Spring Break- BeUTAHful

The first week of April was Spring Break. Since Nate and I had just been gone we knew we needed to vacation as a family.  We drove to Panguitch to enjoy dinner and stay at an Airbnb. It was a house connected to a store on Main Street, it looked better in the pictures:(! But it was fine. The next morning we headed to straight to Bryce Canyon. We started on the Queens Garden Trail then continued to the Navajo Loop. It was about 3.5 miles, the boys did amazing. Marshall did great riding on Nate's back in the baby carrier. We enjoyed looking at the hoodoos, Thor's hammer formation, the Three Wiseman formation, and Two Bridges.  Our favorite was walking through the tunnels that were cut into the rock. Bryce Canyon is so breathtaking, I can't believe it has taken us so long to visit!

Nate insisted that we take the Scenic Byway 12 on our way to Capital Reef. It had for a long drive but a beautiful one. We visited Kodachrome Basin State Park and did a moderate hike. We then took a dirt road to Devils Garden in Escalente. The boys went crazy running around the hoodoos and natural arches. We stopped at a rock shop on the side of the rode, the boys each picked out a few favorites. We walked through the Anasazi State Park museum and enjoyed the playground. We were happy to finally make it the Capital Reef Resort.  The resort was amazing!! We made smores and enjoyed the beautiful scenery! 

We woke up bright and early to venture into Capital Reef. We started with the 2 mile, kid-friendly hike of Hickman Bridge. We enjoyed the petroglyphs, a short walk from the road. We loved eating lunch and buying pie from the Gifford House in the park. We then drove along a spectacular road that was lined with cliff walls, we felt like we were on a Disneyland ride. It lead us to the Capital George trail. We walked through a gorge that passed Petroglyph panels and several hundred historic signatures (the Pioneer Register). It became too windy and cold to make it to the water tanks. I was excited to take a picture at the Cassidy Arch sign. We'll have to come back one day to complete the hike. We saw many deer when we stopped at the historic schoolhouse. We enjoyed Capital Reef much more than we thought we would. It was a great way to enjoy 2 of the 5 National Parks in Utah!!