Las Vegas Trip - Day 4

Day 4 was mostly a travel day.  After a late night the previous night (New Year's Eve), we were all moving a little slow.  But with a four to five hour drive ahead of us, we managed to get ourselves moving around 9am.  We picked up some breakfast on the way, and drove from Nevada to Utah (with a brief drive through Arizona.

The views along the way were amazing, and Dave caught some quick photos out the car window.

We had planned to drive straight through, with no stops, trying to get to the Visitor's Center before it closed at 4:30pm.  However, when we saw this view, we just had to get out of the car.

And with all of this snow, the boy's had to have a snow ball fight.  I am not sure they had ever seen this much snow, in all of their life.

Then we arrived on the outskirts of Bryce Canyon and we saw the view below.

 Everywhere I had read said that Bryce Canyon in the winter was the most beautiful time to visit. It wasn't until I saw these red cliffs covered in the white snow that I truly understood what they meant.

The park opened in the 1930s, with a grand opening right at this small auto tunnel.

We arrived at the park around 5pm - after the Visitor's Center closed, but we knew we'd have time to get there the next day... and no one would have wanted to skip the few stops we made along the way.

We did briefly head to the Sunset Point Overlook, but quickly realized that, with the low winter sun, the best time to view the canyon would be much earlier than sunset.  The view was still amazing.  Although none of us were dressed for the incredible cold, we did briefly admire the canyon before scurrying back to our car and checking into our hotel.