escape to bryce canyon national park

H and I got back last Tuesday from a long weekend down at Bryce Canyon National Park.  It was great to get back there - and we hope to have posts with lots of photos up for you soon, although we are currently dealing with some technical issues that are holding things up.

We headed south Saturday morning, just after 10 a.m. (allowing H to mow the lawn before we left), and took the scenic route down, hoping to limit our time on the interstate.  We got off I-15 at Spanish Fork - which gave our GPS unit fits - and followed US-89 through the San Pete Valley, cruising through tiny, central Utah towns like Fairview, Gunnison and Manti.  That area is both agricultural in the valley and an ATV mecca in the surrounding mountains.  We got to Panguitch around 2:30 p.m. and managed an early check-in at our old friend, the Purple Sage Motel.  We got Room #1, which was great, nearly twice the size of the room we got when we were there last.  We took our time getting repacked and reorganized, and going over hiking plans for the next couple of days, then walked the half mile to C-Stop Pizza for truly excellent veggie pizza (roasted tomatoes!).  They don't have a liquor license but we had a cooler full of beer back at the room, just a short walk away.