Happy New Year and Bryce Canyon National Park

I hope everyone had a safe and happy start to the New Year!  I had a couple of weeks off for the holidays . . . Yayyy!

I got my living room painted and now need to go through and have a good clean out of everything to try to get more organized.  This could take a while!  ;)

I needed a little break after getting the painting done; both from the paint fumes and the mess.  I rewarded myself with a quick little trip to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks.  I have been to both places a couple of times before (most recently just a couple of months ago - see previous post here); in the summer and in the fall.  I was anxious to see them in the winter with their pretty, dainty little lacy white shawls, looking more like they were dusted with confectioner's sugar than anything else.

I was so lucky to have such beautiful weather both days I was there.  It was relatively warm during the day, but got really chilly during the nights.  I mostly kept bundled up and tucked safely in my room at night!  Though now that I'm safely warm, I do regret not taking advantage of being in one of the few places in the US with so little ambient light at night that the skies are lit with millions of twinkly, sparkly little stars and getting in a little stargazing while I was there.

My friend Trang made some lovely crocheted fingerless gloves for me for Christmas.  (You might remember her from the guest post she did for me here.)  They sure came in handy (no pun intended) while I was there trying to keep my hands warm while still trying to take pictures.  They truly kept me quite cozy!  I really appreciated them even more on this trip for that reason!  I wanted to show them off for you.  You can see a little of them in the shot above!  Thank you, thank you,Trang!

I stayed at Ruby's Inn at the entrance to Bryce Canyon and really enjoyed it.  The room was large, clean and had a microwave, refrigerator, coffee maker, hair dryer and iron and ironing board.  It wasn't anything fancy-smancy, but it was very nice for a relatively small price.  

I can't say much for the motel restaurant, though, it was definitely geared towards meat eaters and offered almost no options for vegetarians; no pastas, a sad little salad bar (fresh ingredients, but not much more than iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, carrots, broccoli and a few toppings, such as shredded cheese, croutons, chopped eggs, sunflower seeds and a few dressing choices).  There was one lone offering of roasted veggies on the menu, but they were a little overdone and barely enticing.  **sigh**  

The couple in the next booth were also a bit puzzled by the menu as well!  Fellow vegetarians!  They asked the waitress twice, as if they couldn't quite believe there weren't any pasta options on the menu.  The second night I didn't even bother . . . but, I had hoped to at least find a cheese pizza in the little store they had there.  No luck on the cheese pizza - every one of them had meat on it, but I did finally find a frozen bean and cheese burrito that turned out to actually be better than the food in the restaurant!  Again, I'm sure if I could have eaten the other things on the menu, my review would be much different!  :)  But, it's something for me to keep in mind for future visits . . . bring food!  I would have starved if I stayed there much longer!

But, the food wasn't the main reason for the visit . . . it was the scenery.  The colors were gorgeous!  Deep blue skies, red and golden rock accented with little caps of snow and the green of the trees.  It is always just so amazing to see all the variations in the rock formations and the layers upon layers of color.  It is just mesmerizing watching how the changing light and shadows transform the view. 

If you haven't been there, you need to put these places on your list of places you must visit at some point in your life!  Push come to shove, if you had to pick between the two, I would go with Bryce Canyon over Zion.  But, they are close enough together that if you get to one, you may as well try to do both!

I hope to be back soon with some pictures from Zion National Park.  I took so many of both places and the space in between, it is hard to sort through them all and try to select just a few to share and then get them ready to publish!  So, I decided to try to put them in a slideshow to share with you.  This pics and videos in this post one are from Bryce.  I hope you enjoy them!

That's it for now!  I hope to see you again soon!  Happy New Year, my friends!  :)