SLC to Bryce Canyon

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Farewell dinner in SLC was quite good. It was a yummy buffet (with pretty yummy desserts) held on the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. With a great view of Temple Square and the temple itself. While the food was good, the drinks were a bit less than what we hoped. Since the restaurant is LDS owned, no coffee, no tea, and no alcohol. But they did serve Coke products and we were debating if they were the caffeine free versions.
And while you can't get coffee at the restaurant, there are plenty of coffee shops in the city, so a few of our folks walked back to the hotel so they could get their fix.
Our group went from 45 on the trip from Rapid City to SLC to 18 for the rest of the tour. I was sorry to see the rest of the folks go, but fortunately, I have e-mail addresses for some so we can keep in touch, and one of the ladies lives in Vegas and has offered to show me around once I get there.

Left SLC and drove to Bryce Canyon. The snow that we had in Jackson had also hit there, so we had some nice photo ops.

Bryce is an fascinating and gorgeous place. You drive in and out on the same road, you don't drive through. Like the Grand Canyon you are looking down at it from the rim, but the colors are completely different. Vivid reds, yellows and oranges mixed with snow covered trees. It was more beautiful than I had even imagined. If someone told me that I could only go back to one canyon, of the three I visited this trip, Bryce would be my choice. We stopped at Rainbow Point, Agua Canyon, Bryce Point and Sunset Point. I could spend all day there and still find something to look at.

Interesting story about our accommodations at Bryce. Apparently, this gentleman by the name of Ruby Syrett had some land in the canyon and when it became a National Park, he was able to obtain land on the only road into the canyon. He and his descendants have built up a nice little tourist trap town. They even have a dinner theater where they do a country/western show every night. I skipped that and opted for the buffet dinner instead which was quite good. The "inn" rooms aren't in one building, so had to travel back and forth to the dining room, but it wasn't that far. Most annoying was the fact that they wanted a ridiculous amount for internet access. So, that's why even though this is dated 10-8-11, I didn't write it until 10-15-11.

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