magical moments in moab!

We arrived in Moab on Wednesday and were so happy to settle in and not do any driving for awhile! It was raining when we got here and has been off and on ever since, but we’ve decided to stay and wait it out so we can experience this area in it’s full sparkling glory. When we arrived at our campsite, Thor asked for his cars and monster trucks, settled himself into a patch of dirt and played happily for almost 2 hours! Bella spread out on the floor with a bag of toys and everyone was happy just to stop driving. We unhitched our bikes, rode into town, picked up some groceries at a natural food shop called Moonflower and rode “home”.

Friday morning, braving the rain and trusting that the sun would shine through, we headed up to Arches National Park. The road was steep and full of switchbacks at the beginning, then we arrived at the top of a huge plateau and as far as the eye could see there were massive red rock monoliths rising out of the earth at random. It was mind-blowing!

We drove the full 18 mile main road with a few side roads, stopping at a few hikes that we had read were particularly suitable for young children. The sun did come out and it was warm and lovely and gorgeous! The kids loved the hike into Sand Dune Arch. We followed the path through some huge, fin shaped rocks, squeezing in between the opening where it opened up to a long narrow canyon, full of sand and a few bright green trees. We made our way up to the top of it where there was a beautiful arch and some fun caves. The kids loved climbing around on the sandstone. It’s called “slickrock” because the first settlers found it very slick for their horses metal shoed hooves, but it’s actually very grippy and feels like sandpaper. Great for climbing around on!

We ended our day up there with a hike into Double Arch. This area was absolutely awe-inspiring. We ran out of adjectives to describe the beauty all around us.

 As we were walking in I could feel the powerful energy of this magical place and it moved me to tears. So absolutely incredible. I wanted to just lie down in the sun and soak it up! I climbed up to the top and looked out through one of the arches and the view was stunning. I stayed up there for awhile just taking it all in.

It was so fun to have the kids out hiking and loving it! They complained at first, but quickly realized how great it was and didn’t want to stop! We assured them we’d be hiking again the next day.

 As we were leaving the park it started to rain again, and was still raining when we got back to our campsite. Keeping the kids happy in the rain has been challenging, but within an hour or so, the sun popped back out, Bella and Thor put on rainboots and had a great time jumping in the puddles! A great ending to our wonderful day full of sunshine, fresh air, red rock, and magical moments.



Have I mentioned that we love this place?!