Arches National Park- Moab, UT

Our first National Park!  We have a pass that will get us into all of the National Parks, Forests, Monuments, and Seashores.  Yahoo! Watch out country, we are collecting nation wide passes for everything we can think of!

 

 

This is Double Arch.  We had a lot of fun hiking up into that opening.

 

 



 

 

 

This picture kind of shows the distance and the steepness of the incline.

 

                

 

Can you see the pride shining out of her eyes?  She was so proud of herself for climbing up there.  I don't have a picture of what's on the other side of that opening.  It was a bit of a drop, shall we say. 

 

 

                    

 

Going down is always harder than going up....



 

 

 

 

We had fun scrambling around on the rocks that were closer to the ground too.

 

                  

 

 

 

             

 

 

A very nice man, who was trying to recreate a shot from an Indiana Jones movie, took a family picture for us.

 

 



 

 

We ended our exploring with a picnic lunch, in one of the coolest spots I've ever eaten!  A peanut butter and jelly sandwich has never tasted so good!

 



 

 

 

 

On our first day exploring Arches National Park, we hiked around the base of Balanced Rock.  It was about a quarter of a mile.  But we had ample photo opportunities!  We each enjoyed emulating it, in our own way. 

proud and tall

See the rock, feel the rock... BE the rock.

 

 

steady and eternal

Mae is working on earning a Junior Ranger Badge from Arches.  She has a little booklet to complete.  She has to show knowledge of the park in a bunch of different areas.  She has worked on it all week, along with her other school work.  Each National Park has this program, I'm excited to see how many badges Mae can earn.

Mae said that napping was her favorite park of this hike.  The nap lasted about 30 seconds. 




One night when we went out to dinner, our waitress drew a picture of Delicate Arch on our check.  Mae asked her if she would draw an arch for her.  Our waitress topped that with an impromptu art lesson for Mae on how to draw it.  It was awesome!  She encouraged Mae to keep drawing, all the time.  Mae has the picture our waitress drew for her taped up on the ceiling of her room.  I knew that this lesson really struck a cord with her, as I watched her stop and draw often on our hike up to see Delicate Arch.

Our hike up to Delicate Arch, was a 3 mile 3.5 hour trek.  It began with petroglyphs, made by the Ute Indians.





She's really getting to be a great hiker.  She carries her own supplies now, which I TOTALLY LOVE!  I did have a few treats to feed her as we climbed up this big rock face.


                        



                             

It's really amazing how much space there is out west!

 

 

Young and old hike side by side at Arches National Park.  We were very surprised to see the amount of photography gear that a bunch of people were hiking up with.  There were just as many people leaving with us, as there were just starting out on the hike.  Sunset is a very popular time to view Delicate Arch.  I'd personally be too afraid to be out there that late.  It was getting cold when we left the arch at 5:00pm.



So after we hike to the top and get to see the magnificent arch, I asked a woman sitting near by to take our picture.  This is the picture we got.... umm... I kind of wanted THE ARCH in the background...

Mae took a better picture, thanks Mae.


                    


They sat together and drew the arch.  It seems like a funny angle to take a picture from, but it actually shows pretty accurately, the slant that we were on up there.  It's not for the faint of heart. 

They headed down for a closer look.

Here is a video of Mae, from in front of Delicate Arch!

http://youtu.be/yY0Uux4_HSY

 

That picture kind of has to be on the Christmas card, don't you think?  I didn't even know it before we got up there, but seeing Delicate Arch is something you should do in your lifetime. 

We have a Junior Ranger now!  She got sworn in on our last afternoon in Moab.  Here's a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IjfsyG6s2k

We climbed up a sand dune, made from eroded sandstone.  It was slightly damp, so Mae could mold "snow balls" with it.  It was very cool!

hanging out at the top.  can you see the snow covered Lasal Mountains in the distance?

our truck looks like a toy from up here!

 

 

 

 

It's just amazing to see how much Mae has grown!  I feel like it was just a few months ago that this is what she looked like, walking hand in hand with her Daddy.

We are so pleased that we get to explore this great country, hand in hand with her.

What have you done as a family, that you think everyone should do?  Has there been any of those "ah ha moments" lately where you realize how much your child has grown?