From Idaho Falls, we went south down to Utah to see Bryce Canyon. The people in Utah are so nice! And we went the largest Costco in the world - literally an employee told me so - in Salt Lake to restock our snacks and drinks. There was a really neat theme park in Salt Lake City, but didn't get a chance to go with the kiddos.
Beautiful views on the way into Bryce Canyon National Park.
I honestly didn't really know what to expect here. But boy was it BEAUTIFUL! There are trails you can follow and the main road has several view points where you can park, get out, and enjoy the amazing views.
The kiddos loved the Natural Bridge the most. Bridges are kinda their thing :)
The Brianhead Fire in Utah was blazing, which we didn't until we got to Bryce, and smoke was heading our way. You can see the smoke taking over the beautiful blue sky.
Just outside of the park is a great tourist spot. There are several hotels together,a few restaurants and a couple shops. It was nice to get back to hotel, relax a little bit and go enjoy the town with everything within walking distance.
The Rock Shop was the coolest. I used to collect rocks as a kid, so I was beaming all the while telling the kids over and over not to touch. lol. You can see the smoke from the fire in this picture. We were lucky that it never came all that close and we couldn't hardly even smell it because of the breeze.
That entire week, Bryce Canyon was having its Astronomy Week and it ended the night we were staying there. I was able to go see their keynote speaker, Dean Regas. Dean is an astronomer at the Cincinnati Observatory and it was really neat to hear his presentation. Afterwards, buses were provided to take the visitors out to a star gazing event. Luckily, the smoke did not interfere with our night gazing. This was the COOLEST thing ever. ( man, I certainly geeked out on this trip with geology, rocks, and astronomy ha!) I love star gazing. At the site, there were about 30 telescopes set up and ready to us to view several different phenomenon. I was able to see a double-star, ring nebula, globular cluster, Jupiter with its spot, Saturn and its rings, and two colliding galaxies. AMAZING.
Bryce Canyon had amazing views, they took my breath away. And I will certainly never forget my experience at Bryce Canyon's Astronomy week.
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