Capitol Reef National Park

    Capitol Reef was a park that I knew nothing about before our trip, but it turned into a nice surprise. We decided to give the kids a treat and stayed at a resort just outside of the park for a couple of nights. There were wagons equipped with bunk beds and a king-sized bed that we could stay in along with a pool so everyone was excited.

    Capitol Reef is all about geology at first glance, but a big park of the park turned out to be its history of people trying to live there. We got to see petroglyphs made thousands of years ago by some of the first inhabitants as well as explore the remnants of a Mormon settlement. We were even able to pick fruit from the orchards that were originally established by the pioneering families.

    We took a scenic drive with a detour down a dirt road into a canyon. An abandoned uranium mine from the early 20th century was fun to check out, but nobody but me would get close to the entrance. Those radioactive warning signs do tend to encourage people to turn around!

    The pool was a big hit after a hot day among the rocks. We all sat around the fire pit on our last night and enjoyed a beautiful sunset. Once the kids were asleep were were surprised to hear fireworks. We went outside and enjoyed a small show put on by the resort.

The sky was nice and dark so I decided to take a drive into the park to find a place without any artificial light. Once there I was stunned by the night sky. The milky way formed a semi-circle across the horizon and almost every star was twinkling. I have never seen the stars like that and it was hard to leave and end the night.