Week Two: Moab

One of the best things about Blanding was that Dan only worked four days per week. To add to that, we had one Monday holiday while we were there. We took advantage of that four day weekend and went to Moab for a few days.

Canyonlands - Needles District

First, we went to Needles. Just before you get to Needles, there is this cool rock called Newspaper Rock filled with Indian Petroglyphs.

Needles is full of amazing rock formations. We got to hike around on the "slick rock".

These divits in the rock are called Potholes. In the summer they are teeming with life; in the winter they make great ice skating ponds.

Arches National Park

Arches was by far my favorite place. The formations were just amazing. And there were lots of good hikes for our little family.

Balancing Rock.

The Three Gosips.

This was my favorite arch. It had a double arch.

I climbed up into the arch, looked over the edge, and it dropped straight down! So thrilling!

This is as close as we got to Delicate Arch. Apparently, the hike to go right up to it is pretty strenuous. Emma did great with all the hiking, but we didn't want to push her too much. And this view was actually pretty cool. We got a good view of it, and we could see right down the cliff face under it.

Dead Horse Point

This was a state park located in the middle of a really narrow meander in the Colorado River. Cowboys used to round up horses here and them trap them in by fencing off the neck of the meander. Then, after they choose the good horses, they would leaver the rest here to die. Sad, huh? The view sure was cool.

My cutest little family.

The thought of being nervous about hights never occured to me while we were having so much fun climbing around in Arches the day before. But, that night, as I lay in bed, I started imagining all the horrible things that could have happened, like Emma falling, or Dan slipping with Seth, and I did not sleep a wink. Then the next day we went to all these places where the point was to stand on the edge of these cliffs and marvel at the world below. Unreal! And totally terrifying for a mother to watch her family do this.

This is our only outdoor picnic.

Canyonlands - Island in the Sky

This park was formed by the river cutting into the platau leaving huge canyons and other formations.

Walked right up to this arch, looked over the edge and it was another cliff. My heart was just about to stop. Can you tell that we made Emma a little nervous. I love this picture because her face looks just like a silly face my little brother would make.

Emma is a little climber. She spotted this little cave and really wanted to get up to it.

Seth was a little angel - or should I say monkey - this whole trip. He got two teeth this month and was so good about it. He snoozed in the car, he ate his solid foods, and he laughed and giggled while we hiked.

I couldn't resist adding all these funny pictures!

So precious.

Daddy and daughter on top of the world.

This was an interesting formation. It was a round crater with mounds of lighter sandstone in the middle. Ancient volcanoe? Meteor crater? Nobody knows.