Bryce Canyon

Our first real stop in Utah was Bryce Canyon National Park. After yesterday's rain we arrived dirty, damp, muddy and with no clean clothes! So, after finding a place to camp the next stop was showers and laundry.

Stopping for a view on the way back from laundry!

That took a couple of hours before we went out exploring the park. We did a (relatively) short three mile circular hike down in the canyons and back, hoping that the rain would hold off.  It mostly did!  We stopped for lunch at Queen Gardens - with a rock shaped like Queen Victoria (?) 

Queen Victoria

Action shot!

Switchbacks back up out of the canyon

We went back to camp to collect the van and then did the 18 mile scenic drive stopping at most of the canyon viewpoints along the way. The clouds had come back by this point and it was getting pretty chilly. Everyone else seemed to be wearing waterproof anoraks but we were still in t-shirts (and shorts for Rosie!) Why don't we have anoraks?! Rosie doesn't even have anything with sleeves since dropping her cardigan on the Sapa trek in Vietnam. Of course most other people here have massive RV's that you can pack a whole house into and still tow an SUV bigger than our van behind them! We're carrying everything we own on our backs for 2 months. Still, next time I'll try and squeeze in a jacket!

Towards the end of the drive we were running out to the viewpoints, taking our pictures and running back. We still haven't learnt that this isn't a good idea at 9000 feet-you end up gasping for air in the car park!

We made it back to camp and managed to almost finish cooking before the real storm arrived. We were only making hot dogs to be quick. We were hovering desperately over the stove waiting for the pan to boil and hearing the thunder getting closer. We just got the stove packed away before the downpour. We ate our hot dogs in the van and, because washing up is my responsibility (always, apparently) the dirty dishes got left until the morning - the van had a bit of an onion smell that night (life on the road!)

The rain didn't stop all night. In the morning we got up at 6.30 as usual but didn't brave leaving the van for a while. We entertained ourselves by graffiting the windows.

I was waiting for the rain to stop so I could wash up but it never happened. In the end I just had to psych myself up and do it. I got completely soaked while Ros was cosy in the van doing her drying duty. Afterwards we drove to the showers. (This isn't as lazy as it sounds - there aren't any showers in the campsite, you have to go to the general store) and warmed ourselves up with some hot chocolate before we hit the road in search of better weather.