National Parks: The Grand Tour

Every June, Aaron goes to an audio/visual convention that toggles between Orlando and Las Vegas. This year it was in Vegas.  The kids were super excited to go to Vegas and swim in the hotel pool - always the highlight of any trip with a hotel stay. We also decided to visit three national parks afterwards.
Some of you may recall our exciting adventures in Las Vegas from two years ago (roadtrip).  This time it was blessedly calm.

Treehouse at the Bellagio

While Aaron was at his convention, and when we weren't in the pool, we toured around town.  We went to the Bellagio and saw the indoor gardens, the Chihuli glass ceiling, and the water fountain show.  We also talked to Spiderman.

Katrina was excited to see Spiderman

Too hot! The shade was a little cool.
 I think behind Caleb and Katrina is a wall from the original fort.

Next we went to the Mormon fort.  Did you know that Mormons were some of the first settlers in Las Vegas?  They weren't there very long, but established a fort along the banks of a spring.  It was a super hot day whan we were there, but wading in the stream was a fun way to cool off.  Then we visited Ethel M's chocolates and toured the factory and cactus gardens.  The chocolate was yummy.

Our next stop was the Grand Canyon.  We got there late at night and set up the tent in the dark.  Good times!

Hiking at the Grand Canyon.  

We hiked to a look out point and around through the forest.  The canyon was amazingly huge.  No pictures will ever do it justice.

We stayed at the North Rim.  It's higher than the South Rim and less crowded.

Panorama from the North Rim

Caleb and Katrina wanted to do the junior ranger badges at all of the National Parks.  They had just one day to complete each one.  We went to an interesting ranger talk about the plants and animals on the North Rim.  Probably the most exciting thing we did was go to a star party.  Aaron, Hannah and Caleb all went; everyone else was too tired.  They said it was amazing how much you could see.  They were also impressed with the expertise of the amateurs who were running the telescopes.  You would tell them you wanted to see something, and they would say "oh yeah," and just swing right over to it.  

Our next stop was Zions National Park.  It was quite a hot day.  So we were glad there was several places to get wet.

Maggie and Sophie get their hair wet at the Hanging Gardens.  

At the Hanging Gardens

Wading in the Virgin River.

Caleb ropes cattle.

We hiked to the Hanging Gardens and along the Virgin River.  Then we went to a ranger talk about the people who lived in the area, Native Americans and pioneers. 

The next morning we drove to Bryce Canyon for our last National Park of the trip.  We had intended to get a camping spot and spend the night, but the kids were done camping at this point.

Somehow, this is the only photo I have of our time in Bryce.
I'm glad I could preserve this moment for posterity.

Luckily, Aaron took a few pictures with his phone.

Panorama from Sunset Point (or was is Sunrise Point?)

Waterfall near Mossy Cave

We had been to Bryce the year before with my Dad when he ran and biked 65 miles for 65 years.  So, we went to a ranger talk about geology (it was very hot) and then went to a part of Bryce that is a little off the beaten path: Mossy Cave.  Really the moss was rather disappointing, but the river was fantastic. We hiked all along the river and under the waterfall.  There was a bus load of Asian tourists in the water below a waterfall rubbing mud all over themselves.  I must have been looking in need of a beauty treatment, because one of the men started pantomiming that I should do it too.

Cutest Junior Ranger.

Three Junior Ranger badges in three days.  I think that deserves a super hero pose.

We decided to eat dinner at Ruby's Inn.  Everyone thought it was super delicious after three days of camp stove food.  We got home after midnight, but some people stayed up to take a shower.  Four days of heat and dust makes you disgusting.  

I think this trip wins the prize for most Junior Ranger badges, 3 in 3 days.  It also wins for best star viewing and as the hottest trip.  And it wins for most interesting book on CD.  We listened to Neil deGrasse Tyson's book The Pluto Files.