My sore-kneed little sister Cindy, her husband Kirt and youngest son Eric from Rochacha visited us at Bryce Canyon from Aug 11-14. They had been in the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, and were heading to Zion after their visit here. Cindy's knee was even sorer after I had them hike out to "Beyond Bryce Point" and then along the rim to Inspiration Point. They saw all the major sites in Bryce, and several of our wildlife, although we weren't able to see any Pronghorn. They all seem to have vanished, for now. Eric became a Junior Ranger the last morning we were here. Eric: work on the dendrochronology, the key is understanding the overlap of the years (where the tree rings match up), then you can date each tree. Besides seeing Bryce, we took a ride out Utah's Scenic Byway - Utah Rte 12, where it rides on top a high, narrow spectacular spit of land near Boulder. On the way back we were treated to a dazzling lightning storm while traveling, and came across a burning tree near the road where it had knocked out the power line. We also discovered where we can get real good pizza, at the Bryce Canyon Inn, we hadn't got around to checking it out until now. Cindy, Kirt and Eric enjoyed their visit, and Kirt thinks we have some crazy hoodoos. To see pics of their visit, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/lauffer.scott - I will try to put out more pictures when I can.

Kathy and I also hiked in Red Canyon yesterday, on the Golden Wall trail, it was very scenic and we saw only one other person. Did I mention that Red Canyon would be a national park if it were anywhere else? Today we hiked 20 miles in Bryce Canyon, more than half of it in the backcountry and the rest on the "Figure 8" - a combination of trails in the Bryce Ampitheater that I hadn't hiked yet. I'm a little sore now too, and a little crazy like the hoodoos?