Sat June 5: Moab, UT- Arches National Park
We got an early start leaving from the Grand Canyon to make our way to Arches National Park. We (I) had planned poorly and only booked us for one night there. However, I think we fit in most of the site-seeing I wanted, even if the boys did not get to do any MTB riding.
We stayed at Slick Rock Campground:
After having a late lunch/early dinner at a local Mexican restaurant in downtown Moab, we went right into the park. First stop was Park Avenue (no picture but was very cool and worth the stop to view), then onto Balanced Rock, which I wouldn't even call a hike, but more of just a walk up a path and around it. Cute story on the placard about the history of Balanced Rock said there used to be a smaller similar formation that was called Chip off the old block standing next to Balanced Rock, but alas it did not survive. That is the thing about this landscape, it may not seem like it but it's fragile and always changing:
Then kept driving the road north through the park to Skyline Arch. Again, not really a hike, but a walk up the packed dirt path up to the Arch:
On Sunday morning we woke up early, got donuts from Doughbird and headed out (with a generous 1pm late checkout granted by our campsite) to do the rest of our site seeing. We stopped at the Visitors Center (of course) to get our ranger badges, then first up was the hike to Landscape Arch. It is the largest arch on the planet, with a width of 290 feet. The arch has had chunks break off over the last centuries, so one never knows how long it will remain standing.
Then I headed into Sand Dune Arch while the boys took a break. I think they missed out. The trek in was short (but tough because you are walking entirely through sand) but viewing this arch in the shade within all the red rocks gave it a kind of glow. So of course I did a selfie:
Much to Gavin's delight, a very friendly young girl ranger stopped to talk to him about his badge and “bio-crust.” I think he was in love. Remember folks, Ranger Gavin says:
We continued to head north and make notes of the hikes we would want to do the next morning prior to our departure. We had already decided to forego the most popular hike in this park which is to the Delicate Arch (also featured on the Utah license plates) as it would be too long/time consuming to fit in with all our other stops, so instead we headed back to the lot that puts you at a short trail up to a distant (aka "upper") viewpoint of the arch. We did this for sunset and the kids had great fun getting some pictures with the La Sal Mountains in the background:
Okay, so in the pictures below, on the far left you can see the iconic Delicate Arch. You can also see the tiny little dots to the left of it, which are people waiting in line, after their hike up to the arch, to get their picture under it! I am SO glad we decided against that hike and did this shorter one for the view and sunset instead. It was just the relaxing evening our family needed after a long day in the car.
Our next stop was Window Arches, the north window was the easier one to stand in/photograph:
After a very busy morning we got on the road to Denver. Even though it was one of our shorter drive times, it seemed long because we left so late in the day. However, it was one of the more interesting drives, going through all the ski resorts that are west of Denver. We hit rain at the very end, but alas the evening cleared and a rainbow showed up. We always say that's Grandma Voigts painting the sky. I guess she was approving of our vacation.
We stayed at Denver East/Strasburg KOA. We used the oven in our camper first the first time. I know I haven't said much about the new camper, but we were not roughing it (bigger beds, bigger fridge, a freezer, microwave, and yes a TV-GASP!).
We woke up early and hit the road to our final stop on the way home, Omaha NE. The campground was West Omaha KOA. We actually took advantage of a campground pool finally-we arrived a decent hour and it was HOT in Omaha (just like it was hot back home). The kids also enjoyed the playground with bounce pillow and zip line.
Our final trek home from Omaha to Algonquin was relatively uneventful, though everyone was very anxious to get home. We stopped at the I-80 "worlds largest truck stop", I am not necessarily making a recommendation here, I'm just sayin' we did. The kids were very helpful unloading, but really they were just excited to get ST (Screen Time on their iPads) after a 2 week hiatus. I am proud of them and their attitude about this "Grand" trip and participation in making our family memories. We are excited already for our next trip over 4th of July.
The End. For Now.
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