Upon entering Bryce Canyon we saw signs that stated we could park at Ruby's Inn and board the shuttle into the park. The shuttle stops at the visitor center and five different view points in the park. It runs every 15 minutes and you can get on and off at your leisure (the last shuttle run is posted at each view point). Be sure to pick up a park map that list the hiking trails you can take from the view points how strenuous they are, the length and approx. time each trail takes.
At one viewpoint, I saw a trail that wound in a "S" pattern that narrowed between two big rock formations. I couldn't resist. Since I was with my parents (in their 70's) and kids (7 and 10), I hiked it alone. I was just going to go the the narrow section, but the views were so breathtaking I kept going. After a while, I was trying to decide whether to turn back but someone along the trail showed me a sign that gave the distance back the way I had come and on around to the trail end. Since I was at the halfway point, I decided to continue on. As fun as going down was coming back up -- a little more difficult though. However, the rock formations were so beautiful that I was stopping every few minutes to take pictures anyway. I used a whole roll of film and even had to change my video tape. You get a whole different perspective from the bottom than from the view points on the canyon. When I neared the end of the trail, my kids spotted me and ran down to meet me. I must have been gone more that a hour.
We got back on the shuttle and since my parents and kids were getting tired we only stopped at one more view point. There was a gift shop at this stop that we walked to and I bought some T-shirts. Afterwards, we reboarded the shuttle for the trip back to Ruby's Inn.