Roadtrip!

Erin asked for Arches National Park pictures in a comment, and I'm nothing if not responsive to my "viewing public."

Last weekend, we finally ventured out further than Provo, Wyoming or Idaho and decided to do an overnight roadtrip to Moab. We ended up staying the night in Green River, which I had anticipated to be a large metropolis and ended up being one long strip of hotels, gas stations and a few mom and pop type stores. But, the Super 8 had affordable, clean rooms and a pool and that proved to be all we needed for the night. The next morning, we headed to Moab. We discovered on our trip that Brian and I aren't really desert landscape people, so while we thought Arches was beautiful, the trip down and back up was incredibly painful and B O R I N G. It would take a lot for us to go back. On a very positive note, we saw what's on my license plate, and that's an accomplishment, for sure.

Here are some Window Arch pictures:

Sara and kiddos looking insignificant compared to the natural world around us

My attempts to be unique in photographing the arch

On Erin's recommendation (and our desire to see what's on our license plate), we decided to hike the allegedly only 1.5 mile hike up to Delicate Arch. Thank goodness we had stocked up on water for all of us because the 1.5 miles felt like forever, especially when trudging up rock. Not loose rocks, mind you, but a big, honking rock. Here's a view from the ground:

And finally, after lots of pit stops for Eli, a screaming, then napping, then waking up Braedy and a bit of vertigo for me, we rounded the bend and saw the Delicate Arch.

This next picture is my favorite since it reminds me of pictures everyone who ever visits a National Park must have: pictures of cool, beautiful things with someone you love and a complete stranger in view, too. We like to call it our Clark W. Griswold picture (and yes, I have seen the National Lampoon's movies, for those of you who know I never watch movies).

We ended our day at Balance Rock, taking bets on which way it would fall if it finally does fall.

All in all, we had a very nice trip and were thrilled to realize we can all sleep together in a hotel room. That opens up lots of possibilities for future road trips, so stay tuned. And, a big shout out of thanks to Erin, for both the last minute tips and pack-and-play! We'll see where we end up next.