6/30: Arches

Arches National Park had been something we were looking forward to since we began planning this trip. We were disappointed when the walks and viewpoints at the far end of the park road were nothing spectacular. It was hot, so the lack of seeing arches became discouraging quickly. (Most of the arches that are photographed are a long hike from the main road!). We did get to see one small, high up arch on our first walk. The path allowed us to go to right in front of the arch and touch the rocks around it. It was cool, even though it was not what we anticipated.

(Ok looking at it now, it's more impressive than I thought at the time!! All in perspective!)

We never actually saw the arch on our next walk. BUT we got to see some adorable kids, and Alyssa got to climb on a ledge to get cool pictures.

*This was higher than it appears!

Thankfully, right when we were about to give up on seeing any big arches, we came across arches worth seeing! We weren't going to hike very far, but the intrigue of getting closer to the Turret Arch kept us going...and then going...and climbing...until we were on the rocks directly under the arch!! A wonderful conclusion to our time in this national park. :)

After Arches National Park, we drove to Grand Junction, Colorado to spend the night. It was the afternoon of attempted errands. ;) We tried to get our oil change done, but the Honda was too busy. We tried to replace something with a warranty, but were told we had to go someone else to get it. We tried to have Alyssa's iPad fixed, but they couldn't figure out what was wrong. So we decided to give up on finishing and just got to Buffalo Wild Wings for their Tuesday night special on wings! Then spent the rest of our evening in the hotel watching a TV show. Definitely not the day we had planned on!