Colorado National Monument

Monday, August 8

This morning we packed up the RV and (sadly) returned the rental Tahoe. We were out by 8:45 (A NEW RECORD!!) and hit the road for Colorado National Monument. We were doing great up until the monument when we had to pass through some VERY small tunnels. Dad and I had to unhitch the car and take it into the tunnel before the RV so we could block traffic on the other side.

We finally pulled into the campsite around 12:30. Once the RV was settled we decided that we (Mom, Dad, Papa, Evan and I) would hike around Colorado National Monument. I packed up my fanny pack and we all threw a water bottle in the backpack with a map before setting out.

We walked to the hiking trail in the rain… it was kinda nice because it cooled things off for us. When we finally got to the trail, there was a park ranger there to give a 30 minute lesson on the geology of the national monument. He was a very good presenter and answered all of our questions about the area.

After his presentation, we hiked a trail that would eventually lead us to the visitor center. We had an amazing view of the rocks around us and we were up high in the canyon. Evan and I had fun throwing rocks over the edge and waiting to see how long it would take for them to hit the ground.

The motor home looks mighty small

Dad drives the beast

Are you sure we can squeeze through that hole?

Happy Campers!!

Up on the roof

The milky way!

The morning disaster

Once we finished the hike, Mimi picked us up at the visitors center and drove us back to the RV so we could get our National Parks Passports. Papa, Evan and I drove back down to the visitors center to get our stamps, and then Papa let me drive around the park to see all the pretty sights. He and Evan kept oohing and ahhing as we would round the corners and I’d be like ‘Please oh please let me keep this car on the road.’

We came back home to a lovely dinner that Mimi prepared; corn, lima beans, mac n cheese and pork chops.

After dinner, Mom, Dad, Evan and I rode over to the independence overlook to watch the sunset over the canyon, we got there a little late but it was still gorgeous. I also met the cutest little bunny. His name is now Theodore and I took about 20 pictures of him so Papa better put at least 2 here (He’s in charge of the pictures as long as I take care of the writing.)

When we got back, Mom, Papa and I went for a walk around the campsite and got to pet the cutest little dog ever (her name was Scooter.)

Dad and I are planning to go out tonight and try again with pictures of the stars. Last night they didn’t look great

Moab

Saturday, August 6

Today was another driving day. We got up and packed up the RV to finally head to Moab. We left around 9 and got into the campground around 2.

Once we set up the RV, I took full advantage of this weird shelter thing to hang up 3 eno hammocks, 1 hanging eno chair, 2 reclining chairs and the picnic table under it. We sat out there reading and listening to music while we waited for mom and dad to get here.

They finally pulled in at about 6:30… we all sat outside and caught up before heading to downtown Moab for Pasta Jay’s Italian restaurant. After supper we walked around downtown to do a little shopping; while we were down there Dad read a sign announcing a star gazing presentation at Arches National Park. We decided to go, so we drove to arches and sat through the presentation on other worlds and exoplanets. The telescope portion of the presentation was cut out because it was overcast so we went home early and got to bed around 10:45. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot about how NASA is exploring space.

Sunday, August 7

Now today was a great day. We woke up early (for me like 6:00 early cause I fell of my sleeping mat that was already on the floor… sleeping arrangements were a little wonky because Mom and Dad joined us.

Once we all were ready to go, we piled in Dad’s rental Tahoe and headed towards Arches National Park. At the Park we stopped at several overlooks, hiked to the double arch and climbed inside the opening for a while. We ended the day with a hike to the landscape arch - the longest natural arch in North America.

Evan has the many-ton rock in his hand - sort of!

Double Arch

Landscape Arch

Peek-a-boo

Sure hope that rock doesn't fall!!!

Making our own arch

When we finished the 1.5 mile hike from the landscape arch, we piled back in the car and drove to the overlook of the delicate arch... we had to climb about a billion steps to see it.

Those arches were truly beautiful. There have been 2000+ registered in the Park and we only saw about 30. Then we also got close to the fins that the arches developed from on some of our hikes, they’re narrow slabs of sandstone, and when the center is eroded, an arch is formed.

After Arches we were all exhausted so we came back to the RV to have lunch, chill out and edit pictures before our Jeep ride that evening.

When we were sitting around looking at pictures, Papa realized he didn’t get his National Parks Passport Book stamped, so I drove him back to the park to get it stamped and he got me a passport too! My very first stamp was Arches (but letting the record show- we also went to Rocky Mtn. National Park this week.)

After dinner around 6:30 we went to the campsite check in to wait for Dan Mick to pick us up in the Jeep we would be in for our sunset Jeep tour. I’m not completely sure how to describe this tour. We took these modified Jeeps (bigger tires and suspension systems) out to these huge rocks in Moab that were smooth, but would come up out of nowhere and go straight up. Our ride started out with a wall of rock. Literally 80 degree angle facing up. Dan took us straight up that rock, and at one point it was only 2 wheels on the ground.

Stairway to Heaven

From there it only got worse as he took us up “The Intimidator.” This was a bridge of rock that was very thin and even more uneven. I’m pretty sure that at some point on that rock we all got a little nervous.

Then Dan took us up and down all sorts of rocks, speeding around dirt curves in between the obstacles. After about an hour of craziness, he stopped with the 3 other Jeeps in our tour where they taught us about the dinosaur tracks in the area. These were real tracks from real dinosaurs. We learned about the size of the dinosaur, and acted out a fight scene between a brachiosaurus and allosaurus based on the tracks.

We drove around for another hour - our last stop being “Hell’s Revenge” (you can imagine) before stopping to watch sunset over the cliffs bordering the Colorado river. They gave us brownies, strawberries and whipped cream before taking a picture standing on the wheels of 2 Jeeps.

We drove around for about another 45 minutes before stopping in the parking lot (it’s now 9:45) and stargazing for about 20 minutes.

We got back to the RV around 10:30. Dad and I packed up the camera and tripod to take out to arches (one of the declared dark spots in the United States) to TRY and take pictures of the stars. We got a few but they all came out black so that was a bummer.

This is the only one that kinda turned out, but as you can see, there was some major editing to bring out the stars. 

I think the whole group was finally in bed by 11:45 (1:45 Mom and Dad’s time).

On the road to Moab

Thursday, August 4

Leaving Snow Mountain Ranch

The ladies hanging out while Papa drives

Today was more of a transition day. We got up bright and early to pack up the RV and get it ready for our next adventure. We were on the road by 9, after stopping at the YMCA store for a postcard.

We hit the road for real this time and drove til around 2, this included stopping for gas and to make lunch (cause we can make lunch on the road.) This drive was BEAUTIFUL. We drove through three 10,000 ft. passes and Glenwood Canyon. This canyon’s space was totally maximized. It’s very narrow at the bottom, but the builders were able to fit 2 highways, the river (with rafting sites) and train tracks in a VERY NARROW space. It was beautiful because everywhere we looked there were just walls of rock.

Interstate Highway 70 through Glenwood Canyon.  The Eastern lane is underneath the Western lane.

Eisenhower Tunnel 

Evan celebrates at Rifle Gap State Park

When we finally got to Rifle (yes it’s an actual town) we started looking for things to do. I found out that their county fair had Josh Turner playing (major country superstar) so Papa and I went downtown to try to scalp some tickets for the show. We didn’t have any luck so we ended up driving through town just checking it out because it was so different than anything we’ve ever seen.

When we got back home we found Mimi and Evan sitting outside looking at the million dollar view of the mountains and a lake playing 20 questions so we joined them and had supper.

All in all, not an eventful day, but definitely a good one.