Lots of Arches and hot weather and Denver
July 4th- Today we drove from Bryce-Zion, to Moab, UT. What a difference in 4 hours makes when you're in the desert. Our campground in Bryce was a nice 70 to 80 degrees but in Moab it was 106 degrees all day and during the middle of the night it was still 90!
We stayed at a campground minutes from Arches National Park. Moab was a nice little town, we went to the Rec pool the next day because it was so hot out that we couldn't do anything else. They had a street ice cream vendor that sold Superman and huckleberry ice cream. We were lucky the campsite was in a great spot to see the 20 minute firework show that happened on the mountain. And the firework show came with some music too... an Australian family folk band staying at our campsite started playing during the show. Very interesting! We also met a Belgian family and another group of Australian campers. The campground had a really nice community kitchen and BBQ area so we made burgers for the 4th.
July 5th- We tried to beat the heat today and get to Arches before it was 110 degrees. We only made it until about 2pm but saw most of the park. We started at the Balanced Rock, stopped to climb the base of the Windows and Turett Arches, went across the street to the Double Arch and climbed even more. I climbed a steep-ish bunch of rocks up to sit in one of the arches and the rocks burnt my hands! Oops. Then we intended to hike to see Landscape arch but ended up taking a nap in the car for 30 minutes then deciding it was too hot to walk even 20 feet. We did however, walk up a hill to see Delicate Arch and that was kind of disappointing because the lookout for the arch was so far away and the hike to the arch was like 4 miles. Still cool to see! We did go to the pool today which was very nice.
July 6th- We drove to Denver today but first we stopped at Canyonlands. Island in the Sky is very dream like, which I guess is why they call it Island in the Sky. Most of that park is used for off roading and it is all very far apart. If you drive in to Moab you see Jeep rentals on every corner and each one is going into Canyonlands. Even though it is a Canyon, the terrain is different than the Grand Canyon. It's bigger and it's almost like a Canyon within a Canyon.
We arrived in Denver and actually got to see one of my cousins! Denver is a cool city, there are so many surrounding towns and places to go, they have Red Rocks, Rocky Mountains, Boulder, Golden, Colorado Springs, and so much hiking. The city itself has a lot to do, we went to a Rockies game on July 7th. We tried Voodoo Donuts, Stuebens(a 70s themed diner with awesome food), and a pizza place with Mac and Cheese pizza.
We also went to the Red Rocks Amphitheater, unfortunately it closed soon after we got there because the Avett Brothers were about to do a sound check. Just up the road from there was Golden, CO. I had seen a picture of the Howdy Folks sign in historic Golden and wanted to go but I didn't know it was so close to Denver. We ended up going and seeing lots and lots of river tubers, everyone was outside during the rain. We stayed inside a sandwich shop during that rain. We didn't make it to Boulder or the Rocky Mountains. But that's okay because we'll have something to do for next time. We did go to City Park Jazz and eat wraps and smoothies bowls from food trucks on Sunday. The place we were in had a rooftop sitting area so we watered the pretty sunset over the mountains!
July 10th- heading to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico!
We stayed at a campground minutes from Arches National Park. Moab was a nice little town, we went to the Rec pool the next day because it was so hot out that we couldn't do anything else. They had a street ice cream vendor that sold Superman and huckleberry ice cream. We were lucky the campsite was in a great spot to see the 20 minute firework show that happened on the mountain. And the firework show came with some music too... an Australian family folk band staying at our campsite started playing during the show. Very interesting! We also met a Belgian family and another group of Australian campers. The campground had a really nice community kitchen and BBQ area so we made burgers for the 4th.
July 5th- We tried to beat the heat today and get to Arches before it was 110 degrees. We only made it until about 2pm but saw most of the park. We started at the Balanced Rock, stopped to climb the base of the Windows and Turett Arches, went across the street to the Double Arch and climbed even more. I climbed a steep-ish bunch of rocks up to sit in one of the arches and the rocks burnt my hands! Oops. Then we intended to hike to see Landscape arch but ended up taking a nap in the car for 30 minutes then deciding it was too hot to walk even 20 feet. We did however, walk up a hill to see Delicate Arch and that was kind of disappointing because the lookout for the arch was so far away and the hike to the arch was like 4 miles. Still cool to see! We did go to the pool today which was very nice.
July 6th- We drove to Denver today but first we stopped at Canyonlands. Island in the Sky is very dream like, which I guess is why they call it Island in the Sky. Most of that park is used for off roading and it is all very far apart. If you drive in to Moab you see Jeep rentals on every corner and each one is going into Canyonlands. Even though it is a Canyon, the terrain is different than the Grand Canyon. It's bigger and it's almost like a Canyon within a Canyon.
We arrived in Denver and actually got to see one of my cousins! Denver is a cool city, there are so many surrounding towns and places to go, they have Red Rocks, Rocky Mountains, Boulder, Golden, Colorado Springs, and so much hiking. The city itself has a lot to do, we went to a Rockies game on July 7th. We tried Voodoo Donuts, Stuebens(a 70s themed diner with awesome food), and a pizza place with Mac and Cheese pizza.
We also went to the Red Rocks Amphitheater, unfortunately it closed soon after we got there because the Avett Brothers were about to do a sound check. Just up the road from there was Golden, CO. I had seen a picture of the Howdy Folks sign in historic Golden and wanted to go but I didn't know it was so close to Denver. We ended up going and seeing lots and lots of river tubers, everyone was outside during the rain. We stayed inside a sandwich shop during that rain. We didn't make it to Boulder or the Rocky Mountains. But that's okay because we'll have something to do for next time. We did go to City Park Jazz and eat wraps and smoothies bowls from food trucks on Sunday. The place we were in had a rooftop sitting area so we watered the pretty sunset over the mountains!July 10th- heading to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico!
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