Place to hang out near Bryce Canyon?
 

We will be doing the Zion, Bryce, GC loop in a week. We have the chance to meet up with friends at Bryce for one night. Both families are staying at Ruby's. Is there somewhere fun/good to eat dinner and hang out for the evening? Anyplace to enjoy a campfire and the stars? A cheesy cowboy show? We have kids and adults, so it would be nice to have something to entertain the kids while the parents can kick back and relax!

Ruby's is the main lodging/dining for the area as far as I know - at least close to the park entrance - but there are a couple of other places. Don't really know about the entertainment but I would call Ruby's and ask them. http://www.rubysinn.com/

We were just there - and camped at the North campground - just inside the Bryce park entrance - and there is also a Sunset campground. And the stars at night are just amazingly bright - with very little pollution in the air plus you are at 8,000 feet.

Ruby's has a restaurant - and there is a diner across the street. At the diner - they have signs in 4 languages - and they made the biggest pancakes I have seen ever. Just two huge ones. :)

Check out the activities web page for Ruby's - and apparently they have a Rodeo from Wed thru Sat during the summer? http://www.rubysinn.com/rodeo.html

I had a similar worry on my first trip to Bryce and Zion National Parks. However, Zionponderosa Ranch Resort was just what I needed. It is located between Zion Park and Bryce Canyon National Park, that make it a one-stop location for your adventures in both parks.

Apart from the beautiful accommodations they provide, you can also have a lot of fun by participating in any of their interesting activities which include: ATV riding, paintball, horseback riding, rafting, trampoline bungee, and lots more. For the kids you can be sure they'll have a lot of fun at the Kids camp as they get busy on the rodeo, Wagon Ride and Dutch Oven Dinner, and lots of other activities, which could go well into the evenings.

Visit http://http://www.zionponderosa.com/activities.htm for more information.

I had a similar worry on my first trip to Bryce and Zion National Parks. However, Zionponderosa Ranch Resort was just what I needed. It is located between Zion Park and Bryce Canyon National Park, that make it a one-stop location for your adventures in both parks.

Apart from the beautiful accommodations they provide, you can also have a lot of fun by participating in any of their interesting activities which include: ATV riding, paintball, horseback riding, rafting, trampoline bungee, and lots more. For the kids you can be sure they'll have a lot of fun at the Kids camp as they get busy on the rodeo, Wagon Ride and Dutch Oven Dinner, and lots of other activities, which could go well into the evenings.

Visit www.zionponderosa.com/activities.htm for more information.

Bryce usually has a ranger campfire talk.

They also do a "Night Sky" event a few times each week. Many parks do the "night sky" thingy, but it originated in Bryce and you are likely to get the ranger that really started the whole thing(I am blank on his name right now). You can look through some bigger telescopes. It is a bit boring, unless your really into that kind of thing.

Spiro - love that kind of thing. First time I did that at Glacier Point - in Yo - was blown away. :)

http://www.nps.gov/brca/planyourvisi...myprograms.htm


Ranger Kevin Poe is the guys name. He does the event a couple of times each week.

One more thing. The Full Moon hikes are supposed to be really good, but I haven't done that. Only happens two days per month

We've seen lots of Ranger talks and my husband thought Kevin Poe's Night/Light Pollution talk was one of the best presentations he had ever seen. It might be a bit long/dull for young children but our group of teenagers seemed to enjoy it. The sky was too cloudy that night to look through the telescopes after but that would have been fun.

He said Bryce had one of the least light polluted areas in the U.S. which makes it excellent for star gazing.

I would highly recommend a ranger program over anything at Ruby's.

I don't know where else you are going to be, but many places in Utah are really awesome for star gazing. My favorites are Canyonlands and Goblin Valley. I would really like to be a Natural Bridges National Monument at night sometime to see it from there to. Get away from all the lights you can and you will really be amazed. You can see satelites in orbit with the naked eye very easily.

The good thing about Bryce, is it's a bit higher in elevation, so less polution and ground clutter,etc.

Please note that dacarl's one and only post on Fodor's is to mention the Zion Ponderosa Ranch.

This Ranch is quite a long drive from Bryce so not convenient if staying at Bryce.

That said, I work with someone who just visited there for a 1.5 day visit to Zion. Recently relocated from Philly and not an outdoors person at all. Their family had fun and enjoyed the resort-type activities, as extensive hiking in Zion Canyon was not their thing. They reported, they enjoyed the pool, horseback riding and ATV riding.

Thanks everyone. It looks like our options are basically eating and hanging out at Ruby's at the Ebenezer's Barn and Grill Cowboy dinner show, or eating at the Bryce Canyon Lodge followed by the astronomy program. This is a Tuesday night, so no rodeo, and it is not a full moon. Really just looking for a place to be social more than a real active evening. Thanks for the great suggestions!