BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK, UT We returned to Bryce Canyon National Park under the auspices of the Elderhostel Tour. We opted for a hike all the way down to the canyon floor via the Queens Gardens trail and back up, almost vertically, via the Wall Street trail.

The bark on some of the trees in this part of the country smells like vanilla or butterscotch, depending on your sense of smell. Here’s a shot of Donald smelling a tree.

 FACING YOUR FEARS Kay is afraid of heights – acrophobia, I think. Our instructor offered us three options to explore Bryce via Sunrise Point. One group hiked the rim for two hours. One group did a short rim hike for 1/2 a mile and one group was hiking down into the canyon and hoodoos for what was supposed to be a 1 1/4 mile hike. Donald and Kay chose to go down among the hoodoos with Art our bus driver as guide. Of course, Kay had her walking stick and stuck to the inside wall of the trail especially on the switchbacks. One thing that helped was that another hiker, Mary, from California went on the hike and she was afraid of heights also. Dick, our fellow RVer and friend who had to start down late because he was talking to his son about a medical concern finally caught up with us. The canyon floor was spectacular once we got down and looking up at the hoodoos was fabulous. When we got to ‘Wallstreet’ we started up. I bet there were a dozen switchbacks climbing back up and it was at least a 500 to 600 ft. rise in elevation. Folks, that the equivalent of climbing up a 50-60 story building. Kay tried not to look down, just kept her eyes on the trail. Wow, did we have an appetite when we got to the top and it was time for our picnic lunch which was excellent, by the way. We think we hiked about 2 1/2 miles and we got a round of applause and many attaboys from the rest of the group.

TOO TIRED TO SHOP. After that we stopped at Ruby’s Country Store. This Mormon family owns this entire little town right outside the canyon – motels, restaurants, lodges, RV parks, car repair, etc. You name it, they got it. Didn’t find anything we couldn’t live without! Hehehe!