Winter Journey – Last Days at Bryce Canyon – April 2017 (2-4)

Sunday April 2nd – In the morning here at Bryce Canyon, we are happy to see at least partial sun today. After breakfast, we take care of some bookkeeping business, then put tar on the seam of the roof, and hopefully this will take care of the leak over the table. In the warmest part of the afternoon, with the solar panel hooked to the Suburban battery, the vehicle starts and Clifford drives it to the auto repair shop in Bryce Canyon City to drop it off. He rides his bicycle back to camp, making use of the great bike trail here.

After he gets back, we go for a hike on the Rim Trail to Sunrise Point.

Walking the Rim Trail to Sunrise Point
Rim Trail to Sunrise Point
Spires at Sunrise Point

It is a lovely day for a hike, except the melting snow has caused the trail to become exceedingly muddy.  Back at camp, after a couple of brief calls, I work on the next blog and do some editing for one of my authors.

Monday April 3rd – There is snow on and off all day. I walk down to the entry station to pay for a couple more days and over to the Visitors’ Center to mail a postcard to friends. Then I hike to the Rim Trail, but it is so muddy, worse than yesterday, that I don’t go far.

Snow “off” at the junction of the campground and the Rim Trail
Snow “on” again, making the trail even muddier, since it melts as it reaches the ground

We hear back from the auto shop; the Suburban needs needs a new fuel pump and a new starter. Whew, that is going to be a lot of money for us.

No solar today, but there is electricity in the restroom, so I take a chair, laptop, journal, and thermos of coffee, and get myself set up to write in my journal while my laptop charges. Good thing the restroom is clean. In the later afternoon, after the laptop is charged, I do quite a lot of research on book agents, learning what is needed to find an agent for Ang’s books. (Novels of Shannon series by Angela MacDonald.)

We have fried chicken and quinoa and veges for dinner, then more journal writing, as the laptop is done for the day.

Tuesday April 4th is a rather chilly day. It is 18 degrees this morning and the high only reaches 38 degrees; mostly sunny, but a very chilly wind. So much for spring! Clifford rides his bike to Bryce Canyon City to pick up the Suburban and then, in spite of the chilly temperatures, we go for a drive to Inspiration Point.  The light is better than the last time we were there.  Even though it is chilly, I walk to other close-by viewpoints to get slightly different angles of the canyon formations.  We then to back to Bryce Canyon City to treat ourselves to a late lunch at Ruby’s Inn. This is our last opportunity to do so, since we will be leaving tomorrow.

Inspiration Point, looking south
Inspiration Point, looking north

We stop at Fairyland Point on our way back to camp, since we have not been there yet.

Formations at Fairyland Point

For the rest of the day it is great to be inside out of the chilly wind.  With the sun shining, the laptop is charged and I get lots done: editing, blog writing, and email. A couple of my kids called; always good to talk to them. It was a busy and interesting day, in spite of what the weather is doing.

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