For Spring Break this year, we decided our kids needed to see Moab and Arches National Park. Utah has so many awesome, beautiful, amazing national parks with really unique features, and I want to see/share them with my kids. Scott had never been to either Moab or Arches before, but I went with my ward during Youth Conference when I was 17. Being young and a stupid teenager that did not appreciate natural beauty, I did not fully appreciate the grandeur that is Arches at 17. And, while our littlest ones did not fully appreciate it either, I was very gratified to hear Savannah ooh and aah over the incredible landscape we saw.
We stayed in a hotel in Moab, and drove to Arches the first morning. We did the shortest hikes, since we had several little legs accompanying us. This was our first hike. Brighton is either giving me a thumbs up, or saying "enough pictures! C'mon!" I'm not sure which is true.
So cool in his sunglasses.
We found this cool (literally) sand hill at the beginning of one of the hikes. It was the only shaded, cool spot in which to rest. Luckily, it was the first week of April and not too hot yet. The kids adore sand, and just wanted to run up and down the hill, and play in it. What can be funner than that? Arches? What arches?
True to his nature, Boston was such a great baby! He sat in his carrier and kicked his legs and blew bubbles. Very little complaining from this little guy. If he's not the perfect baby, I don't know what is.
Landscape Arch. The kids were excited to discover this arch, as its picture hung above one of the beds in our hotel room.
I decided that Heavenly Father must have had a fun time when designing this part of the earth. It's so unique.
This arch was our favorite. It was a fun surprise to discover a HUGE sandbox underneath this hidden arch. And completely shaded and cool. We spent about an hour here just playing in the sand. If we'd been smarter, we'd have brought our sand toys like another family did that was there with their grandparents.
Brighton had a blast just climbing on everything. Not to mention jumping off too.
"I'm ok Mom."
The twins had to follow.
Savannah's such a great little mom to her little brothers and sisters. Except Brighton thinks of her more like a punching bag.
Even Scott got in on the action and built a sand castle.
Some arches were just seen from a distance from the air-conditioned car.
When I was here the first time, the hike to Delicate Arch was the only hike I remember doing. It was long and hard. We wanted the kids to see it, so we took the shorter hike that put us a few miles away, and we just glimpsed it from a distance. It was still spectacular.
Another reason why we didn't take the kids to the base of the arch: the drop off is sheer and far. Not a good mix for a daredevil, an accident-prone child, and a monkey. The kids kept wanting to know how the guy died there the year or so before. (He swung off the arch and overestimated the length of his bungee cord. Ouch.)
This was my second favorite section of Arches, after Delicate Arch. There were several arches here all clustered together. This picture doesn't do it justice. It was amazing.
We thought this tree was so cool; the perfect Halloween decoration. Contrary to how it looks, it is not dead.
This view had me awe-struck. In the foreground you have the red rocks and desert landscape; in the background you have snow-capped purple mountains majesty. Beautiful.
There were a lot of stairs here. Great butt workout!
Balanced Rock. I thought it was cool that the road just wound right around this.
After Arches, we went back to the pool and swam for a few hours. It had gotten cool and rained, so swimming was a little disappointing and cold, but it didn't deter the kids.
The next morning we checked out (it was a short weekend trip) of our hotel, and headed home. The plan was to stop at Goblin Valley on the way home. We had taken the kids there about 3 or 4 years ago, and we loved it. The twins got left at Grandma and Grandpa Henry's, since they were still too little to hike around all day, so we wanted them to see it this time. Before leaving Moab, we did a hike to see ancient petroglyphs. We had to find them in the heat, and they had been vandalized in the 80's, so they weren't as exciting as I had anticipated, but at least we saw them.
On the way to Goblin Valley, we spotted this van at a gas station just outside Green River. We had to stop and take a photo, of course, being HUGE Scooby Doo fans!
Also hanging out at the same gas station was Lightening McQueen. How lucky are we??
Keaton was star-struck
Goblin Valley was SO incredibly windy, and a little chilly. We were disappointed in the lack of cooperation from Mother Nature, but we persevered and hiked it anyway. We covered much more ground this time, and I think we saw almost the entire park. The kids loved climbing and exploring, jumping, and discovering new things here.
The girls were proud of their steep climb up this "mountain".
Everybody wanted to find "their rock" and get a picture with it. This was the twins'.
One of the caves we climbed in. When we were here before, we found a letterbox hidden further back. It was not easy to gain access to this cave, especially with a baby on your front side. Scott amazed me by being able to navigate it without smacking the baby in the head.
My favorite explorers.
Another of the smaller caves.
This was Brighton's "easy boy" chair. "aah, now I'm comfortable".
Such odd landscape is Goblin Valley.
We hiked until dusk, and decided it was time to go home. On the way out, we passed a boy scout troop that was just getting ready to start hide and seek. On the way home, we stopped in a meadow and just looked at all the stars. I really wanted the kids to see the Milky Way. We didn't see that, but the skies were still magnificent!
