Down Day

Last night was a late night - just enjoying the beautiful evening weather in breath-taking landscape together.  Had a delicious meal of grilled chicken with a mushroom sauce, rice, salad, and some fresh rosemary olive oil bread.  Some white wine was enjoyed along with the meal.

After the meal Jeff decided to walk off dinner up the trail into the petrified forest.  We waited, and waited, and waited for him to come back as the sun went down.  We took turns looking up the hill to see him come down, with increasing worry.  At dusk, Brandon, Brooke and I got headlamps out and headed up the trail to find Jeff.  Brandon laughed at our pace, commenting that I had my "angry mom" pace going on.  Luckily, and to our pleasure, we met Jeff coming out at the top of the hill, before we had to make a decision which way to go at the fork.  Jeff said he had at least another hour of walking time before he couldn't see any  more.  The three of us agreed that maybe he had about 15 minutes.  By the time we got to the bottom of the hill and back to camp, the sun had completely set.
After the excitement settled down, we sat out under the stars, watching for shooting stars and discussing politics until very late.  So... we decided to sleep in another day and put off the 13 mile hike and Bryce Canyon.

After a pancake breakfast, we rented three paddle boards for two hours.  Everyone paddle boarded except Jeff and Brian.  Jeff napped during the time and Brian snapped pictures.  The kids enjoyed throwing each other off the boards.  Lisa and I enjoyed being out on the water.

We'll do the hike up the hill here into the petrified forest.  Lisa and Brian haven't hiked that yet.  We'll also probably head to the rock shop just outside the campground.