Arches National Park/Moab Trip- May 2012

I have wanted to take my daughter to Arches National Park for a while now. So I had finished up school, and we had a weekend free, so we planned a family trip to Moab. Friday was a pretty smooth drive in. We stopped at the CEU Dinosaur Museum in Price, Utah, which is on HWY 6, so we figured our daughter would love to see it. After taking a step back millions of years in time, seeing the Mammoth they have there, and the Utah Raptor which was found near there, we headed on to our camp in Moab. A pretty nice drive in, not too much traffic for the construction that was on HWY 191. Arrived at our camp, and were greeted with fierce winds, which were creating a small dust storm. My wife's parents rented a cabin near our camp, so we dropped off our daughter and headed over to fight the winds setting up our camp. Building a tent in 50 mph winds is not treat. After getting everything up and tied down, we retreated to the cabin until the winds died down. Sunset came and the last of the micro-burst moved out of the area and the skies cleared. I think after 4 hours on the road and all the excitement of the day, we were all tired, and we all wanted to rest.

Saturday morning was a mild one, and the sun was out, not a cloud in the sky. The ladies were taking a boat trip on the Colorado to start the day, and so me and my father in law decided to go on a hike. Several places were discussed, but we finally decided on Corona Arch. At the trail head, there was a guy flying parrots around the area. It was crazy, these birds were awesome, something you don't see often in the desert. The hike was nice on the way in, a bit hot in the sun, but some nice shade, and no wind, which I was happy about. My father in law was really fun to hike with, we had never gone on one together. That evening we had dinner, and went and got shirts made which was a tradition with my wife's father. I got the wise men from Horseshoe Canyon pictograph on a shirt, was pretty happy about that. After dinner, everyone was tired, but I was in need of shooting some night photography.

I settled on a star trail image of Skyline Arch in Arches National Park. It was pretty awesome in there, to be all alone in that section, not another person around. It was like you could hear the fins slowly crumbling away to make more arches. Sunday was break camp and head back in the park so my daughter could finish her Jr. Ranger badge she was trying to do. I figured the best place for this was the Devils Garden Trail. We took her into the first section of the trail, not going past Landscape Arch. We did not have a lot of time, and we wanted her to get her badge before we did the long drive back to Salt Lake. It was a hot one, no clouds and how I remember Moab. My daughter loved the place, she was just in awe of what she was seeing. She especially loved Pine Tree Arch, because there was lots of sand, and that you could be in the arch. Alas as every fun weekend does, this one came to an end. But a good one, my daughter earned her Jr. Ranger badge, and even stumped the Ranger who swore her in with a flower she found in the park. Family trips are fun, not as extreme as most of my adventures go, but just as fun. More family fun to come this summer.