Bryce National Park has always been fairyland for me. When I first came here as a girl I was fascinated by the brightly colored, unusually shaped rock formations clinging to the sides of the cliff. Beautiful, yes; but more than that, something about Bryce stimulates my imagination.

When we arrived late in the afternoon, we walked about a half mile on the rim trail from one viewpoint to the next. The trail was wide and well maintained. It was not steep, but it did have ups and downs. That little bit of incline was enough to cause some discomfort in my husband's knee. He is not in pain, but it was a disappointing setback. From then on he had to be satisfied with looking at the sights from overlooks.

The kids and I went over the rim and among the formations. We took a trail called Queen's Garden. It wound in an out among the rocks. Dark clouds had been threatening when we started our hike, but they moved off in another direction. So from Queen's Garden we connected to another trail and walked a little further.

Hiking down into a canyon can be misleading. The first part is easy because you are going down hill. You have to save enough energy to climb back out. We turned and started back. Around a curve was a deer nibbling the little bit of grass growing between the rocks. She was beautiful against the bright orange cliffs.

We had lunch at the Bryce Canyon Pines Restaurant. The menu had a variety of sandwiches and chips. A note said "upgrade to fries 75 cents." I ordered first. I chose a hamburger and asked "Can I upgrade to a salad and skip both the fries and the chips?" Our server looked puzzled. She didn't get this request often. She said I could upgrade, but it would cost an extra dollar. I said that would be fine.

My son ordered next. "Do you want fries?" the server asked brightly, still following her script. "I guess I'll have salad, too," he said. My daughter ordered a chicken salad. My husband got a sandwich with fries. The look in his eyes told me not to challenge him. I think he wanted comfort food because he was feeling sorry for himself and his knee.

The best part of the meal came when another family was seated in the booth behind us. The mom ordered first. When the server asked about upgrading to fries, the Mom said, "Can I substitute for the veggie of the day?" Her whole family followed her example.

What a day for the server! Two families in a row rejecting her fries! What did she think when she cleared our plates and realized I had eaten only the meat from my hamburger and left the bun behind?

I glanced at the other family on our way out, wondering if they followed the Blood Type Diet.