Day 6

We drove to Bryce Canyon through Red Canyon with its beautiful red dirt tunnels.  At Bryce Canyon, we took pictures at Sunrise and Sunset Points.  The view was amazing, and Dad joked, "What are y'all looking at?"  At Sunset Point, Dad, Charlie and Meg hiked the very deep (and then steep) Navajo Loop Trail into the hoodoos.  Jane Gray and Mom went to a geology talk while the others hiked.  After that, we all hiked to Inspiration and Rainbow Points for different vantage points of the hoodoos.  They are beautiful!  We also saw a very unique natural bridge!  After Bryce, we headed to Zion via the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway.  We saw a ton of bighorn sheep!  We drove down into the canyon, driving through a one-way, one-mile tunnel, and then hiked the very steep and narrow Canyon Overlook Trail.  There was a cave, which we affectionately dubbed "Laura's cave" because she couldn't quite make it all the way up to the Canyon Overlook due to her acrophobia.  The kids made some very neat rock sculptures there.  On the way out of Zion, we saw more sheep, and Charlie and Meg hiked up a mountain right across from the sheep.  Charlie got frustrated when Mom told him that it was too dangerous to hike up to the mountain's peak.  We ate dinner at the Zion Mountain Ranch.  It was delicious, and the kids loved playing with the Ranch's puppy, chickens, and mini ponies.  On the way to the Jacob Lake Inn, we stopped to gaze at the stars and Milky Way in the middle of nowhere, Arizona.