Arches National Park, Utah - 6th April

We woke up pretty late and missed breakfast at the hotel, so had some bagels and things instead.

View of the pool from our landing.

We drove for about an hour and got to Dead Horse Point at 11am. On the way I saw the barn next to the petrol station where Scott and I stopped, and which I'd liked last time we came!
The weather was beautiful again, though pretty windy up on Dead Horse Point. Incredible scenery!!

The piled up wood is an example of the kind of barricade that cowboys used to create a corral for horses in the 1800's. The road just here is built on a really narrow neck of land (30 yards wide), with steep cliffs either side. They would just barricade across the whole of the narrow neck.

In the distance we could see the amazingly blue potash (salts that contain potassium) evaporation ponds.

The Colorado River.

Walking back to the car at Dead Horse Point.

Stopping to check out railway tracks!

We then drove past Arches National Park to Moab, and had lunch there at a Mexican place, sitting out on the terrace, watching the world go by on the main street through Moab.

We then drove back to Arches, and through the park, firstly past The Three Gossips.

Rock climbers on Courthouse Tower.

Then we had a wander round Balanced Rock!

I hated everyone standing under Balanced Rock!

We then drove to the start of the hike to Delicate Arch. It was pretty hot, and the hike was a decent one over desert and some quite steep rocky areas. It was a three mile round trip, but seemed more.

Jack found his own arch!

Interesting path!!

Harry reflecting Delicate Arch.

Some people kept hogging the space under the arch, so we couldn't get a picture of just our family there. I think everyone else was a bit fed up with them too!
The whole rocky ledge that Delicate Arch is on, is smooth and drops down to a big bowl in front, and falls away behind. The boys went off for a walk down to the bowl, and I was worried about them getting too close to the drop behind.
Tom had a total strop because I made the boys come back from the bowl area, and not go back to the trail by another way. All in all it was a bit stressful at Delicate Arch!

By the time we got back to the start of the trail, everyone was fine again, and overall it was pretty satisfying because the hike wasn't very easy, and the scenery was crazy!

We stopped off briefly near the end of the hike to see these few hundred year old Ute petroglyphs.

I loved this Wolfe Family cabin! This was their updated cabin (!), built in the late 1800's.

We then drove to Double Arch, and Lucy, Scott and I went for a walk around it, while the tired boys stayed in the car. It's monumetal!!

We also stopped briefly at Park Avenue. Wouldn't mind a hike down there next time we come!

The boys revived quite well when we got to the large sand dune near the entrance to Arches!! They rapidly disappeared up it like a bunch of dune monkeys!

Lucy, Scott and I made our way to the top of the dune a bit more slowly (It was ridiculously hard work - had to keep stopping!)

Scott trying to get back down in as few 'steps' as possible! He made it in 20, looking hysterical!

There were quite a few people there with kids (though we were the only adults who climbed up), and our kids were by far and away the most fearless (or daft!) At one point, Harry was running full speed, headlong down the dune, completely wiped out, rolled a bit then carried on running. It was hilarious - we were just killing ourselves laughing!

The boys went up and down a few times, and while I was at the bottom Harry came down again in fine form, and some of the Dads standing around congratulated him!

We went back to our car feeling quite fulfilled, and extremely red sandy!

We then drove about an hour and a half to the Quality Inn in Blanding, Utah, another little desert town.

We went to Blanding via Montecello, where we stopped off at the little Temple there.

Tom with the red dust stuck to his face, looking like he had bad foundation on!

As soon as we got to the hotel, we all dumped our stuff and hit the pool! After a couple of minutes we had the pool to ourselves, and it was just perfect - the perfect size, depth, and REALLY WARM! I've never been in such a warm pool! It was just wonderful after such a hot, dusty, tiring hiking day!
I loved watching Scott dive bombing in, doing mad swimming and handstands etc with the kids, then he and I enjoyed cuddling up and just messing around.

We left the pool at 9pm and I shared with Jack and Harry. I stayed up late doing my photos of the day, and putting them on Facebook. Didn't sleep very well, as the pillows were too fat, so I slept with none.