We left Nashville at 7:40 am on Saturday (5/25) and flew to Las Vegas. We packed everything we needed except groceries (and a cooler and propane). So it was a little challenging anytime we had to move all our bags around. We had 6 large (and heavy) duffles and the kid carrier (as well as a small backpack each).
When we got to Vegas, we got our rental car (a Nissan Armada) and then grabbed some lunch at Chick-fil-A before heading to Walmart for groceries. Then we got on the road and drove to Bryce Canyon National Park (about 4 hours away).
We headed straight to our campground when we arrived. Bryce Canyon NP has two campgrounds but one is currently closed and the other doesn't take reservations. So we stayed at Ruby's Inn RV Park and Campground that is just outside the park (about 2 miles from the entrance). We arrived close to 6 pm so there weren't many sites left to choose from. We took one on a pond next to group camping area #12. It worked out great here - it was adjacent to Ruby's Inn which had some exterior lights but limited the campground noise that can get loud sometimes.
We set up our tent and then made dinner. I did a lot of meal planning before our trip but kept everything very simple since the boys are generally still picky. So our first night was macaroni & cheese and hot dogs.
Geese with their goslings ...
After dinner we went into the park to check out some overlooks as the sun was setting. Since Carter was in 4th grade this year, our family gets free admission to all national parks this year - yay! We did a quick stop at the visitor center to pick up Junior Ranger activity books for the boys to start working on and then went over to Sunset Point.
Next we drove over to Bryce Point. On our drive over there we got our first view of mule deer. They pretty much look like the deer at home except they have massive ears and thicker coats.
It was getting pretty dark as we were leaving the overlook but not dark enough for a lot of stars yet. We were on the western edge of the Mountain Time Zone so it stayed light really late (until after 9 pm). It was probably our best night to stay up another hour or two and try to get a glimpse of the Milky Way since it was a clear night. But we decided to get some sleep since it was going to be a long week. I now wish we'd stayed up but now we have another reason to go back!
That night was the first of three very cold nights. It got down to about 28F. None of us probably wore the best clothes that first night but we figured it out and were much warmer the last two nights.
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