Twice lately I’ve been asked to describe the best meal I’ve ever eaten and I have thought about it a lot. Except my thoughts don’t linger with this meal because the food was so good. It was actually the atmosphere and company that made it so amazing.

My Wyoming friend and I spent an epic week exploring Utah a few years ago. We road tripped from Salt Lake City to Moab for several days of exploring Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park.

After checking out the house where we were staying in Moab, we unloaded the car, packed our backpacks and headed to the store to pick up some groceries before driving south to Canyonlands.

We found a spot to park and spread a blanket on the ground. You see, there was a meteor shower that night and Canyonlands has some of the darkest skies in the country.

So we sat there in the dark eating a picnic of peanut butter sandwiches, crackers and Bing cherries. We chatted while we waited for the show in the sky to begin.

It was a feast like none other.

Sadly, we saw the meteor shower only briefly before a dark cloud sprawled across the sky. We car camped that night and woke up to enjoy the sunrise. It was my first desert sunrise and another incredible memory. The pictures don’t do it justice.

Five years later, I don’t hesitate to buy cherries when they’re available because the memory is so sweet. They will always remind me of that night and the freedom that I found on that trip.