Moab, Part 4

 

 

Moab, part 3 here

 

The next day of the trip was Arches National Park, right outside of Moab.  It was a bit cold that morning, but we trudged on.  The kids were cranky, the wind was blowing, it was 30 something degrees outside, but darn-it – we were going to see Arches!  We stopped at Balanced Rock, below.

 

 

Then, the real crankies came out at the Furnace.  Both kids were cold, cranky and weren’t having any of it.  After this stop, I think we just drove around the park a bit enjoying the comforts of heat from the car. 

 

 

But, we did have to stop at this place, Sand Dune Arch.  Doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it was supposed to be really fun for the kids, plus it was a bit sheltered from the elements. 

 

 

 

But, once you get inside, there was many rocks to climb and places to explore.  There was even an arch inside this big rock!  The kids had a good time.  They had seen Dinosaur prints a few days prior and decided to make their own prints in the sandy bottom floor of this wonderful place.  We had fun exploring around the rocks and taking a bit of a break from the cold wind. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, not long after this the kids were tuckered out!  Sara couldn’t even stay away on the way back to my Aunt’s house 10 minutes down the road.  We got the kids to nap and rest and left them with my Mom (thanks!) and Lance and I headed back to the park for the afternoon. 

 

 

 

We saw Landscape Arch, where a section of the arch fell in 1991 that was caught of video(see the video around 2:10 minutes of this video).  Amazing!  Glad we were able to see it, but not stand underneath it!  It is considered the longest arch in the world!

 

 

 

We saw Delicate Arch from a far, we decided not to do the 3 mile hike that day since there were so many things to see and do!

 

 

 

We finished out with Double Arch.  Lance really wanted to go and I was satisfied with just seeing it from the car, so I sat in the car and used my new telephoto (70-200mm) lens and took some pictures of Lance while he went up close and personal to see it all. 

 

 

He explored the caves off to the right of the Double Arch and had a fun time climbing up to the top.  I had a fun time catching him on my telephoto lens!

Then, the next day was our day to leave back to Salt Lake City for catching the airplane home.  The kids had made new fast friends with cousin Payton, the sisters were fast and furious talking about all the things that they hadn’t talked about yet, and we were just soaking up our last day there.  We all had a fabulous time and hope to come back again someday. 

 

 

 

 

 

On our way out of town, we stopped at Sego Canyon.  It was cool to see all the pictographs painted on the walls, but so sad to see so much vandalism in this unprotected place.  People had written their initials, shot bullets at the walls, drawn other pictures next to these scared originals. 

 

 

 

 

 

More “moos” – Sara’s favorite!

 

 

 

Playing with Daddy’s iPad was sure fun on the way home.

 

 

 

 

And Mommy’s iPhone.  Hmmmm – I wonder where she got her addition to the iPhone from???

 

 

I felt like most of the trip in the car I was turning my head looking back at the kids, answering questions, negotiating, handing them something. 

 

And then after a quick play time back in Price, Utah – they passed out again. 

 

 

 

 

We got to our hotel and the pool was broken (what to do, what to do?) – the kids were expecting a pool and were very disappointed.  We asked if there was another pool we could visit and found there was one nearby, we grabbed our pool gear and headed over for some pre-dinner swim time.  This was so much fun.  Lance was pouting since he didn’t want to have to go to a different hotel and swim, so he just stayed out. 

 

Overall, a fantastic vacation with many memories to last.  Until later Moab!