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.

Salt Lake City - 5th April, Easter Sunday

After a rubbish night's sleep for me (I heard the key pad entrance lock beeping in the night, and thought someone was trying to get in, and then had stressy dreams about it!), we went and got petrol, had breakfast at Burger King (including tater-tots!), then went to a Smith's supermarket and bought a load of expensive rubbish food. I did find a bag of Cadbury's Mini Eggs though, which I was happy about - some Easter chocolate! I'd had some at Lola's the day before, and the chocolate was OK. Not good shopping on a Sunday though.

Driving under Eagle Gate.

We then went up to 'This Is The Place' for a bit, so the kids could get the feel of it, and learn a bit about the first settlers to the valley.

Then we stopped off at the school where the High School Musical films were based, and filmed a bit. So funny! (The real life school sports team, instead of being called the Wildcats like in the films, is called the Leopards!!) We took a few cheesy photos, then headed home and got packed up.

Harry and Tom doing some High School Musical grooving!!

We left all our packed-up stuff in the house, then walked down for the Sunday afternoon session of conference. Gorgeous weather again! We sat in Temple Square for a bit, and bumped into Chase Huntzinger again!

Queuing for conference.

Once we got to our seats, we spotted the Garricks sitting at the front of our section, so went and had a good catch up with them! They'd been doing a similar holiday to us. We arranged to meet up afterwards.
I took my small camera to conference this time, which I was allowed to keep with me, so got a few pictures.

Two of the talks weren't in English and we had subtitles on big screens. When President Uchtdorf got up afterwards, he just started talking in German, as a joke! (There was already a meme about it by that night!)
Lola said the day before that loads of ladies fancy President Uchtdorf (she works in the Salt Lake Temple) and want to know if he's single yet!! She said he and President Eyring were in the temple one day, and she ended up having to call for back-up because people kept going and touching him!

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir were singing in this session.

Afterwards we met up with the Garricks outside the Conference Centre, and chatted for a while. It was nice! Clare's so enthusiastic!

Then we walked back up the hill (again!) home. My feet ached by then so I took my shoes off and walked in my tights. It was lovely - chatting with Scott, with the kids up ahead, warm and sunny, and taking it all in. Harry even waved the pedestrian flags to get us across the road! Lucy said the day before that Salt Lake has been her favourite place so far.

At home, we changed and packed up the car, then did the three hour or so drive to Green River.
I was quite glad to leave the house we stayed in. The location was great, but it felt a bit scabby and grubby.
We just had our usual bagels, cream cheese, satsumas, biscuits etc for tea in the car.

Drove past green rocks, coal seams and other cool scenery on the way.

Green River! Scott and I stayed there five years ago... fond memories of the so-called Watermelon Capitol of the World!

We got to our hotel at about 8pm, and Lucy, Tom, Harry and I headed straight for the pool! The hotel was nice, except for no lift!
I swam quite a few lengths and it felt good - for my poor feet especially! Then the other people left and we went in the hot tub. Nice!

In the evening I edited all my Salt Lake photos and put them on Facebook.