Day 14 - Moab, UT - Arches and Canyonlands

We are officially in National Park territory and it’s clear that others have figured it out.  The campground was full of people ready to enjoy the outdoors - an interesting mix of “Grey Nomads”, mountain bikers, hippies, and general outdoor types.  It was fun to see all these folks mixing in the campground.

The weather overnight was ideal for sleep and we all had a great night of dreams.  I woke up feeling a bit under the weather, but thought it was just dealing with the altitude/dry air.  Robinson had reminded us of the dry air with a few nose bleeds as we went into altitude.  Fortunately nothing serious, but a reminder that we are surrounded by high altitude, dry air (it really is a desert!).  Robinson checked out the local dogs and the playground in camp while breakfast we prepared.


After breakfast, it was off to Arches.  Amy, in passing mentioned the quote “Too Orange, zero stars” when describing Arches and so the boys were introduced to the concept that the terrific book Sub-Par parks which is a compilation of all the worst ratings of parks.  It’s terrific if you enjoy sarcasm.    


Since we were up early enough and the weather was cooperating, we embarked on the long hike up to Delicate Arch.  When we got there, even Sebastian was impressed as an “Awesome” slipped past his lips.  It really is a big arch, but Sebastian seemed hooked.  







Before leaving the park, we drove up to the Devils Garden area and hiked over to both Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch.  Tunnel Arch was nice, but Pine Tree Arch really took the cake.  If not for the morning at Delicate Arch, this would absolutely have been the winner.





At this point, the crowds had arrived and so we decided to head back to camp.  We relaxed for a bit before heading over to Canyonlands.  While heading that way, we got our second recommendation to see sunset from Dead Horse Point State Park.  So, we planned to have a picnic style dinner in Canyonlands before finishing the day at Dead Horse Point.  


Canyonlands proved to have some amazing views.  It was hard to believe how quickly the scenery changed from when we left to what it looked like from the “Island in the Sky”.  Quite a view from what felt like the top of the world.  






After a bit though, it was clear that i was sick and everybody else was tired.  So, while it would have been an amazing sunset, we will have to return for it. The one we had from camp wasn't so bad.





We put the solar generator to work for dinner and put a lot of chicken patties (and fake chicken patties) on the electric griddle.  It was a pretty nice dinner - especially given that we are on the road and camping!.


After dinner, the sickness hit in and I was exhausted and fell asleep quickly.  The rest of the family joined me later to finish another great tourism day!

Total miles travelled - 3,373 miles (47,222) 

# States (Provinces) - 10

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 2 - 2025 East Coast Adventure - Dolphins and a Water Park in a State Park

Image
 7/19 - Chesapeake, VA to Killens Pond, DE Well the anticipated storm as we went to bed arrived and dumped LOTS of rain on us.  AS such, we had a damp start to morning. Amy woke early and had gone out for coffee (I forgot to pack ground coffee - first discovered mistake) and gas us up. She encountered lots of closed stores that early, but persistence paid off.  We enjoyed bagels for breakfast and then boys explored park while Amy and I packed up trailer. We had a long drive day so we didn't linger.    After a minor detour, we found the route to the bridge tunnel highway. After a quick inspection "are your propane tanks closed?", we were onto the bridge/tunnel.  As our first surprise of the trip, before we reached the first tunnel section, we saw 30-40 dolphins in the water!  Unfortunately, only Sebastian and I got to see them before we drove past.  However, we all got to see many kayakers/boats enjoying their Saturday on Chesapeake Bay. We enjoyed...
Read more

Thoughts after a month back home

Image
It's been a month since I got home.  I wanted to put some notes of reflection on record, but I also wanted to have a chance to re-connect with the normal world before I did.  30 days feels like a good number of days to have the perspective to come to some conclusions on the trip and life in general.  So, here goes. Main notes from the trip     - The USA has a LOT to see in it.  As a family we only entered ten states and really only entered two of them (Idaho and Arizona) in passing on the highway.  We spent almost eight weeks in these eight states and saw snow capped mountains, farmlands, deserts, canyons, rivers, waterfalls, rain forests, sandy beaches, rocky coasts, and volcanoes.  There are many countries that can't offer half of this list.      - Despite having nine weeks to do all the exploring we did, it felt rushed.  We covered almost 7,500 miles in those nine weeks so there's a reason it felt rushed, but when I left, of...
Read more

Day 20 - 2025 East Coast Adventure - ANOTHER State Park Pool!

Image
8/6 - Chenango Valley State Park, NY to Little Buffalo State Park, PA We woke up to cool dry air this morning after an amazingly quiet night (especially considering camp has over 100 sites).  We all started our day with oatmeal.   Today was planned as a bit of a casual transition day - we didn't expect much of the day other than to get us to Little Buffalo State Park which would serve as our launching point for tomorrow's big day.  As such, we packed up and got on the road. Because we had yet to find a good maple donut, we continued our search and planned for a stop at Manni's in Binghamton.  Unfortunately, in all my driving, I had gotten lax with my attentiveness and failed to notice the combination of narrow roads and high curbs that Binghamton offers.  As such, I made my left hand turn a bit sharp and took out curb with the Pathfinder.  Before I could react and stop, I looked in mirror and watched as the trailer went airborne with its own bump off t...
Read more