Bryce Canyon National Park
The scenery between Moab/Canyonlands and Bryce is striking, and takes all day to enjoy. When we arrive in mid-afternoon, it's good to have a great place to stay. Reservations go fast when the book opens, so make arrangements early the first hour you can.
When you hike down below the Rim it's another world.
This image gives a sense of scale in the slots...
Sunset from just below the rim
That evening Jackie enjoyed sitting at the rim watching the skies, while I went off to listen to a Ranger Talk about Dark Skies.
Bryce is a fairly dark sky area, with some spillover from St.George, but a great starry sky nevertheless.
At the start there were a few empty chairs, but by the time is was well underway it was standing room only even at the doors.
There is a lot of "architectural" lighting that blasts light at the side of buildings to advertise their greatness, or advertising, which for owners is probably the same thing. It's a waste of electricity, and the upward pointing beams cause havoc to telescopes and "seeing".
There's an effort to direct lighting downward, such as with new shrouded streetlamps that cast a soft broad light. Australia for example, had an "Ah Ha" moment when the government realized that many tourist dollars are spent to travel there, with one of the main goals being to see clear views of the Southern Night Skies. Consequently, more attention is given to keep light directed toward the ground not up into the heavens.
There's also an effort in the National Parks to only illuminate things that people need to see. For example, a soft glow putting a pool of light at the washroom doorway is plenty to get people where they're going, rather than lighting the whole side of the building. It was also interesting to hear that harsh bright lighting in city area parking lots and sidewalks may help people feel secure, but the sharp shadows and sudden light dropoff make it easy for bad boys to stand undetected just a few feet away in the dark.
Soft shadows from lights that cast light gently allows eyes to see more detail in dimmer areas, and get a larger view and a better sense of their surroundings.
Back to Vegas for the trip home
Now we're off to close the circle back to the home jump-off point. Driving down Las Vegas Blvd, you get a sense of some unusual architecture. The last time I was here they were building the towers for the "roof".
While on the subject of ridiculous design, here's a picture of the gearshift in our fine vehicle. The whole machine was designed to have big beefy things with controls on them. For example, instead of doors having small inside handles recessed into the side, this thing had big sloping benches like tractor treads, and a large chrome rotating lever at the end. God only knows how such a design philosophy got into a mass market vehicle.
Anayway, here's the gearshift. Look at the size of Jackie's hand next to it. The damn thing reminds us of "Bender" from the futuristic comic series "Futurama. What do you think?
It was a beautiful day to walk a bit. While we were there, we enjoyed a great Blue Man Group show at the Venetian. Pretty creative stuff, and lots of fun.
We also had an excellent dinner at Tao, which is an Asian Fusion place in the Venetian, with decor to match food that's ten out of ten.
At the skydeck of the Stratosphere, after a very busy and fun filled day
So now we're off to the airport for the journey back to Ottawa. It's been lots of fun, and now all we have to do is clean out the car and drop it off at the rental place. The guy parked next to us is making sure everything is bolted on before heading out.
We wish you all safe journeys, and good health until the next time!
Jackie and Gord
