Arches National Park

Warning: picture overload...

On Saturday we drove down to Arches National Park.  The kids and grandkids went the night before and camped at Schofield Reservoir...Grandpa and I opted out of the camping portion of the weekend.  We met up with them all in Price and drove on to Moab.  I lived in Moab, Utah when I was 10 years old.  We lived there for 3 years.  I do remember going to the Arches, and I remember being so awed by the Delicate Arch and it's enormousness.  We were looking forward to a fun, sightseeing day even though it was quite hot!  We got some of those neck scarves that you get wet and they keep you cool, and we took a lot of water with us.  We did fine.  Little David and Jacob were quite the troopers again and walked as much as the rest of us.  We mostly drove from point to point and looked at the views, but in some places we did get out and walk.  We also had a picnic in the park.  After our day in the park we went to the Wendy's in Moab and we also filled up our gas tanks before heading back home.  Moab has become quite the tourist town and there wasn't one thing I recognized on Main Street.  I know it's been a lot of years, but I thought maybe SOMETHING would look familiar.  Nope.

 Balancing Rock...

 Parade of the Elephants...(who got to name all the formations I wonder...)

We did walk up to North Window and around the corner to South Window...

This is Turret Arch...across the way from the window rocks...

 

 This is Delicate Arch...I was so disappointed in how far away the view point was!  If you want to get up close to it you have to hike a strenuous 3 mile hike!  If you look close at the picture above, (which we had to zoom way in to even get it that big) you can see the people under it and walking up to it.  We didn't have the time or energy to do that hike...so we hiked up to the "viewpoint" and saw it little and tiny in the distance!  I was quite bummed...that was what I had been looking forward to all day!  Here's our little rangers with the Delicate Arch in the background...

 And Clif and Lindsay...

 Grandma and Grandpa...looking quite hot and tired by this point!

 Jacob being a dinosaur under a huge rock (getting some shade!) and scaring us with his roar!

 Our little dinosaur was getting a little tired by late afternoon...

This is the Fiery Furnace...it went on for miles...

Window Rocks ~ north and south...the clouds made beautiful backdrops all day long!

Above, the Three Gossips...below, the Courthouse Towers...or the Organ, I'm not sure which.  Which does it look like?  

Park Avenue...I think...it's hard to remember all the names when you are looking at the pictures...

 More dinosaurs!

 And yes, we even got a picture of our photographer Joel...it always takes some doing to get his picture!  Can you see Delicate Arch way in the back on the horizon?!

It was a fun day...sure is amazing to see all those rock formations!  They are so huge, and some so delicate, and others you just can't imaging how they are still standing.  Lots of different kind of arches and just so much to see!  I'm sure it can't all be seen in one day...but we saw most of it!  We saw red sand, white sand, and green sand...yes green.  It was a worthwhile day and I am glad we got to spend it with some of the family.  I hope Lindsay will come to visit us again...we just made her hike the whole time she was here!  She went along with us though and said she had fun, so I hope she did.  What national park should we visit next?