Today was our second day in Zion National Park. We slept in an extra half hour but I think we all could have used more. As we got to the entrance we found no line. The line for the shuttle was so short is was almost contained in the shaded pergola. Wow what a difference a day makes! We walked to the human history museum - a level one mile walk. We enjoyed the short film and exhibits before walking on to the next stop on the journey; Zion Junction. We hopped on the shuttle and rode it to Zion Lodge.

It was nearly noon so we had burgers for lunch and walked through the gift shop. The clouds moved in as we got to the lodge and looked like rain. It never rained outright but we decided not to do any long walk in case it did rain. We walked the trail to The Grotto and then got back on the bus. We started back towards the visitor center with a quick stop at The Patriarchs. Our last short walk was the Archeology Trail next to the visitor's center. Then is was back to the hotel and our car.

We drove out through the east tunnel and side of the park. The tunnel was a wonderful feat of engineering. We had been told to look for Big Horn Sheep as you exit the tunnel and, sure enough, on an outcrop of rock just outside of the tunnel were three sheep. They were posed for tourists - if only we had a place to stop and take a picture. The terrain on the east side was completely different than in the canyon. It was curved and swirled sandstone with layers and waves. It was a fairly tale landscape. We stopped at a few overlooks and took pictures but it was cloudy and they won't look nearly as impressive as reality. At one stop we got out and walked into a canyon a little way. It was open but changed and became narrow winding path. We walked above it because it was full of water and quite deep. It made us want to keep exploring.

The drive to Bryce Canyon was a changing landscape. We saw great eroded cliffs and drove across the top of the mesa. We made a quick stop going into Red Canyon at the entrance of the road going toward Bryce. A short little section of deep red hoodoos and canyon walls.

We found our motel, the Bryce Canyon Pines, and checked in before driving to the park for a little sightseeing. We drove to Inspiration Point and took lots of pictures of the main amphitheater. We waited around long enough that the clouds broke and we got sunshine on the hoodoos. We also stopped at Sunset Point for more pictures and saw the trail going down into the canyon. Seeing it brought out the desire to explore again.

We ended the day at the Bryce Canyon Pines restaurant for dinner. It was ok. The homemade pie was a nice way to end the day as we sat around our motel room relaxing. We tried to made it an easier day but we still put in at least 4 miles of true hiking.