Adventureland, a.k.a. Moab, Utah.

The next stop on our trip was Moab, Utah.  Here was a familiar place, one to which I'd hopped away with friends many a weekend during my college years at BYU.  It's basically a high-risk sport lover's mecca.  Rock-climbing, mountain biking, white-water-rafting, hiking - you name it, Moab's got it.  We stuck to hiking.  As soon as we set up camp (in the 90 degree heat) we took a dip in the campground pool and retired for the night.  Can I just say how much more I enjoy tent camping when I'm not frantically checking to see if all four of my children are not suffering from hypothermia in the middle of the night?  Sure, the trade off is that when you want to take a mid-afternoon breather, it's torture, but boy, did we sleep effortlessly at night.  My kind of camping. 

Now, if you've ever been to Moab and spent any time in Arches National Park, you know that you have to hit up a famous Utah icon, Delicate Arch.  People come from around the world to see this anomalous formation.  I've been there many times.  Enough times to know that the only I was going to get my kids to tackle the 3.2 mile roundtrip hike was if we woke up at the crack of dawn to beat the heat.  I warned and forewarned my kids that this was going to happen and that it was going to be worth it.  Most of them were compliant.  Except for the 6-year-old, who couldn't shake herself out of slumber.  So I dressed her myself.  When she finally came to, she remarked, "Mom, how did my clothes get on?"  Yep, she was definitely out.

We didn't see a ton of kids out that morning - we were the smart ones.  We made it up the mountain and back before it reached 85 degrees.  And laughed at all the young families who were just starting the ascent.  

 

                                                                Spectacular, isn't it?

 Tim and Anna loved setting up these goofy shots of one person or another supporting an arch or something.  More to come...

Like this one.

 

 

Many of our hikes resembled this stretch: steep cliff on one side, sheer drop-off on the other.  Combine that with squirrely kids who have no healthy fear of death and it makes for a mom with hypertension.

 

 

                                                  Ahhh, shade!  Measured in square inches.

                                                        How Eve spent many a hike.

Silly girl.

Just can't get enough.

                                                   Arches at sunset.  Nothin' like it.

                                      Spectacular end to day one.  Hiked till we dropped.