Time was crunched and unfortunately, we had to leave Zion early in the morning, after spending less than a day in the park. This was a true whirlwind Utah road trip! Luckily, the drive from Zion to Bryce is not lacking in stunning views.

The first stop on the way out is through a long tunnel. The traffic is one-way, so if you don't catch it at the right time, there is a lengthy wait for the traffic to clear from the other direction. The upside is this provides plenty of time to park and take pictures.

Another view point on the way out of Zion National Park, is Checkerboard Mesa. Here is a picture of Dan and I, standing in front of the checkerboard. Use your imagination, it kind of looks like one.

Just outside of Bryce Canyon National Park, we stopped for a buffet lunch at Ruby's Inn and we went off-roading.

On our last trip to Bryce in 2012, Dan and I went on an ATV tour with the same company. We were a little disappointed to learn that they had closed a large portion of their old route due to land issues. The tour in now shorter, but also cheaper! We did a quick hour tour that took us to our first views of Bryce and the hoodoos.

The road to the edge of the canyon was gorgeous. Look at those fluffy clouds and blue sky. Utah is so beautiful.

I rode with Dan and our ATV broke down early in the tour. One of the guides went back for a replacement and we rode with him for the remainder of the tour. It was disappointment, because he drove, rather than letting Dan drive. However, he also was great about telling us stories and pointing out areas of interest.

Like this derelict barn.

We reached our first look at the canyons and stopped for pictures.

After the ATV's we drove into Bryce Canyon National Park and made our way around several of the view point stops along the rim.

It was cold.

Freezing cold.

Cold and windy.

There was snow and I didn't come prepared. In Los Angeles and Las Vegas, the weather was scorching hot and my cold-weather clothes for Utah were a long sleeve cotton tee-shirt and fleece hoodie. I was not prepared at all. It was so miserable, that I only briefly stepped outside of the car to take in the view and I even skipped getting out at a couple of the stops. This Valley girl can't take the cold! I was grateful to have already visited Bryce.

More beautiful scenery and my review of the historic Bryce Canyon Lodge coming soon.

We checked out of the Zion Lodge and headed towards Bryce, bright and early Sunday morning. The skies were brilliant blue as the rocks shifted from deep reds to rust oranges and dark yellows.

The first of many sand castle looking formations.

cool rocks!

Thunder on the way to Bryce. We could have a whole album of this car on vacation.

When I see a road side attraction, especially one boasting a collection of over 1,600 butterflies, i slam on the breaks. In this case, I had Dan slam on the breaks and we went to the Bryce Museum, located on byway 12. We really didn't know what to expect, except they said that they had a deer petting zoo. I saw plenty of deer, but none that you would want to pet.

It looks nice from the outside.

The first of many, still animals.

I saw ponies to pet, but no deer.

loving the farm tools.

The place looked nice enough from the outside, almost like a persons house. In fact, we found out that they curators of the museum, do live on the top floor. This is very much a home grown operation and we met the husband/wife team that owns the museum. What we didn't realize until we paid our admission, is that this was a museum of taxidermy animals, all shot and prepped by the husband.

I love animals, live ones, but I also have a bit of a morbid curiosity with taxidermy. I fail to understand why anyone would want to shoot and stuff animals, but I find it interesting all the same. The husband was really nice and happy to answer all of our questions about the taxidermy process, including how he preserved little lizards..it's like quick drying fruit or jerky. Really, a lot of it is like jerky.

Just part of the first floor

A wider shot of the first floor..and there was a whole second floor.

yikes!

This house of animal horrors included species from all continents.

Dan and his friends.

Love it or hate it, it is impossible to escape being overwhelmed by this guy's personal collection. If you don't mind taxidermy, this really was on par with other Natural History museums that I have visited. There was a lot of care with the exhibits and making it an educational experience.

Bryce Museum Official Site

Our next surprise stop occurred when we stopped to get gas in the town right outside of the canyon. We saw a sign for ATV tours and decided to go. April is still considered the off season and we lucked out by being the only people on the tour. Dan used to own a ATV and is experienced, so since I was riding with him, the guide let us go a little nuts. The guide was actually really awesome, stopping to let us take pictures and to point out grazing deer. LIVE GRAZING DEER!! He also gave us a bit of advice that would send us on a mega drive through Utah, more on that next time.

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Tourist trap that we explored while waiting for the ATV tour.

Dan and I about to get dusty on our ride.

I just found out that we are going on an ATV ride!!!

one of our first peaks at Bryce, from a point on the tour.

Live deer we saw on the tour.

We didn't go straight to the resort, Dan took me up to the canyon view points. He made me close my eyes on the drive, so that I wouldn't be spoiled before we got to the optimum view point. My first impression of Bryce, was that it looked like a scene from a Science Fiction movie. It looked other-worldly and just plain bizarre. I learned that the sand castle like structures are called hoodoos.

Dan and I with our first views of Bryce.

Dan in Bryce, (happy too)

A happy Karen in Bryce.

Just as with Zion, Dan had visited Bryce and knew where to book our stay. We stayed right at the Bryce Canyon Lodge and lucked out with getting one of the first cabins open for the summer season. The cabins are clustered in the woods, a short drive from the main lodge. They were not as fancy as the lodge at Zion, more rustic, like camping.

Dan and the cabin.

We were staying at a Historical landmark.

me, standing in front of our cabin.

Dan is enjoying our picnic dinner.

We decided to try to save money and buy picnic supplies from the camp ground store. This was probably not a savings over eating in the lodge, as the prices were grossly inflated, however, it was definitely more fun to "rough it".

Just a two minute walk from our cabin, was a walk at the edge of the canyon, an over look with benches. We went out shorty before sunset and watched the colors change with the light. Bryce is a completely different experience at different times of the day.

We watched this beautiful bird fly all over the hoodoo.

A hoodoo.

A natural bridge.

i love the oranges in this picture.

We went back out around nine at night and it was pitch black with stars everywhere. A creepy incident happened when a car way off in the distance flashed its lights at us several times in a communication attempt and we messed around with our flashlight. They suddenly stopped and everything went black, prompting us to hightail it back to our cabin. That's how horror movies begin.

The next morning, we woke up early, still achy from Observation Point, but determined to do a hike down into the canyon. Looking down into the canyon, you really can't see trails or hikers, but they're there. Hiking Bryce is just as amazing as Zion, but in a completely different way. First, the hike was shorter and less intense, only about 1 1/2 hours and not quite as much uphill. Second, Zion looks like Earth and Bryce is like landing on an alien planet. It is so saturated with color that it's overwhelming and the ground looks like it should be soft, like you could crumble it in your hands or bounce off of it.

It was still cold early in the hike.

Dan and the hoodoo.

hoodoo in the morning light.

Dan looking extra big in a small archway.

The hike started with switchbacks into the canyon.

A closed trail. Lots of the trails had been blocked by fallen rocks.

Pretty morning light in the canyon

Bryce Canyon

Lone branch

taking a water break.

Squeezing into the cave

Doesn't the ground look spongy?

morning hoodoo

At the lowest point, we came upon more trees, foliage and little critters.

One of my favorite pictures- dirty, sweaty and happy.

Just like Zion, Bryce Canyon is a must-see, add it to your bucket list destination. I think that our pictures are pretty darn good, but they in no way can show how truly magnificent the canyon is in person.

Stay tuned to find out what adventure ensued when we listened to the advice of our ATV Guide.

Zion to Bryce- April 2015

Bryce Canyon- April 2012