After a great Breakfast at Ann’s we headed north for our trip to Bryce Canyon National Park.

Our first stop was at Cedar Breaks National Monument.  Cedar Breaks is a natural amphitheater which is more eroded than, but otherwise similar to formations at nearby Bryce Canyon National Park.  After about an hour we continued our trip towards Panguitch where we were going to stay during our visit to Bryce NP.  Along the way we saw this huge herd of sheep approaching the road and just managed to avoid getting stuck waiting for them to cross the highway.

We arrived at the town of Panguitch and checked in at the “Historic Panguitch Inn Motel” ( seen on the left hand side of the first picture below) for the night.  The town stretches about 1/2 mile along the highway.  Most of the buildings appear to be quite old.   As you walk along the sidewalk there are plaques that talk about the buildings on the opposite side of the street. 

For dinner we ate at the Tandoori Taqueria restaurant where they served tacos with Asian Indian flavors.   The tacos were great as was the Indian flavored Crème Brûlée.

Around the corner from the motel was a bronze statue dedicated to the “Quilt Walker”.  Due to the area’s high elevation, the settlers’ initial crops did not mature and the community suffered severely during the first harsh winter. At a crisis point, seven men left the community to seek flour and foodstuffs from surrounding communities. Heavy snow forced the abandonment of wagons and teams, and the men finished their rescue mission on foot, reportedly by laying one quilt after another upon the snow to maintain their footing.

After dinner and a little more sightseeing we headed back to the motel for a good night’s sleep.