March 6, 2021 Lunch - Charcuterie, bread, and brie at Rainbow Point, Bryce Canyon, Dinner - Bison Stew with a Cheddar Biscuit
We had a wonderful day of sightseeing at Bryce Canyon today. We slept in and began planning our next trip back East until 10:00. We will be in the camper, so we looked for wineries and dark sky locations to stay. We ate fruit salad in the room for breakfast and I ate a chocolate chip cookie with several cups of English Breakfast tea.
We drove to sunrise point and the General Store, where I bought a container of Yoplait yogurt.
Then we went to the Visitors Center where we bought a star map, toured the geology exhibit, and asked the ranger at the information desk how to identify bristle cone pine trees. It was almost 11:00 when we left to drive to the end of the road in the park to Rainbow Point and the trailhead for the bristle cone pine trail. We decided to eat lunch first. We found a sunny table in the middle of snow drifts and took our food,beverages, and picnic basket to the table. Unfortunately I had to sit in muddy melting snow, so my shoes took on a layer of red mud about 1/2 inch deep.
But lunch was fabulous. I sliced wedges of perfectly aged brie cheese, Suzette opened the Italian Antipasto and the pasta salad with grapes and broccoli and I opened the hummus.
Suzette then opened and poured us glasses of Gruet Blanc de Noir champagne.
The sun was warmish when the wind did not blow. Unfortunately the wind was gusting to about 20 mph at times.
After lunch we started to walk the bristle cone pine trail but had to turn back because of the drifts of snow and ice covering the trail caused Suzette to slip and fall.
I thought the chief goal of the trip, to see a bristle cone pine, was frustrated until we saw one as we drove off the point. We turned around and went back to snap a picture. Bravo, another bucket list item satisfied.
We stopped at several view spots on the way back Bryce and Natural bridge were the best. Here are photos of the view from them.
When we returned to the hotel we napped until almost 5:00.
At 5:30 we dressed and walked to Sunset point, which is about 1/2 mile from the Lodge. The afternoon was cloudy so we only saw a partial illumination of the vast areas of hoodoos, but even that was spectacular. The good news was that I felt better when we returned to the Lodge at 6:45 than when we left.
We stopped get some butter and I buttered a whole wheat roll and the cheddar biscuit Suzette heated the bison stew we bought last night for dinner and the cheddar biscuit and roll while I poured glasses of Block Patch Pinot Noir. The wine was a short lived experiment to produce a decent inexpensive French Pinot by DuBouef. The wine was sold in magnums like French supermarket stores. It is perfect for this trip because, we have drunk it for two nights and still have 1/2 left. After we finished the stew we ate several Kirkland chocolate covered almonds that tasted really good with the last sips of Pinot Noir.
The light walking in clean air is making me feel better. I am ready to return to Bryce for the clean air, wonderful scenery, and amazing dark night skies.
I discovered at the visitors center today that when the NPS wanted to initiate an astronomical program in 1969 they chose Bryce Canyon.
At 8:15 we went out again to watch the dark skies. This time we turned right toward the park entrance and found a pull out very near the entrance to the Lodge. Unfortunately several cars passed us and they prevented our eyes from fully adjusting to the dark and it may have been more overcast than last night, so we did not see as much, but we did identify the constellation, Leo.
After about fifteen minutes we returned to the Lodge. The desk clerk added two logs to the fire going in the hearth in the Lodge Lobby so we warmed ourselves by the fire for several minutes and then retired to our room for the night. I showered and blogged a bit, while Suzette slept.
Bon Appetit
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