In God's Country: Moab - Spring Break 2011 Day 2

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

This was our coolest day, temperature wise, in Moab. And it was also the day that had the highest chance of rain. So we decided this would be a good day to drive through Arches National Park and hike to Delicate Arch. Even though we have been to Moab several times since, the last time we were in Arches was in 2007 when Steve's sister and her family were visiting us. It was so so lovely to be there this time and be hiking when the temperatures weren't scorching. It took us a couple of hours to hike to the arch and then back down. Here are some of our pictures along the way. As you can see, Aubrey and Zac were still enjoying their new found friendship.

I can't tell you how good it did my heart to see them getting along so well Little Miss Addy Thing did so well on this long hike. Although about half way up she started getting tired so about every 30 steps she would do this: Her sisters posing with her on one of her many breaks

It got to the point that her little breaks came about every 5 steps so we had to find a way to help her along. Steve explained to her what a cairn is and told her that she had to be our leader. It was her job to find the next cairn and lead us to it. It was a job she took very seriously and was very excited about. There was no more lying down on the job for her. She was up and running from cairn to cairn. It became hard for us to keep up with her.

The endless walk. At least the weather was cool!
Emily

We were getting close to the arch but still couldn't see it. There was a little arch window up on a cliff that we climbed up to that gave us our first glimpse of our destination.

Aubrey looking at Delicate Arch from the smaller arch

Emily

Steve helping Addy down from the small arch that served as our window

We're almost there!

And we made it!

The last time I was here, I was pregnant with Zac. A lot has changed since then.

Aubrey and Emily

I freaked out a little when I saw this picture because Zac is taller than me. Then I realized we are on a slope.

Zac and Steve decided they wanted to take a more adventuresome route back down

So the girls and I started back down on our own

At the trail head for Delicate Arch there is some Native American Rock Art which you can see behind the kids in this picture

After our hike to Delicate Arch, we drove around the park taking in the majestic beauty of it all. Then we found a fun, secluded place to climb around. Addy loved playing in the sand.

Everyone enjoyed the climbing. Especially Steve and Zac.

Addy, out on a ledge

Zac helping Aubrey down

Aubrey, out on a ledge

Emily

(Hey, if any of you happen to come across this jacket on the highway, pick it up for us. She put it on top of my van Saturday and I drove off without knowing it. Until it scared the hookie out of me and almost made me wreck!)

Honest Abe, is that you? Double Arch. One of our favorites. You might recognize it from the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

We spent quite some time climbing around in Double Arch.

When we left the park that night, we were exhausted and starving. Pizza Hut seemed to be just the thing we needed. One of our pizzas had this huge bubble on it. Aubrey quickly grabbed it up, causing the rest of her siblings to squabble over it. Really? Yes. Really.

We got back to our hotel and finally the kids got to do what they had been wanting to do since we arrived in Moab. Swim in the pool. What is it about kids and hotel swimming pools? When we were in Disneyland, that was something they were always begging to do. I think this summer we could just go to the nearest hotel, check in and let the kids swim all day for a few days and they would think it was the best vacation ever. Anyway, it was nice because the pool was outside but it was heated. And we even talked Steve, the anti-swimmer, into joining us.

Click here for day 1

In God's Country: Moab - Spring Break 2011 Day 1

April 5, 2011

The trip that almost wasn't. We had plans for going to Moab over Spring Break with the same friends we went with last year. The week before we were supposed to leave, they decided they would be unable to go. Steve and I decided that we wouldn't be able to go either. The next day we were regretting that decision so after a few days contemplation we decided that we would be super sad if we didn't go. So we loaded up and headed out on Steve's Birthday. This time we stayed in a hotel because we didn't want to spend a bajillion dollars on gas driving 2 trucks there (one to pull the camper and one to pull the wheelers). Plus I hate driving a truck and pulling a trailer. And it was supposed to be cold and raining at night and Steve and I are turning into babies in our old age. It was a little sad to not be camping, although the shower and the toilet in the hotel were really nice to have. We had the best time and made so many fun memories. Our family LOVES Moab. It is one of our fav-o-rite places.

