Heber City, UT
Heber City is located on the East side of Salt Lake City just south of Park City and North of Provo. It was one of the best stops we did with lots to do in the area.
We have to discuss the campground we stayed in – Mountain Valley RV Park. This is one of the best parks we stayed in. Surrounded by mountains it had green grass – wide asphalt roads (important for big rigs) with wide concrete sites and a beautiful pool (Patti loved that!). It was the best and in a great area close to civilization.
We went to the Natural History Museum of Utah. Awesome place full of history concerning the state of Utah. The museum had a great section that showed dinosaur bones and fossils (I can’t say anything right to do this part justice), but there was one entire floor dedicated to native american history in Utah. Learned so much in this museum.
Heber City had a nice railroad station that of course featured a great train ride in the mountains going toward Provo. Great views and saw a moose crossing the river along the way. And of course, during the train ride we were “robbed” by train bandits! I was very frightened but Patti assured me that we would be OK.
It was a great stay in Heber City and we had an awesome time!
Beaver, UT
So our next stop was Beaver Utah. No special reason – we just wanted to have a reasonable stop between Heber City UT and Williams AZ. Not much in Beaver but we did take advantage of the National Parks that were close enough with a nice car ride. We stayed at a KOA which was okay, not the greatest but had a great view!
Grand Basin National Park in Nevada
So we went to this park in the middle of the night. Why you ask – because it is one of the darkest spots in the country. The park’s website description:
On a clear, moonless night in Great Basin National Park, thousands of stars, five of our solar system’s eight planets, star clusters, meteors, man-made satellites, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the Milky Way can be seen with the naked eye. The area boasts some of the darkest night skies left in the United States. Low humidity and minimal light pollution, combined with high elevation, create a unique window to the universe.
We went during an astronomy program where astronomers from all over the country come with their telescopes and allowed people to view star clusters, nebulae and planets. One person set up his telescope where we had a clear view of Saturn! We could see the rings and even one of Saturn’s moons. It was awesome! With all of the great views of the telescopes, we couldn’t believe how clear the sky was and the volume of stars. So many stars, we couldn’t make out the constellations. The most remarkable sight was the Milky Way! You could clearly see the Milky Way with the naked eye. It was awesome and one of the highlights of our adventures!
Of course we couldn’t take pictures because we just didn’t have the equipment but here is a file photograph that represents the sky we were looking at:
We didn’t get back home until 2 AM but it was well worth the trip!
Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks
We had to see this great area. The formations were very unique and beautiful as compared to anywhere else we visited. Definitely a “must see” if you are in the area!
Beaver UT was a great stop and we did more than we thought we would do.