Last 3-4 days

    To start our day Dad, Mom and I went hiking one last time at Mesa Verde along the edge of the Mesa and the view was amazing and beautiful. Mom loved all the flowers, and different types of plants. We found a great horned lizard which shoots blood out of its eyes for protection. In total we hiked 5.8 miles and went up 750 feet of elevation. We then returned to the campsite and packed up before heading out again to Dead Horse State Park, but before we headed out we played one more game of tetherball. Which is the most exciting game ever invented.

    

   Then we packed up and headed for Arches, and Canyonland. On our way there we stopped at the Hole in the Wall which is a house in the side of the cliff built by early settlers to survive the heat and cold - it was 5000 sq. feet of home cut into the sandstone rock!  After touring the house we headed out again for Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. We stayed in Dead Hose state park and that night after we arrived we took a hike to Dead Horse Point to see the sun set. On the way home we walked on the road which was a good choice because it was dark and half way back Dad’s light broke. So we sang as loud as we could the whole way home.

      The next day we went to Arches National Park, they have over 2,000 known arches. We hiked to Delicate Arch first, it was a fun hike we went up a huge rock and then walked around an edge to get to the arch. The boys loved it…Mom and I (Alise) didn’t, especially when you could walk out to under the arch and see a sheer dropoff. On the way back we stopped to see some petroglyphs. We then went back and had another picnic in the shade which was so nice. Then we went and saw the windows arches (they looked like glasses), double arch, landscape arch (longest arch, it was as long as a football field!) and other views along a scenic drive. After a full day at the park we headed into town and ate dinner at Moab Diner, as Mom’s birthday meal. For dessert we walked along the town and got soft serve yogurt. Garrett got some boxers that said, ”Beware: Natural Gas” and Dad and Garrett got matching shirts saying, “Cuts…Guts…and Sore Butts… Riding doesn’t come for free.”

     In the morning Garrett and Dad went on an early mountain bike ride. Then we went to Canyonlands, which we thoroughly enjoyed and decided we liked it better than Arches because there was so much more variety. Our first hike went out to a point with a whole view of the canyon on our way there we saw a ton of lizards over 20! They were all different, some didn’t have tails. Then on our way back I (Alise) saw a snake which we later learned was a western whiptail snake. It was really cute and small! Then we had a picnic looking over the edge.  The White Rim overlook is where we went next; it was almost a 360 degree view of the canyon. After that we hiked to upheaval dome which had green rocks on the bottom. As we were there a storm approached with lightning so we went back down and visited the Nature center, and got our junior ranger badges. The Aztec Butte hikenwas our next adventure to see the Pueblo Indian grain storage buildings; we got to climb up a steep cliff to get there. We drove back to the campsite and went on a family mountain biking trail. Which was greatly enjoyed all around, Nathan loved it a lot because he got pulled along by Dad. J He decided we could do that any time! It was Mom’s FIRST Mountain Bike trail ride and she did great with the rocks and drops!

    This morning Mom, Dad, and I hiked along the Bighorn overlook trail before heading out again. On the trail we got lost twice and once we went completely off the trail and learned not to follow the trail most traveled because it sometimes leads to a dead end. We are now on the road heading towards Kodachrome Basin Sate Park and on the way we are driving through Capitol Reef National Park.

    Still struggling with limited internet (sending this while at a gas station in Hanksville, Utah. Look it up. An intersection in a huge swath of desert. Will post pictures as we can.