And then there was… more Utah
This just in: we just crossed into Colorado and gas is getting cheaper. Praise ye the Lord. But first…
We’ve wrapped up our 5 parks in 5 days throughout Utah. The desert has been incredible but we are ready to see some green forest. The last few nights we’ve been in Moab, Utah and it's a pretty cool town with a lot of adventurous stuff to do. Gearing up as not to be blasted by sand and riding a dune buggy on the sand dunes is now on my bucket list.
First up in the Moab area was Arches National Park. They promise you arches and deliver them in spades. We all enjoyed practically running from arch to arch and balanced rock to balanced rock snapping pictures and climbing all around. In just one hike we saw three arches and that was just scratching the surface. It’s amazing how some of these rock structures can even stand and how many there are in such a small location. They look like they should just fall over on top of you. We all learned a lot from the junior ranger books about different rock formations but unfortunately they won’t give me and Evan badges. When I imagined the arches in my head I knew they would be large but I seriously underestimated their grandness (I've done a lot of underestimating on this trip). Then, after what had seemed like forever in the desert, we finally found some sand dunes and the kids got so disgusting rolling around and playing but they had an absolute blast. Life is good when the cactus aren’t out to get you. Phoenix stayed nice and fresh and was not harmed in the dune exploring process.
After supper Evan went back to arches to get some of the most breathtaking night photos I’ve ever seen. We’re gonna need some more frames for the house when we get back.
Next up in Moab was Canyonlands National Park. As we were leaving our camping spot headed to the park we got to experience our first sand storm. 2.3 seconds and everything is covered and you can’t see. That’s a blast let me tell you. It was sandy and foggy in Canyonlands so we couldn’t see as far as the views would normally allow but it was a neat park and truly a land of canyons. Just inside the park there is a gate that leads to a 100 mile dirt road that takes a special permit to drive on. Evan, of course, signed our lives over for the permit and hit the pavement. Actually, that’s a lie. There is no pavement. There is only miles and miles of dirt and rock road hanging off the side of a cliff. The overlook we were headed for was 8 miles down the road...45 minutes later we arrived there in one piece. It was a cool experience being down deep in the canyon after being on top of so many. After feeling so small in such a big valley we headed back up the “road” and got back to park civilization so we could catch a few more overlooks and do a little more hiking.
It was a productive two days in Moab and sleep felt so good last night after so much exploring. We’ll be home in a week and excited to spend a little time in the Denver and the Rockies before it’s all over. Watch out Colorado, the Lanier's are in the house.