A day for a mule ride!

We ended our trip by going on a mule ride!  The Brady Bunch inspired me to want to do a mule ride, and even if we didn't ride the mules down into the canyon, we did ride them on the rim of the canyon.  It was a fun experience and we learned more about mules than I ever thought possible!  One big topic of discussion was that mules are a cross between a horse and a donkey.  And the mules they like to use have a female horse and a male donkey.  The baby mule lives with the mom and they are raised more like a horse if the mom is the horse.   

My mule named Samson

Camden riding Ronnie

Mom riding Suzie Q

One of our guides, Kitty, keeping us straight!  Our other guide was named Swanny.  

A picture of our view.  It was hard to take pictures as I needed to hold the reins!

We survived the hour long mule ride...next time, the ride to the bottom of the canyon!!

After we finished our ride, we headed to Zion National Park.  We had just enough time to drive through before it got dark.  

A deer sighting on our way out of the park

Taking a picture at the entrance on our way out!

 

Right before we got to Zion, we drove past a 

buffalo.  Not out in the wild, but still cool to see!

We made it just in time!  And even though I saw Zion in June, it's beauty still amazes me!  We made lots of stops to take pictures!

Checkerboard Mesa

As we drove through a tunnel, a man was waving us down.  I didn't know why until I saw what he was pointing to...a big horned sheep!!  And his horns were bigger than than the ones we saw in the Grand Canyon!!

The hole in the mountain was part of the tunnel

We drove into Springdale, UT, right outside of Zion, as it got dark.  We chose the same restaurant as Nathan, Camden and I ate at when we were there in June...Porter's.  We got burgers and milkshakes and they were both very yummy!  (Although surprisingly, the fries were not as good as the fries at the Mexican restaurant in Page!)  

After dinner, it was drive to the hotel, get some rest, and get to the airport in the morning!!  We were tired, but happy to have had a great vacation along with a race!!  What an awesome combination!  I hope to have 43 more of them!!

Sunday at the Grand Canyon

Sunday was our last day on our trip and the day we got to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and go on the world famous Grand Canyon mule ride!!   (Although the mule pics will be on another post.) We left Page in the morning and headed to the North Rim.  Our drive was a scenic one and of course we stopped a lot to take pictures!

We drove past the Vermilion Cliffs...

...then we stopped at the Cliff Dwellers.

 

                                                 

This formation reminded us of an ice cream cone!

The road we drove on was first established as a route for Catholic missionaries to spread their religious message to the Native Americans.  The road was also known as the Honeymoon Trail for Mormon couples who needed to go to the Mormon Temple in St George, UT.   

As we got closer to the canyon, the road started curving up into the mountains, and at the top, the weather changed from warm to cold and windy!

After we passed the closed Visitors Center near Jacob Lake, we drove through lots of burned out forest with emerging Aspen tree growth.  The leaves of the Aspen trees looked like they were glittering when they blew in the wind.  The road we drove took us over the Kaibab Plateau which included meadow lands.  

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The fire that burned this forest happened in 2006.  

The fire actually has helped new Aspen growth because it destroyed the overstory.

Mom really liked the Aspen trees.

We finally made it to the North Rim after all of our stops!  The view of the canyon from the North Rim didn't seem to go on forever, however, it was just as beautiful!  There were also more trees and overall green.

We had time to do the popular Bright Angel Point trail, not to be confused with the Bright Angel Trail at the South Rim.  It was a short trail with great views!  I got lots of practice telling Camden to stay away from the edge!  He really likes to climb and has no fear!  

For being a short trail, we certainly found lots of places to take pictures!!

The other neat thing of the day was seeing many people who had also run the Lake Powell Half.  Us VR racers really are into the vacation part of Vacation Races!

We ate our lunch after our hike and got ready for our mule ride!!  We had been looking forward to this all week....but it will have to wait for another post!