Our room was situated right above the Sweetwater Kitchen at the Boulder Mountain Guest Ranch and we literally were awakened by the smell of bacon cooking. We had gone out to dinner (downstairs to dinner?) there the night before while we sequestered the 3 orphans in their beds (literally 15 feet from the restaurant door) with a movie on the iPad and strict instructions on what constituted an emergency (someone hurt=emergency, iPad dies= NON emergency). We had one of the best meals either of us has ever had. Anywhere. In the middle of nowhere Utah. Cooked by a chef looking much more like a biker than a high end chef. He cooked and waited tables and was the host. Best. Meal. Ever. I am salivating thinking about it (editors note: it really WAS amazing, if you are EVER near....EAT!). Anyway, back to being awakened by the smell of bacon...The kids slept in until almost 830, except Tanner who joined us in our bed at 730 and hung out with us while Brian played Two Dots and I had my morning coffee. As soon as Faith and Jake decided to join us, we all packed up the car and headed out toward our next destination: Bryce Canyon. About 15 miles down the road, again, in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, was a beautiful building built into the side of red rock hill and... guess what... it was a COFFEE HOUSE. What? A latte in the middle of red rock country on a two lane highway surrounded by 360 degrees of red rocks?? You have to be kidding me. Yes, we stopped. Brian and I shared a "green omelette" which was eggs and feta and asparagus and spinach and I don't know what else. It was delicious.
Stomachs full we headed out again on the road to Bryce. We stopped at about 11AM to get provisions just outside the national park and they had homemade ice cream there! Seriously. The smell of bacon, an amazingly gorgeous coffeehouse in the middle of nowhere, and now homemade ice cream? Yep. We had to have it. Ice cream before lunch = Vacation. We took our picnic lunch into the park and viewed the canyons from a few different spots before getting changed into our "riding clothes" and heading to the big event of the day: A horseback ride to the bottom of Bryce Canyon.
Faith has started to be a little anxious lately and seems to cry before anything that she perceives to be even slightly scary, so even though she was so excited about this horseback ride and had been counting down the days, Brian and I both suspected that there would be tears before the actual event. Yep. The big cowboy in charge leaned down to talk to her, just to say hello and introduce himself, and the waterworks started. And we weren't even on the horses yet! Uh-oh. The big cowboy was so kind and helped her on a very old, very fat mule- the tamest of all of the tame horses/mules- named Crazy Alice. This mule was so fat- she looked like Gloria from Madagascar from behind. Honestly. Still, she sobbed. She refused to let go of my hand. As Brian and Tanner and Jake were getting on their horses I continued to hold her hand and try to convince her how much fun the ride would be and how mellow her mule was. She continued to sob. The other cowboys came and tried to comfort her (bless their hearts they were wonderful!) and one told her that this mule was a grandma and then I told her that if she got scared she should just think about riding Nana to the bottom of the canyon...and this got the first giggle of the afternoon, but the tears continued. I was afraid that they wouldn't let her go ,but our guide, a big hulking rodeo cowboy named Dillon, took ahold of the tether and just led her out of the corral with me right behind her. After that she was fine. She loved it. The descent was steep and a little scary to be honest, but she was talking with Cowboy Dillon and had become a cowgirl. He even showed her pictures on his phone of him bronc riding in the rodeo. They were best buddies.
The ride was 2 hours long and Tanner, although he was frightened at first, too, and on a real horse, not an ancient mule, loved it. His horse (CootBerry) was ornery and kept trying to eat and he learned quickly how to yank it back up and kick it to make it go forward. He was a champ. Jake and Brian brought up the rear. Brian's mule (Gates) was very stubborn but Jake's (Raspberry) seemed content to just do its job. By the end of the ride Faith was an old pro and smiling from ear to ear. We had to buy the pictures offered at the end because I plan to frame hers and put it by her bed as a reminder as to what she can do when she gets over her fear.
Before leaving Bryce we stopped for more provisions at a grocery store and headed to Zion. The drive went quickly as we learned more about the poor Baudalaire Orphans from the second book of Series of Unfortunate Events. Arriving at our next destination, Zion Ponderosa, the kidsimmediately set out to explore.
There's a big pool, a recreation barn with ping pong, pool tables, and foosball , evening events, and losts of activities onsite like ATVs, climbing walls, a zip line, and more. I think they could happily hang out here for the next three days and forego our trips into Zion National Park, but we plan to do the park both mornings/early afternoons and enjoy the resort in the late afternoons and evenings. Right now Tanner and Faith are watching a movie on the lawn and Jake is playing ping pong in the rec barn with what I am sure will be some new friends.
Yep, the smell of bacon waking me up was definitely just the first in a list of really cool things that happened and that we saw and ate and did today. Loving our Utah National Park Tour a'la The Alan Family.
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