Moab by the River at Night

The wind begins to find its way into the valley where we were camping near the Colorado river, thought it usually only visits for the afternoon and early evening. By the time we wanted to go to bed it was nearly spent. Our first night there we were surprised by a wonderful boat cruise that happened to go by. It is called Canyonlands at Night. The boat is the Moab Queen II. They begin with a dutch oven dinner and then a ride down the river in a special open boat. The tour guide tells bits of history, chunks of tales and points out images in the rock face. We enjoyed listening as they glided past us at dusk. We were even more pleased when they returned later in the evening. By then the evening was dark, the stars were shining and suddenly the rock face was illuminated. There was solo operatic singing near by (We later learned that this lovely music was courtesy of a camper a few sites down. He could not resist the acoustics of the area. We were happy he indulged himself). It was like a live concert on the rocks back home. We were not sure why the rock face was suddenly awash with light. Then we saw it. The boat came back by us, soft tunes of Elvis and a few country music stars wafted on the light breeze as the boat passed. On the road behind us we could see s truck fit with a large number of extraordinarily bright lights echoed the movements of the boat. The lights would emblazon the rock face near the river. Then it would illuminate the other side of the canyon. It was a delightful show. It was sort of magical. What a way to welcome us to our last leg of our vacation. We had hoped to take in the cruise the next night, but it was sold out.