Oh DEER!

We started the day at our campground in Bryce in many many layers of clothing and Uggs. A few miles down the road in the town of Tropic (maybe 10 miles and a town of 435 people)we were peeling them off. It's not called Tropic for nothing! It was amazing the huge temperature change when you change elevation. It was supposed to be a rainy day but we figured we'd drive the Scenic Byway 12 anyway.  The first 10 or so miles was really beautiful...after all, it was still Bryce we were looking at.  Then as we went along it got just kind of "blah"....seen it, seen it, seen it. I commented to Bill that I hoped it got to be more Scenic than Seen It as we went along. We were not disappointed. About midway through the drive we hit Escalante and everything changed. I couldn't begin to write about everything we saw and the beauty of it all so I will just hit VERY few.  Calf Creek Campground was where we stopped for a picnic. If you ever find yourself in Bryce NP, going to drive the Scenic Byway 12  and are in a tent or an RV UNDER 25 feet, you absolutely MUST stay at this campground. I will post pictures soon but suffice to say that it is without a doubt the most beautiful camping area I have ever seen. You can walk to the falls and Calf Creek runs through the middle of the camping area. It costs $3.50 per day if you are a Geezer like us, or $7 per day if not.  Bathrooms (real flush toilets!) and drinking water. If you don't camp there while in the area....well, then you are just stupid.
White Birch Forest up in the Boulder Mountain (elevation 9600 ft)...something that took me back to the days when I was little and lived in northern Wisconsin. It was beautiful and snowy. The Hogback....a frighteningly beautiful 2 lane piece of road that is a sheer drop off on both sides. It's like flying over the Grand Canyon since all you see when you look out the window is DOWN.
We had sun and great weather today until we got near Capital Reef National Park where the weather turned snowy ugly and we turned back. We'll have to save Cap. Reef for our next trip.
On the way home I spotted a small herd of deer up on a hillside...they stopped feeding and started to bolt down the hill onto the road. Fortunately I saw them and warned Bill so he was able to stop in time to let them fly across the road in front of us.  A few miles later in the town of Boulder we stopped to let Rufus stretch his legs. I went into the little store and Bill and Rufus were standing in the parking lot when 5 deer started running toward them. When Rufus reacted, so did the deer...skidding to change direction and leaping, once again, on to the highway and over a large fence. Fortunately no cars were coming and they made it safely. I wish I had been outside to see it. Oh, dear, gotta watch out for those DEER.