March 11, 2018 Utah

Day 3: Sunday March 11, 2018:

We were up and eating breakfast around 7:30 (we survived Daylight Savings Time).  We got on the road around 8:15am after a good night’s sleep in what’s definitely an awesome motel!! 

We arrived at Canyonlands around 9am after seeing a wolf run across the road and after slowing down and taking pictures of cows who were moseying down the road.  

We took pictures in front of the sign (National Park #25) and then skipped the visitor’s center to go to Mesa Arch which was a 0.5mi loop hike.  I didn’t expect much at all but it was stunning, breathtaking, amazing.  I can’t say enough – it blew me away.  

Afterwards we drove over to Green River Overlook then onward to Grand View Overlook.  Both were great but nothing compared to Mesa Arch.  We stopped at the Visitor’s Center on the way out and bought our hat pins and magnet, then it was on to Arches.

 When we first pulled in around 11:30am, we waited in a VERY long line just to enter so I got a little panicked that we wouldn't get to everything we wanted to see but it worked out ok.  

The very long line

We started out at the Visitor’s Center with magnets/hat pins then dove all the way to the back of the park and parked by picnic tables and had a lunch of beef stick, cheese, apples, etc.  It was a little chilly (weather in the 50’s but really nice). 

Then we walked to the Devil’s Garden trail head and started our first hike.  The destination was Landscape Arch but we took a slight detour to see both Tunnel Arch and Pine Tree Arch then on to Landscape Arch.  It was beautiful and we learned that in 1991 a large chunk of it fell off.  It made me wonder if it’ll still be there for my grandkids to see.  Grant was in a bad mood because it was a relatively easy, flat trail (aka boring).

Afterwards we went ahead and braved the Delicate Arch parking lot.  After a reasonably short wait, we got a spot and began the trek.  It’s a 3 mi round trip hike with about 400 feet of elevation change.  

It was a little tough and a little crowded but not terrible at all.  

And when we rounded the corner and saw the arch for the first time, I literally got tears in my eyes because I hadn’t seen it since I was 15.  The kids were both amazed and amazing.  We got close and took a picture of the kids standing underneath it.  Then we ate a snack and Grant threw a piece of his granola bar to a chipmunk.  There were a bunch of Millennials running around and not following the rules – they were climbing up on rocks they shouldn’t and the kids were not impressed.  We mocked Millennials all the way back to the car J

That is Ryan and Grant standing under the arch!

At this point it was around 4pm.  We took one last hike back to Double Arch, driving past The Windows, and it was cool.  There was a camper parked next to us with a little Jack Russell-like dog in the front seat and Grant went up and said, in a sweet voice, “Hey little puppy.” And the dog flipped his lid and growled at Grant like a rabid maniac – hilarious!  Then, a short 0.25 mi hike to Double Arch.

Double Arch

The line was so big when we arrived that we didn't get pictures in front of the sign so we did that on our way out. 

On the way back to town, Grant said to Ryan, “Look at those old gondolias.”  An exasperated Ryan replied, “They’re called GONDOLAS, not gondolias.”  It made us all laugh.

The kids decided that they wanted to eat noodles in a cup and mac ‘n cheese in our room so we didn’t go out to dinner but Nick picked up salads for each of us and I walked through the definition of several cuss words with the kids – awkward.  The salads were good.  Grant and I played a game of Skip Bo then Ryan, Grant and I headed down to the pool and hot tub.  The hot tub was huge and awesome and the pool was heated.  We’ve all really loved this motel and if we were to come back to Moab for a week or so, which I totally want to do, I’d stay here again. 

As of tonight, we’re starting a new addition to our blog.  We will each rate the park on whether or not it’s a park that we’d want to go back to at some point.

Mesa Verde:  Nick: No; Grant: Yes; Ryan: Yes, because I'm going back to all of them; Barb: No

Canyonlands: Nick: Yes, Grant: Yes; Ryan: Yes; Barb: Maybe
Arches: Nick: No; Grant: Heck yeah; Ryan: Yep, yep, yep, Barb: Yes

Today was very special and we had a lot of fun.  I’m mad that I forgot to go buy a Moab t-shirt because we’re on the road at 7:30 tomorrow morning to hit parks #27 and #28!!

Good night until tomorrow.