Bryce Amphitheater, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
On David’s must-see list was the Bryce Amphitheater—“a cave without a ceiling.” The description doesn’t do this magnificent sandstone arena justice. The beauty of the “cave” defies all superlatives. As one visitor succinctly put it, “Wow!” He followed up with “After a while, you simply run out of words.” Thank goodness for photos.
Shortly after we parked at Bryce Canyon Lodge to walk the Rim Trail along the amphitheater, it began to drizzle and continued to rain off and on as we made our way from Bryce Point to Inspiration Point to Sunset Point, and ended at Sunrise Point, both of us snapping photos until a sudden downpour forced us to take cover under a cedar tree. When the lightning started, we had just snapped off the last of our photographs and were ready to head to our hotel in Tropic.
We checked into the Stone Canyon Inn and drove to our tree house to unpack. The inn offers several accommodations, the latest being two tree houses. Seated on our upstairs patio, we enjoyed a glass of wine and took in the view, relaxing before dinner at the Stone Hearth Grille—the award-winning restaurant at the inn where we had our most memorable meal of the trip. Learn more: https://www.stonecanyoninn.com
For appetizers, we ordered grilled peppers and asparagus with blackberries—an odd but delicious combination. And the Blue Cheese Toast layered with shaved celery, sliced grapes, and topped with a lemon vinaigrette. For mains, the Bone in Grilled Pork Chop served with sharp cheddar potato fondue, charred carrots, and flash fried sage and molasses vinaigrette. The special of the night was grilled duck leg with a Yukon gold potato puree and grilled asparagus. For dessert, we sipped port and nibbled chocolates.
We retired early, as we had a full hiking schedule arranged for the following day.
Ive never seen pictures like this of this area, and yes… indescribable! The menu was remarkable too!