Vacation '09 - Days 7, 8, & 9

Day 7: National Park #2

I woke up about 5:45 day 7 and went for a run in Grand Junction, CO. It was hard! The air is so thin and dry in the desert! I feel like I can't get enough water and all of our lips are so chapped!

We got around and ate a really good complimentary breakfast at our hotel before hitting the road. This is what most of our drive looked like...

We got to Moab, Utah about 10:30 a.m. and headed straight to Arches National park.

We've decided the next time we cruise America we're going to do it in style! We've seen about 50 of these Cruise America RVs.


Outside the Visitors Center they had these fun guys that the kiddos had a hoot climbing on (his eye is still bothering him in the sun so he is having to wear sunglasses a lot)...

Some of the crazy stuff we're seeing here in Utah...

We hung out at Balancing Rock...

Went on a short little hike to hang out under the shade of one of the arches. Look how tiny they look. It was super HUGE!

They climbed up some of the rocks under the arch...

I just love how blue the sky is here and how it looks up against all of the rock and mountains...

The north and south Windows. We have heard some different stories about how these crazy arches were formed. We heard erosion from water and we also heard from wind. I'm going with both (how's that for riding the fence? HA!). We went up and stood under the one on the left...

One of the many arches in Arches National Park. We climbed up into this one too.

Showing me his booboo from sliding down the rocks on his hinie...

After this little hike we had a picnic lunch in the car. It was too hot to eat outside and we couldn't find any picnic tables in the shade.

All of these National parks have wonderful driving tours that you can follow that take you all over the parks and have hikes or overlooks you can stop at. We try to do at least 1 or 2 hikes (usually no more than 2 miles, but usually just around 1 or 1/2 mile).

I wasn't around when this took place. I guess they had to sneak off! (really I think I was in the car with Ruthie. She was snoozing.)

At one point Ruthie was asleep and Kane didn't want to get out so Nolan went on what he thought was a 100 yd hike to see Delicate Arch. He decided to run since it was supposed to be short. He ended up sprinting about a mile thinking it was just around the next bend. He came back soaken wet and without ever seeing it- he finally gave up!

After we saw all there was to see for a family with 2 little ones we headed to our campsite. Nolan says I'm an outdoor diva because I want to do things outside and I'll camp, but I refuse to camp with no showers and electricity. So that means we have to pay a little more for camping than what they offer in the National parks (national park $8 - our campsite $22). I'm sorry! I have to shower and see my hand in front of my face at night! But really it worked out better because our campsite had a pool and it would be miserable without that! (and did I mention it had WiFi too! Rock on!)

Our campsite also had these little tent things set up to put your tents under. It gave shade and made it a little cooler. Isn't our tent sad! It's a 2 person tent. Now tell me I'm not a trooper!

Taking cover while it rained 1 of the 10 days a year it does this here! But it did help cool things down a little.

Right next to us camping we met a couple of families with little boys around Kane's age. One family was from Texas and the other was from Norway. The little boy from Norway didn't speak any English and it was so amazing to watch him and Kane play together even though they couldn't understand one another. His parents and grandparents spoke english so they would translate for us and him. We taught him how to play baseball and American football.

Kane is getting better and better at swimming. By the end of the summer he will have grown fins I think!

We swam until dark and then went and showered and hit the sack! We were pooped!!!

Day 8: National Park #3

We woke up early and got around and headed over to the huge chess set that our campsite has. Little Man had been asking to play his daddy. He dominated his dad!

We ate the best breakfast yet at a fun restaurant in Moab, Utah called EclectiCafe. We had their twist on Wavos Rancheros, which is an egg dish, it was slightly spicy, and so good (lots of chiles, and we LOVE chiles!)!

We then headed out about 30 minutes to...

Gorgeous views of the canyons (notice the death grip on the little man. I practically had a breakdown to the hubs about letting go of his hand the day before and now he is all over it!, and I feel much better. Still nervous, but better!)

A view of one of the many canyons. Doesn't it look like a 3 fingered hand?

Look at me right up against the railing! I'm getting a little better. The hubby says the best way to over come fears is to face them head on! I'm trying (you can't see it but I have a hand full of Kane's shirt here)!

This is one of the arches, the Mesa Arch. I love this picture!

It is so hot here! I bet we have gone through about 100 of these...

We went on a 1 mile hike, in the heat of the day, to the top of Whale Rock and I had to carry the baby so hubs could carry little man some. We had to rest about half way up! I was so tired! I have a new respect for my husband for how much he has lugged that sweet baby around on his back!

Headed up Whale Rock. Look how far behind I was. Isn't that sad?! I think I can, I think I can...

I made it and hubs relieved me of stink bug, YES!!!

After the Whale Rock hike we had a picnic and then headed back to the campsite to swim. We could only swim for so long and since it is so hot we couldn't just hang around so we showered and headed out for some Mexican food and a movie (Ice Age 3). When the movie let out is was getting darker and the weather was cooling down so back to the site we went and headed to bed!


Day 9: National Park #4

We woke up really early at the camp site this morning ate some breakfast and headed out. It took us about 3 hours to get to Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. It's still hot!

As we drove into the park we found these way cool holes in the side of the mountain. Kane thought it was way cool. Right in front of these was an old cabin about the size of my bedroom. It said on the little sign outside the cabin that a family of 10 lived in it at one time. It said that the parents and 2 youngest slept in the cabin, the girls slept in a wagon out front, and the boys slept in these holes...comfy huh?!

We did a 2 mile hike today. It was uphill a lot of the way and since I was pooped and my man's a stud! he carried both of our children for a while! He's the man!

This is what part of our hike looked like. We are right in the desert, and did I mention how hot it is here!

This is the arch that we stood under today at the end of our hike. Isn't it so cool! It was so much cooler in the shade of this arch! It is so amazing some of the things we've seen! God has done some amazing things!

My crew resting at the destination of the hike before we headed back to the car...

Right in the middle of the park was this little town called Fruita that had all these amazing fruit orchards that you could pick fruit for free as long as you ate it in the park. The peaches weren't quite ready yet, but they were okay. But we also found these mule deer goin' to town on these apples. After our picnic lunch we walked over to them and they let us get about 10 ft from them. It was so crazy!

After lunch we did a driving tour and part of the drive took us on some back roading. It was so fun driving through the canyons.

The kids and I fell asleep on our way out of the park and so when we got to the hotel Nolan rolled down all the windows, parked in the shade and let us all sleep for about an hour. We have been so busy that by the end of the day we are all exhausted!

Once we woke up we went swimming for a while. Kane met another little boy that does not speak english. He and his family are from Germany. I visited with his mother for a little while and they were super nice.

We then went to dinner. It was so yummy! We had a 10 veggie salad, mushroom lasagna, and bosenberry pie ala mode. We ended the night with a little workout with weights and then we found a dirt road to run on. On the run we could see the sun setting behind the mountains and it was just perfect!

It's been another great few days!