Arches National Park

On Thursday we all said our goodbyes early in the morning. Barbara and Richard had to get back so they took off while we finished up packing and closing the house. It really was a great place to stay, so close to town yet it had such an amazing view and it felt like you were a bit more remote. Plus we loved the house- thank goodness for vrbo.com there is always a good deal to be found there. The only problem was we could have stayed another week! I stopped to take a few pictures before we left.

Kate thought the guys on the wall were creepy, but it was cool that there was a loft up above them.

Ollie seemed to like the place :)

View of the outside



View from the back patio

Living room

Kitchen and dining

Lots of cool details

They even put a bit of Moab into the shower

Right before we closed the house up Matt went in to go to the bathroom and minutes later while he was on the toilet I heard him practically scream. He had discovered a GINORMOUS centipede on the wall a few feet away from him. Here is a video of my manly man getting rid of the thing. Haha, I'm pretty sure we both scream in it, but the house is now a safer place without it. We might need to let the owner know they need some Bulwark Pest Control!

Since we didn't have to rush back, and we knew it would probably be a while before we got back to Moab we decided to take a drive through Arches National Park which is just a few miles out of Moab. The weather was amazing, it was a bit rainy, but that also meant it was cool. Suddenly we were no longer in 100 degree weather it was around 68 degrees which made for a pleasant day for hiking around. We didn't do the entire park, just hit some of the popular arches that were an easy walking distance from parking. It was pretty breathtaking and I was so glad we hadn't missed the opportunity to be there. Plus it was just fun the three of us driving around taking pictures and short hikes.

Our first stop, we got Ollie out and ran through the rain to get this picture.

Pretty amazing to see the rock sculptures

Didn't even have to get out of the car to see this one.

Took a hike up to the North Window



Ollie was his happy self loving life!

Some perspective of how big the arches are



Sitting in the north window there are great views of other arches



My cute boys

Another arch looking from the north window

They call it the north window because there is a south window on the other side! I couldn't get a great shot of both though.



I was intrigued by this artistic dead tree



Delicate Arch

Tired little boy

The last arch we made it to was Delicate Arch, the symbol of Moab. You can actually hike to it, but it is a bit of a hike so we opted for a lookout that was only a short walking distance. Good choice since by the time we got there Ollie was fast asleep. Even when we got him out for the short hike he didn't wake up. After that we headed out of the park happy to have spent the morning with my boys and to be headed home. We did stop in Moab for lunch and hit some crazy rain that was nearly a flash flood within minutes of coming down, but we drove out of it and 8 hours later we arrived safe and sound back in the heat of Arizona! Farewell Moab, I hope I get to see you again.