May 15 - United States: Moab, Utah
This morning, Jon went to a Laundromat to do laundry and to run some errands. I did research online for accommodations in Las Vegas, where we'll meet Ketron in June. Later - around 10:30 - we packed up our car and Heather's 4-Runner and headed out to Moab. Jon was driving by himself and I rode shotgun with Heather. The drive to Moab takes about three and a half hours, so Jon had the MP3 players to entertain himself. Heather and I, however, had much more fun with our ABBA Dance Party.
Arches National Park
We arrived at Arches National park - just north of Moab - around 3:00 or so. Because we only have one National Parks Pass, we can only take on car in (or pay the additional fee). So we ditched the BMW and piled into Heather's truck. It was very smart to take one car, but unfortunately I left my hiking boots in our car. So when we got to our first notable site, I realized that I had only my insensible slip-on shoes. Therefore, we couldn't hike very far. But this didn't seem to be a problem for Heather or Jon, both of whom were happy to snap pictures and climb back into the truck.
Arches has the largest collection of brilliantly colored stone arches in the country. According to our Arches National Park Map, "water and ice, extreme temperatures, and underground salt movement are responsible for the sculptured rock scenery of Arches National Park". There are more than 2000 arches cataloged here, ranging in size from a three foot opening to the longest one, which measures 306 feet base to base. (Landscape Arch). The park is 76,519 acres, which is a damn big park.
Heather and Heidi in Front of "Balancing Rock"
We drove to Delicate Arch on the east side, which is the "world's most photographed" arch. But since none of us felt like doing the mile hike to get there, we had to settle for a distance shot.
Delicate Arch
We also spent some time in an area called "The Windows". However we found ourselves to be very unenthused by the clouds and the poor lighting. The arches and the colorful rocks are supposed to be lovely during sunrise and sunset, but this cloudy afternoon just didn't seem to want to work for our cameras.
Double Arches
Moab, Utah
Moab is a small town, devoted entirely to the exploration of the surrounding National Parks and wilderness. Signs everywhere boast the best white water rafting, the best 4WD tours, and the best bike rentals. It's a very cute place and seems like a lot of fun. We decided to camp in one of the private RV parks instead of search for BLM Land (Bureau of Land Management). The campground we settled on was called Slick Rock Campground (www.slickrockcampground.com). We got a "double tent site", which was in the back corner of the campground. After setting up our tents, we headed into town for our last dinner together.
Moab Brewery was in the middle of town and had a lovely outdoor seating area. We, however, we sick of the outdoors and decided to sit in the dining area. We felt very necessary to order a huge plate of nachos for our last night together. Heather had a burger, Jon a burrito, and I had the "Jack Daniels Chicken Sandwich". When Heather got up to run out to the car, we slipped the waiter our credit card. This way, we could avoid the usual "No I'm Paying" argument. Heather very perturbed when she realized what we'd done.
That evening, we spent a few hours hanging out in our camping chairs, talking over a citronella candle. Heather was so excited to camp with us, because she doesn't really remember our childhood camping trips. Then again, I don't think she considers the RV-Campsite-thing "true camping". She's more of the backcountry camping type. But you get the idea.