Aches National Park and Moab

Paul wants to retire to Moab.  It's a little hot for me(106 during the day) but such a great area, so so much to do.  We had a very busy couple of days in and around the Moab area.  The plan was to go to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.  We started out in the morning in area called The Windows.  There are 4 arches within walking distance of each other and we started out at Windows arch.  Our plan was to see the four arches in that area and to move on.  We ended up staying there for 4 hours.  Ty and Libby were like mountain goats climbing on and around the arches, with cautious and careful Ella close behind.  They would climb as high as they could get before we would tell them they were too high.  Libby even got stuck once and couldn't get down.  A family from Maine helped us get her down.  While in the shadow of an arch it was cool and breezy, but step out into the sunshine and it was HOT.  I guess that's why we never hurried them along.  They had a great time.

Three Gossips

Three Gossips and The Organ

Double Arch

Climbing Double Arch

Ty had to go higher!

Ella on Double Arch

Libby navigating Double Arch

Double Arch

Guess which Arch?

Taking a break at North Window Arch

North Window Arch

South Window Arch

Double Arch

Turret Arch

Turret Arch ... getting up was easy..getting down, well ..

The shaved ice stand was a great way to cool off in the 100+ heat.  $2 for a huge serving! The story is that the dad built this for his daughter to earn money for college.  She had enough after 1 year!

That evening we went horseback riding.  It was a high point of the trip.  The Hauer Ranch was 25 miles out of town and very remote.  The nearest ranch was several miles away.  We rode for 2 hours and never saw another person, house, car....nothing.  It was incredibale to be in Professor Valley(named so due to a rock formation that someone thouth looked like a professor lecturing his students).  We were completely surrounded by mesa's and rock formations and it seemed as if we had gone went back in time.  Other than Ella's horse being very feisty, and making me very nervous, it was an evening I'll never forget.

Hauer Ranch - Getting ready for the ride

Jeannie the mule

Atlas

Heading into the back country

Atlas and Ella

Barney and Libby

Jasmine

Jeannie and Ty

The next morning we went white water rafting, it was more like floating, but that's ok.  There was one rapid that our guide Mitch said was a class three rapid, and a couple of class two rapids.  The kids spent more time swimming in the river than they spent in the boat.

MORE TO COME !!