Travel Log: Days 6, 7 & 8

Day 6: Thursday, July 24. On the road again. Like I said in my previous post, we didn't sleep well the night we camped, so we hit the road fairly early in the morning and drove east through Capital Reef National park. We stopped at a waterfall not far from the campground. This is Mazie showing me a handful of the white, fine sand on the trail. It was so soft, I wondered if it had Talc or Trona in it.
From there we drove north to meet the freeway, then cut south again to Moab. We love Moab. My husband would live in Moab if he could find a way to support us there. Seriously, it is like his favorite place on earth. It has everything Nathan loves-- year round running, mountain biking and plenty of ATV trails. In his mind, Moab is next to Heaven. Twice he's run the Canyonlands Half Marathon. The last time he ran it, he drove down alone and ran in 80 degree weather, while it snowed at home.
We arrived in Moab around 11 A.M. After checking into our cabin at Archview campground, we headed into town. I would not recommend Archview. We were very disappointed. The cabins were tiny. The A/C that they advertised was in fact a dumpy swamp cooler, and the pool was only four feet deep and crowded with ten kids in it. In fact, if we'd been staying somewhere we liked, we might have stayed a few extra days. As it was, we couldn't get out of there soon enough.
Anyway, we rented a Polaris Ranger, which seats six. We took that and "the big pig" (that's Nathan's four-wheeler) out and hit the trails. Nathan and I with Determination Towers in the background.
My co-pilot. He held the map and water while I drove.
Nathan and Ethan with Merrimac Butte behind them.

Starting out, Josie was wearing the bike helmet and Mazie was wearing a motorcycle helmet, but the bike helmet kept falling down over Josie's face, so we took it off. She was five-point harnessed into a vehicle with a roll-bar, so we figured she'd be fine. Plus, cautious Mommy was driving. Then Mazie started complaining about her helmet, so she ended up wearing Josie's.


We went to the Mill Canyon Dinosaur fossils and saw real dinosaur bones still in the rocks. That was very cool. We also saw the remains of Halfway Stage Station, which was a small stone building where travelers would stay overnight on their stagecoach journeys. All that is left now is the stone walls.
When we got back from this three hour ride, we were hot, very dirty and hungry. We went into Moab and bought groceries. The car thermometer said it was 104 degrees. Just as we were starting dinner, the others arrived from the Grand Canyon. We put all the kids to bed early with plans to head out first thing in the morning.

Day 7: Friday, July 25. Moab. The day started around six A.M. when we woke to get everyone ready for an early hike. Because it was so hot, any hiking had to be done early. Unlike Zion, there's no shade in Moab, so you roast. Josie woke with us at 5:45. Nathan and I have been to the arches before when we lived in Utah, so I stayed back with Josie while he took the other three up to Arches National Park. When I saw this picture, I started to laugh. Nathan and I have a picture of ourselves in this exact same arch ELEVEN years ago!
Rachael, Ethan, Andrea & Mazie-- a mix of double cousins.
After the Arches hike, Nathan came back and we took the kids out ATVing again. We went up to Gemini Bridges. The road climbed all the way up the bluffs across from our campground. The highway looked like a little stream below. Of course, we forgot the camera, so we have no pictures. We made this a shorter ride. It was rocky, and the kids were getting tired of bouncing all around, so we didn't go too far.
Next, we drove into Moab, returned the Ranger and went souvenir shopping. When we got back, Josie wanted a nap and the older kids wanted to swim. I took them down to the tiny pool, and they played in the water while Nathan and Josie took a nap.
I was keeping an eye on the clock because I knew Nathan wanted to go mountain biking. The other families spent the day rafting the river, and they still hadn't returned by five-thirty, so Nathan went out on his mountain bike. He was planning to go after dinner, but he didn't want to run out of daylight.
That night we had a joint birthday party for Dylan and Andrea.
Josie preferred chewing on the hat to wearing it.
These next two pictures are a one-two sequence. She kept pulling Nathan's hat down and letting it go, so it would smack him in the head. Mean little thing.By this time, Nathan and I were exhausted and ready to go home. We regretted that we didn't have time to do everything we wanted to in Moab (like bike Slickrock with the kids), but we were tired of travelling.

Day 8: Saturday, July 26. We woke by five and were on the road by six-fifteen. Because it was early morning and a weekend there was hardly any traffic, and we made great time to Provo. We stopped at Target in Orem for breakfast and snacks, then hit the road. We were home by six that evening. I was so happy to sleep in my own bed!

As I'm typing this, Nathan is already planning our next trip to Moab. :)