Over the weekend the hubby and I headed by car up to Southern Utah to visit his parents. While it was a short trip (essentially just an extended weekend), we were able to pack in a lot. And as an added bonus, my brother-in-law (my husband’s brother, that is), sister-in-law, and our niece and nephew came into town a couple days before we had to leave. It was a great family reunion of sorts. Utah is an incredibly beautiful state, and we were even able to squeeze in an overnight trip to Park City.

Once we got into Park City, we were starving and ended up finding a place called the No Name Saloon. I loved all the stuff they had hanging everywhere. Antiques, license plates…

Even a whole motocycle, just hanging from the ceiling.

And this buffalo head, directly under which I happily ate my buffalo burger with blue cheese and bacon with a cold beer. Yum!

After a meal we headed to the Deer Valley Resort for a concert: Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers! It was all general admission lawn seating (a bring your own picnic kind of affair) and people were lined up all the way around the corner an hour before the doors opened just to get a good spot. 

Steve Martin is an absolutely incredible banjo player, and the entire band was made up of extremely talented musicians. And Steve Martin delivered his jokes with hilarity in a way that only Steve Martin could pull of.

Plus Edie Brickell made an appearance to sing with the band.

After we got back to Cedar City area (where the in-laws live), my mom-in-law had a reception for a local gallery display of watercolor paintings where a few of her pieces were displayed. It was such a treat to see her paintings on show for all to see!

One day we took a short hike through the land behind their house. They have an incredible view, and built the house to be mostly self sufficient: solar power, well water, and they even have a few gardens thriving around their property where they grow vegetables, fruit, and herbs.

We were able to get a pretty good view of a hawk’s nest in the rocks across the way from their property. We could hear baby hawks screeching, but couldn’t quite see their little faces.

There was an incredible wash of rocks and tree debris resulting from a huge flash flood about a year ago. It had a huge effect on the nearby area, and since it had been over a year since we were last there it made the landscape look quite different than when we last saw it!

Since it was a quick trip, we didn’t have a lot of time to hike around nearby Bryce and Zion National Parks, but we did do a quick hike with the whole family in the morning of the day we left. It was a great, easy hike to take our 5-year-old niece on. The path is near Kolob Canyon just on the edge of Zion National Park and wanders back and forth over this shallow stream. We were able to point out a few tadpoles to our niece, and she loved getting her feet wet on such a hot day!

The whole weekend was like a rock-hunting expedition for our niece, and I’m pretty sure she fancys herself an archeologist or paleontologist now!Have you been to any of the National Parks in Utah? What’s your favorite?