Last month my husband  and I and three friends headed to Utah for a glorious nine-day vacation. We spent every day hiking, either in Zion National Park or Bryce Canyon National Park or on various other local trails. It was amazing and glorious and everyone should go there.

Observation Point, Zion National Park

Kanarra Creek Canyon

On our last night there we finally hit the outdoor hot tub. With temps soaring over 100 degrees F every day it didn’t cool down enough to get into the hot tub till very late. But our last night in Utah, close to 11pm, we finally shut off all the lights inside and hopped in. As soon as our eyes adjusted I regretted not going in earlier in the week. The night sky was lit up with more stars than I have ever seen. I saw the Milky Way, I saw shooting stars, I saw so many stars they began to grow fuzzy. It was amazing. Of course I wrote a poem about it.

All the Stars in Utah

We went outside late, the air finally

cool enough to not feel like thick tar

in our lungs. We shut

off all the lights, let our eyes adjust

to the dark, watched the night sky erupt

with more stars than I’ve ever seen.

The longer we stayed the more

the sky exploded till the only

constellation we could find

in the mass of stars

was the Big Dipper, the Milky Way

visible, a wash of stars 

against the black.

.

Home from our vacation

the night sky has returned

to normal, average. I paint

my nails black, add a layer

of silver sparkle over it. Imagine

it’s the stars we saw

in Utah.

Stars caught in my nail polish