The kids and I had a chance to take a trip to spend a week camping with Papa and Gramma.  We came from the West and they came from the East, and we met at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. 

What a great relaxing week.  We stayed in their pop-up camper, which slept all seven us quite comfortably. We had a great screen tent for shade where we ate and played games. 

The campground was beautiful with plenty of room for playing outdoors...

...and a great pool!

The canyon itself was spectacular. What a creative God we have!  The rock formations are called "hoo-doos." They come in all shapes and sizes.  We even saw one that looked just like the Acropolis!

We hiked along the rim to look over...

...and we hiked into the canyons to look up.

We even found a cute little town to have  a picnic lunch and some ice cream.

The kids enjoyed doing the activities to become junior rangers.  They took their oaths to protect nature and eat their vegetables very seriously.

We happened to visit Bryce during their yearly Astronomy Festival so besides getting to visit the canyon and the museum at the visitors center....

...we also got to look through solar telescopes to see the sun during the day, and multiple giant telescopes to see the stars and planets at night.

The Park Rangers  host the Astronomy Festival at Bryce because it is one of the darkest places in the US.  Most places have so much light pollution that it is difficult to view stars.   (Being from LA...we could totally understand this concept.) 

One huge treat was hearing some great speakers, among them Story Musgrave, the astronaut who repaired the Hubble telescope.

We enjoyed this week so much, especially the fun time with Grandparents who live far away.  These precious memories will be treasured!