Day 2 – Ontario, OR to Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

Miles driven today: 664 Cumulative miles: 1050 Got up about 7:30am and managed to leave the hotel around 8:15. About 10 minutes later, we left the Beaver State and entered Idaho (the Gem State). The only drastic difference (not that there should be one) was the speed limit. Oregon’s speed limit on I-84 is 65mph whereas Idaho’s is 75mph. Add on the 5mph over that everyone drives and that equates to 80mph and crappy gas mileage. Our first scheduled stop today was at Sonic in Caldwell, ID. I know it may seem a little ridiculous to schedule a stop for a fast food restaurant, but I grew up with Sonic’s (in Texas) and there is only on near home (about an hour drive), so we needed our fix. Besides, what better way to start the day than a Route 44 Cherry-Limeade and a fresh Strawberry Fruit Slush?! So, we continued on and drove, and drove, and drover – through Boise, Idaho, on to Utah, through Ogden, Salt Lake City, and even through Beaver, Utah – with a few stops for refueling and refilling (our tummies). Again, a fairly uneventful day of driving (we did see one accident immediately after it happened – a piece of sheetrock came off the back of a pickup truck and busted the windshield of the SUV following them). We finally got to the turn off for Bryce Canyon and had just another 60 or so miles to go. The scenery was mostly blah with some farmland and plenty of dead grass. The dust along the drive was bas at times too and we saw several dirt devils come and go. Anyway, we were driving along and turn a corner and BAM! We’re suddenly in the middle of spires of rock (hoodoos) in shades of red and orange. This is the start of the Dixie National Forest and we were in Red Canyon. The sun was behind us making the colors even more vibrant. The red rocks literally started in the middle of a hill. One half of the hill was just that, a boring hill. The other half was solid hoodoos and rock formations. It just seemed out of place. After stopping for a few pictures, we continued down the road to Bryce Canyon National Park. We went through the Entrance Station and about 30 seconds later we saw several deer. We went all day seeing only one deer off in the distance, then, no sooner than we enter the park, there’s a ton of them. It’s like they know that this is a safe place for them. Daniel speculated that maybe they put in underground fences and put shock collars on the deer to keep them in. We continued on to Sunset Campground. We didn’t have reservations for tonight as this is a first come, first serve campground, but we found a spot no problem, pitched our tent, quickly set up camp, and took off to Bryce Point to see the canyon before it got too dark. We saw more mule deer, including on buck, on our way. Stayed at Bryce Point for about a half hour taking photos and taking in the scenery before heading back to camp for dinner. We picked up a bunch of Mountain House and Backpacker’s Pantry instant meals (just add hot water) for a majority of our dinners. Can’t complain so far – quick, easy, relatively cheap, and tasty too. We ate dinner, cleaned up, made a plan for the next day, and headed to bed around 11pm. Wildlife seen: mule deer