Bryce Canyon National Park is a national park located in southwestern Utah in the United States. Despite its name, this is not actually a canyon, but rather a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to its unique geological structures, called hoodoos, formed from wind, water, and ice erosion of the river and lakebed sedimentary rocks. The red, orange and white colors of the rocks provide spectacular views. The canyon area was settled by Mormon pioneers in the 1850s and was named after Ebenezer Bryce, who homesteaded in the area in 1875. The area around Bryce Canyon became a United States national monument in 1924 and was designated as a national park in 1928.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryce_Canyon_National_Park

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1689: Glorious Revolution: Instead of James Francis Edward Stuart the Prince of Wales acceding to the throne, his sister Mary and her husband William were proclaimed co-rulers of England. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_II_of_England)

1880: Thomas Edison observed the Edison Effect, which later formed the basis of John Ambrose Fleming's vacuum tube diodes. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermionic_emission)

1881: Hubertine Auclert, a leading French suffragette in Paris, launched the feminist newspaper La Citoyenne. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubertine_Auclert)

1984: Konstantin Chernenko succeeded the late Yuri Andropov as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Chernenko)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

In this moment, I need to be needed, With this darkness all around me, I like to be liked, In this emptiness and fear, I want to be wanted, 'Cause I love to be loved, I love to be loved. -- Peter Gabriel -- (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Gabriel)