We decided that little Miss Addy Thing was old enough to ride along on the back of a wheeler. She is the same age Aubrey was when she started hitching a ride on the back seat. This was Addy's first time to ride with us. I forgot how much fun it is to have a little one on the back with you banging the visor from her helmet in your back every few minutes.

We arrived in Moab early afternoon on the 5th. We drove straight to a trail head and unloaded the 4 wheelers and hit the red dirt. We did the Gemini Bridges Trail.

Atop Gemini Bridges. OK, so here is the deal. I am not scared of heights. But I seriously had a panic attack when we were here and my kids were walking around the edge of this arch. You will see why in a minute. It is way the heck up there. I felt like if a strong breeze picked up it would take us all right over the edge. I was a total buzz kill up here and I finally just made everyone leave because I couldn't handle it anymore. I had four kids going in four different directions and deep plunging cliffs on all sides. I'm still freaked out when I think about it now.

Walking across the first arch. When we saw what we were standing on when we went down below, well, yeah. There's like nothing underneath us here:

"EVERYONE BACK TO THE WHEELERS NOW! GET AWAY FROM THE EDGE NOW! But here Zac, go stand over by the edge of the cliff one last time so I can take your picture."

I can't believe it, but I actually have a picture of myself standing on that narrow little bridge out there. It was before Steve and I were married and before we had kids and before we had common sense.

Ahhhhhh....let's all just breath a sigh of relief that we are all away from the edge now. I feel so much better, don't you?

We headed down the Bull Canyon Trail which took us below Gemini Bridges.

And there you have it. Gemini Bridges from below. That's where we were standing before. Right up on top of that arch way up there. You see why I was so freaked out. It's a long, long way down.

We had fun playing around in this little valley below the bridges.

We are very much against defacing such beauty so we are not the ones who did this, but apparently just a few days before us, there was another Steve and Emily in this very spot.

The kids had a blast climbing

And so did the Birthday boy, who couldn't think of a better way to spend his Birthday

These two (Zac and Aubrey), who usually spend the majority of their time fighting, became best friends on the trip. They were together the whole time and didn't fight once. It must be something in the desert air.

Emily's looking at me like, "Now whadda I do?"

We decided to have dinner by Gooney Bird Rock

We found a little camp site and pulled out our goods and got a fire crackin'. Steve drove his 4 wheeler (really fast) back to the truck and moved the truck to the other end of the trail so we wouldn't have to go all the way back the way we came in the dark. Then he drove back to us (really fast). I don't know if he actually needed to move the truck or if he just wanted to drive really fast...

While Steve was driving really fast and I was cooking dinner, the kids went exploring. They loved climbing. If you look really hard in the middle of this picture, you can see all four of them.

I enjoyed the beautiful view while the sun was setting

We had foil dinners. Yummm. Although, just a little note to myself. Self: If you are going to pack foil dinners and take them in an ice chest jostling down a trail on a four wheeler all day, do not pack them all in the same bag. They need to be in their own individual ziplocks with lots of padding. They rubbed against each other and there were some places where they rubbed right through the foil. But it was OK. They were still delicious. And just a little hint for those of you who make foil dinners: I always cook all my ingredients at home BEFORE I put them in the foil. Then you just have to heat them up and it doesn't take long!

I couldn't forget about my Sugar Daddy's Birthday. I brought his favorite snack cakes, Zingers (I wanted to make cupcakes but I didn't think they would survive the trail) and a candle. We all sang Happy Birthday to him.

It was dark and it was time to head down the mountain. On a road that was right on the edge of a cliff! I was freaking out a little hoping one of the kids didn't drive right off the edge. Thankfully it was dark so I could pretend that we weren't driving our wheelers right next to a huge drop off. In the midst of my freaking out Steve tried to calm me down by saying, "Honey, I've done this trail 50 times. I could do it in my sleep. Zac did this trail when he was like 7. On a bike." That made me feel so much better. The best part was when we started seeing all the little tiny car lights driving on the road below us. Then I was able to tell how high up we were and how severe the drop off was.

We made it safely down and checked into our hotel and hit the showers and the beds. When I got out of the shower I found Steve and the kids watching some super scary movie about sharks eating people. I can't turn my back on them for 5 minutes....