Arches National Park

Moab
We arrived last night in one piece after stopping in Silverthorne to pick up a few necessities (boots & socks for Andi and a really cute long sleeve t-shirt that I just couldn't live without) and dinner in Grand Junction. For future reference, if you're ever in Grand Junction try to make it before 9pm if you want dinner- otherwise you're choices are Denny's or Applebee's. That aside, the trip was very pleasant and many mysteries of the universe were solved.

Our cabin at Morris' Last Resort in Moab is comfortable - but basic. The best thing about it is the deck out the back where we had a lovely cup of coffee (Andi brought the cafetiere and freshly ground Lavazza - of course). It also has internet access which is a distinct bonus.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky this morning - a pleasant situation which lasted most of the day. Unfortunately we both forgot to put on suncream so look a little racoonish now. Ah, the traumas of traveling in a convertible.

Properly watered we headed off for the day. First stop - the store to pick up some provisions for a picnic then straight on to the Arches. Had we been thinking we would have stopped for gas before heading into the park - but at least it occurred to us before getting too far so a quick trip back into town and we were on our way.

Into the Arches National Park - this place is truly awesome. Around every bend is another amazing, beautiful and awe inspiring rock formation in scales difficult to comprehend. There are several places to stop along the scenic drive for short walks and amazing views. We pretty much did every one that didn't involve a major hike.

We stopped at Panorama point for lunch and had a lovely in car picnic (it's just like being outside - but the seats are more comfortable than sitting on rocks) and then made our way out to Landscape, Pine Tree and Tunnel arches for about an hour hike (this is a fairly impressive amount of hiking for Andi).

One note about the Arches - there are a lot - I mean heaps of rock formations that look like penises. And once one of them looks like one, well, it's red car syndrome and there they are bloody everywhere. In honor of this phenomenon we had dinner at Eddie McStiffs - which was a very "local character" place with decent food but rather poor service.

Finished with the Arches we decided to take a drive up Scenic Byway 128 - it was spectacular. Much like driving through the Grand Canyon (I would imagine - although I've never been in the Grand Canyon because you have to hike in and, as mentioned before, Andi's not much of a hiker - but I'm working on him) with 1000ft walls on either side and following the Colorado river. These are the scenes of many a western film and you truly feel like you're about to have a cowboy ride up and say 'howdy partner'.

After making our way up the 44 mile scenic route we made it back into Moab for another scenic drive up the Potash Road - Potash, for those of you who don't know - is a type of fertilizer made from extracting some sort of mineral from under the ground (as you can surely tell - I, myself am an expert on the matter). This was another spectacular drive with fabulous cliffs and rock formations - and with the added bonus of some dinosaur tracks. We had to scramble up over some rocks to see them - but they were pretty cool.

Well - that's it for day one. We had a great day, saw heaps and had loads of fun.


Cya Tomorrow.