Bryce Canyon Anniversary Getaway

This past December, my wife Jessica and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary by spending a night down at Bryce Canyon. We'd visited a few times in the past, but they were always in the summer. This would be our first winter visit.

- Day 1 -
Wednesday - December 30, 2015

After a relatively quick drive down from Torrey, where our kids were left with Jessica's parents, we started the trip off with a quick visit to the Mossy Cave area. It was fun to get Jess out on some micro-spikes for the the first time.

First we checked out the frozen falls of the Tropic Ditch.

Then we strolled up to Mossy Cave, which could easily take on the name "Icy Cave" in the winter time.

We then made our way back up to the hotel where we checked in and got our passes for winter sleigh ride out to the rim.

Next we enjoyed a bit of play time at the little outdoor ice rink.

We concluded the day with a swim and dinner.

- Day 2 -
Thursday - December 31, 2015

Thursday morning made us grateful for our warm hotel room. The air outside when we woke up was -5 with a windchill that was much worse. It made conditions right for some beautiful frost in the pines outside our room though.

For the morning we chose to go into the park boundary and hike from the road out to Fairyland Point and then hike along the Rim Trail a ways.

We would have hiked further with how beautiful the weather was and how quickly the air had warmed up with the sun being out, but we wanted to make it up to Richfield in time to catch Star Wars that afternoon. So, it was bittersweet when we had to turn back.