Day 12 – July 10, 2016
Grand Junction, CO – Moab, UT
285 miles - 3 1/3
hours
We left Colorado today, which was sad. Now we explore Utah!
It’s the #44th state for my little road warriors. Getting closer to
the big 5-0!
Utah, at least the eastern part of the state, is very desolate.
The topography is almost scary (see pictures). The further we drove, the hotter
it got. At one point it was 101 degrees – although very dry heat. Our first
stop was Canyon Lands National Park. The park is massive (over 300,000 acres) and
has two entrances. We entered through the Island in the Sky entrance and were
able to drive through the whole northern section of the park in a couple of
hours. And we did some hiking, too. The canyons are reminiscent of the Grand
Canyon, but not as vast or as deep. Geologists believe that the area was once
flat, but due to volcanic activity and the flow of the Colorado and Green Rivers
over the soft sedimentary rock, the canyons were formed. It’s a site to be had,
for sure. We hiked along the rim rock trail at the Grand View Overlook and had
to walk down some stairs to get to the trail. Audrey commented that the stairs
had to be manmade, and Cammy countered that, “No God made this park and these
stairs.” He really drank the Kool-aide this year at faith formation. Audrey’s
snarky reply, “I love God too Camden, but please, look at how perfectly these
steps are shaped into a rectangle. That is the work of a stone carver.”
Our second park was Arches National Park, just twenty miles
up the road. Where as in Canyon Lands we spent our time looking down, in Arches
most of our time was spent looking up. There are over 2000 sandstone arches in
the park. The explanation of their creation is long and involved. (Obviously) it
happened over millions of years and involved volcanic activity (again!), salt
beds, erosion, and some fierce winds. I can attest to the wind. It was really
whipping while we were in the park and the sand hits your skin like a hard
rain. It stings a little. Because we had sunblock on, the sand stuck to our
skin and formed a crust.
We hiked to two of the more famous arches and I have to tell
you – it was hot. But I’m very proud of my crew, who for the most part did it
without too much whining. Barrett rallied today. I think he wanted to redeem
himself for the Sand Dunes hike, because he was hot on my heels for most of the
time.
We spent the night in Moab, a little town that obviously
exists only to house and entertain visitors to these two park. (I’m in no hurry
to go back.)
I’ve been slack on my quotes! Here are some good ones I
wrote in my journal:
Cammy:
“This is how you be a
pig. Get naked, drink chocolate milk, and watch TV…” And yep, that’s what
he did.
His response when I told him to calm down and sit properly in
his chair at lunch. “I'm sorry,
I'm trying to keep it together. Sometimes when I'm hungry I see things as food
that aren't food. It’s a problem.”
“Mom, can I please show
Hunter the karaoke machine?” - It was a juke box.
The kids all saw that the hotel snack shop had Pop Tarts and
wanted to buy some. I refused – Pop Tarts! But they all have a stash of
spending money (thanks to Aunt Kelly) and argued that they would buy it themselves.
I told them they could buy something – but not Pop Tarts. Cammy shrugged his
shoulders and said, “Well there’s not
hurt in looking at them.”
Heading to Utah.
Scary looking mountains.
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