimming pool and the sun.

We arrived at Bryce Canyon early afternoon, spent some time at the geology day fair, went for a ranger-led walk about the geological history of Bryce Canyon, the vegetation and the park’s history.

We went for a long hike in the hoodoos. It was a bit cloudy at the start, but the sun appeared in the way back, changing the scenery completely.

During that hike, we met a family who were speaking both French and Norwegian. That puzzled us, and even more when Sarah recognized one of her classmates from the French school in Oslo last year… Quite a coincidence.

The kids completed their 7th junior ranger program, the last one, hopefully, for this holiday.

Before heading back home, we ate our diner looking at the sunset.

Bryce Canyon marks the end of the first part of our holidays, the great parks of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Arizona. Next is Las Vegas and the Californian coast.