This was the day we were going home. I am generally pretty melancholy on my last day. I drowned my sorrows in my last piece of pie, then started packing up the condo. We still were a little bit up-in-the-air about our plans for the day. David wanted to drive home via Bryce Canyon National Park. He quasi-researched it a month before and thought it would add a couple of hours to our day. I was torn. I kind of liked the idea of going through Bryce. However, a part of me wanted to take our time leaving the condo, eat breakfast at a diner somewhere, and hit a Brazilian Restaurant in Provo or SLC. The idea of watching Josh's eyes light up when servers brought around swords filled with meat was the best birthday present I could think of (my eyes might light up a bit too!) In the end, we decided to merge the two ideas. We'd leave early, drive through Bryce, and hit Rodizio for dinner.
We were all packed up and on the road pretty early in the morning (like 9:30ish). We hadn't gotten very far when it became evident that something was wrong with our DVD players. They were super ultra sensitive. Every little bump would make them start the movie all the way over. I told David to pull over at the nearest Walmart and buy a new cord or something. David said, "Let's just buy a new player." He wasn't up for trying to figure out what was wrong. I don't blame him. We had already done that several times. - plus the player was getting old anyway. So, we spent an hour or so shopping for, buying, and installing our new player.
Then, we drove. We went through Zions National Park. It was lovely. Also, a little frightening - you drive on the edge of some pretty steep cliffs. Driving through the mile-long man-made tunnel in the mountain is pretty cool. The whole thing was great.
Then, we drove through several beautiful little towns. I LOVE small country towns. I like to imagine myself living somewhere like that. David and I had a great time talking with each other as we drove through the beautiful countryside while the kids were occupied with their movie. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip.
Around lunchtime, we tried to find a place to eat. However, in little towns like that, there aren't many choices. We saw a few run down diners, we passed up a couple of cute looking ones, thinking we'd find another one down the road, and we almost ate at a ritzy German bakery in the middle of nowhere (too pricey for foods my kids wouldn't eat anyway). Finally, we gave up and pulled out the crackers, string cheese and apples in a church parking lot. It worked.
We pulled into Bryce in the early afternoon. A beautiful little rain storm was brewing, The air was positively chilly - a feeling we hadn't felt for a long time. It was heavenly! We saw several deer, and a few pronghorn antelope, along with some pretty vocal ravens. We pulled off at several look-outs and spent a little time in the visitor center/museum. Bryce Canyon really is breathtakingly beautiful. I'm glad we made the effort to go there. It was worth it.
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| Cute picture, except that Quin is punching his dad in the ear! |
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| So beautiful! |
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| Bronson was freezing and a little cranky so Dad held him. |
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| When it really started to rain, Dad and Alison kept going - the rest of us stayed in the van. |
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| Wow! |
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| Ewww. Hole-in-the-ground toilets! |
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| Birthday girl and her crew. |
By the time we left Bryce Canyon, it was after 4:00 pm. I was struggling with the reality that I wasn't going to get my birthday dinner at the Brazilian restaurant. David said he would take us on the following day. So, after searching for El Bambi's Shamrock Cafe in Beaver and finding it closed, we stopped at the exact same Wendy's restaurant that we'd stopped at on our way down. Then, we drove home. We made a pit stop or two along the way. We arrived home around 10:30 at night. We were glad to find all well at home. We unpacked the van, but just left all the luggage on the floor to deal with in the morning, then we went to bed.
The next day, I got some new exercise clothes and aromatherapy bubble bath for my birthday presents. We went to a Brazilian restaurant for lunch. The kids were as excited and impressed as I'd hoped they would be. It was really fun! Of course afterwards, the stinker Bronson wasn't even in the car yet - we were still in the parking lot - when he said, "Mom, can I eat something?" Ahhhhhhhhh!
David had the rest of the week off. We intentionally did a whole lot of nothing. David works really hard, so I was perfectly happy to see him rest for a few days.
And thus ends vacation - day five...with a little extra...and Gee Family Vacation 2015.
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