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| Sand Dune Arch |
Arches National Park
Finally the stars aligned today and I was able to get up
earlyish to go for a bike ride. It was a
beautiful morning, with the early sun making the rocks glow like fire. It’s definitely worth the effort to be up and
about before the heat of the day rises and the roads get congested with other
tourists.
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| Arches sunrise |
This morning we tried to get everyone moving early (for the
above mentioned reasons) and went on a hike that left practically right from
our campsite. We walked through a lot of
desert and red rock scenery to Broken Arch, then went on to the refreshing Sand
Dune Arch, which is housed between two giant red rock fins and is therefore
nice and shady. There were lots and lots
of rocks to climb, and you could get right up inside the arches. (Fortunately we were able to tell the girls
that it is against the rules to attempt to go on top of the arches.)
Our time at Arches is proving to be a lot more relaxed than
at our other destinations. There’s not
as much too see, so there’s less pressure to stay on the move. Also, you’re almost forced to take a break in
the afternoon, when the heat becomes overwhelming. So, we motivated the kids through the morning
hike with promises lunch in Moab, at a nice air-conditioned restaurant (no
peanut butter!) As we were driving into
town, Bob and I saw this billboard shining out like a glorious beacon: “Moab
Microbrewery, 1 mile ahead. Kids
Welcome!” There was much rejoicing. The brewery turned out to be very popular
with the whole family, in fact. The food
was quite good, the kids loved the homemade root beer, and there was an
in-house gelato bar for dessert. 
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| Including this one for scale. This is one of the Windows. Can you see the kids in this picture? (lower right quandrant) |
***
From Bob:
Even at the time we knew that we would miss the cold we were
experiencing on those Yellowstone mornings.
The kids even seemed to grasp this, as they clutched their tea cups and
huddled by the fire.
The
afternoons here are the proof of that earlier hypothesis. It’s around 100 degrees – only 9 degrees shy
of the hottest temperatures they say one can expect here in August. It is, of course, a dry heat, and there’s
often a soft breeze that makes it bearable.
The sun does get oppressive, what with all the sand, the short trees and
the fact that we’re still 5,000 feet above sea level. It all conspired, once our three-mile morning
stroll was done, to get us off the Arches National Park plateau (you should see the road you have to drive up
once you pass the visitors’ center) and into neighboring Moab by noontime.
This
city is almost mythical, such is its reputation as an mecca for extreme
outdooriness. Most storefronts on the main strip are advertising river rafting,
mountain biking, atv or Jeep excursions, mountain climbing, hang gliding,
parachuting, or a bunch of other activities that people have thought up that fall
in the range of having an acceptable chance of survival, yet a titillating enough
possibility that you’ll wind up broken up in many pieces. The main practice of law in this town must
concern the exact wording of waiver forms.
Even
the brewery has boats hanging from the ceiling and bikes riding up the
wall. There were multiple advertisements
for extreme sporting opportunities – several hours of beer drinking is probably
a prerequisite for checking out a verticalwhitewaterJeepskydive adventure. We just stuck to the beer.
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| I'm not sure how they got up there |
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| Campfire dinner! The not-exactly-traditional falafel. |
Once we
were back at our camp site and things started to cool down a bit, the girls were
able to climb on the big rock behind the tent.
Simultaneously, many children were climbing on many rocks adjacent to
tents and campers right along the campground road. It’s that kind of place.
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| The kids were taking their shoes off any chance they could. |
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