Arches National Park

We have celebrated our 30th anniversary for about a month now. But the actual date is April 16th so we went to Moab and Arches National Park to celebrate. Neither of us can remember for sure if we have ever been there. Kind of sad, considering we both grew up in Utah. So we hooked up our trailer and headed 5 hours south.

We got there Thursday evening and stayed that night in Moab. The next morning we went on a 7 mile run that included this bridge across the Colorado river:


(You can see Dave running across the bridge)

Resting next to the river.

Then we drove in to Arches National Park. This is Balanced Rock.

This is called The Fiery Furnace:

We stayed at Devils Garden Campground. The only campground in the park.

We hiked to Delicate Arch. It is the arch featured on our Utah license plate.

There were a few wild flowers blooming in this desert area.

We saw these petrogyphs done by Ute indians.

This cabin has been there for well over 100 years.

North Window:

Part of Double Arch:

South Window:

Turret Arch:

The Three Gossips:

Along Park Avenue:

Park Avenue again.

Skyline Arch:

I liked this shot of the moon over the area:

Part of Broken Arch:

Here is the huge pile of rocks that broke off, down below the arch:

The area on the right is when the rock fell away:

Sunset from our campground:

Dave got out his telescope and we looked at the craters on the moon.

Even though we covered 15 miles on foot the day before, we were ready the next morning to hike some more.

Tunnel Arch:

Pine Tree Arch:

Landscape Arch - the largest arch, from base to base, in the park:

Partition Arch:

Dave climbed up part of Partition Arch:

Navajo Arch:

I liked this rock:

Another view of Navajo Arch:

We were married at 11 am on April 16th, 1981. (In the Salt Lake Temple) This picture was taken at 11 am on April 16th, 2011. Double O Arch.

Hiking to Double O Arch required walking along the tops of several "fins", which was kind of freaky as the drop on both sides was hundreds of feet.

We were pretty tired of hiking and had seen all of the arches in the park except maybe one or two. So we left the park and went on a little bike ride in Klondike Bluffs.

I think I wore my brakes out on the slick rock. I'm pretty sure Dave won't take me there again. I was pretty slow. And I griped everytime we came to sand pits, too. Ha ha.

The redeeming point of the ride was the cool dinosaur tracks. (Look at the size next to Dave's foot.) There were probably 10 to 15 footprints in the area.

You can see Dave way up ahead on the crappy bike trail. Not my favorite.

We were very blessed. Just as we were about to drive home Dave looked back and saw that our trailer was falling apart. It was 4:30 pm on a Saturday afternoon and we found a place in the tiny town of Moab that could fix it. They closed at 5pm. We got it repaired before the 300 mile drive home. It would have been ruined if we had waited. Yes, the Lord was looking out for us.

We figured we had burned enough calories to make little piggies of ourselves at Pasta Jays in Moab for our anniversary dinner. We even got tiramisu for dessert. It was a great little anniversary getaway. I love my sweetheart and was sooo glad to celebrate with him.