Day 2: Arches NP and a bit o' Canyonlands again

I think I finally have our Arches pictures narrowed down.  Even though I keep going back and adding to my list.  : )

Arches was my favorite part of our Moab trip.  Don't get me wrong, the whole area is wonderful, but there was just something extra special there.

So away we go!

Brennan...gotta love him...I think he would have been happy just to stay at the visitors center and play with the critter statues all day.  He also go to pick out a new book in the gift shop, so he was a happy camper.



There were no mediocre sections to see at Arches.  Every way you looked there was something awesome.
This was the view entering the park, looking back towards Moab.


Welcome to Arches!


Courthouse Towers


Petrified Sand Dunes


Balanced Rock


Devil's Garden


Tunnel Arch


Pine Tree Arch


Checking out the architecture. : )


More of the walk on the Devil's Garden Trail.


Landscape Arch


One of Brennan's favorite parts: Eating sandwiches in the back of the Jeep.

When we went to California last summer with Nana and Papaw, we brought food along for lunches, too.  Brennan got to sit on the back of Papaw's truck then, so sitting in the back of the Jeep on this vacation was a must.  The kid doesn't forget anything!

The Fiery Furnace


The Delicate Arch

The hike to this arch was like 3 miles.  After Jason carried Brennan on his shoulders for the past couple hours, there was no way we were walking up there.  We took one of the 4x4 trails that run below the arch and I got this shot.  This is the arch that you see on Utah license plates, and on postcards and stuff.

La Sal Mountains


Walking up to the North Window Arch.


Looks more like an eye than a window.



Trying not to get blown away!


The South Window


Both of the Windows


The Turret Arch

Or as Brennan called it: The Big Castle.

Walking to the Double Arch


I think this one was my favorite.



View from the Double Arch trail.


So at this point, we left Arches, and went back to Canyonlands.  The sunsets there are supposed to be really amazing to see.

On the way Brennan decided to take a little snooze.

OK, well I don't think he actually decided to, but rather he was just plain worn out and crashed.

We were all really tired, and it took forever to get there.

I got this picture on the way in.


The we went to the Green River Overlook to take pictures there...

...insert really cool sunset picture here...
Ohhh Ahhh!

Yeah, the taking of the really cool sunset picture went like this:

When we got to the parking lot, the dash thermometer thing said it was 40 degrees.  So we put on our coats, and then we opened the doors, and promptly began freezing our patooties off!  Brrr!!!!  It was more like 40 below!  The wind was coming across the parking lot like a hurricane was coming! 

So did we pack it in?  No of course not,  we woke up a warm and sleeping Brennan, put his coat on, plus wrapped him in a blanket, and took off for the overlook.  Now Brennan, being none to happy that we woke him up, and even more unhappy that we dragged (drug?) him into a blizzard, was wailing by the time we got there.  I did take a couple pictures, (that I'm sure are all out of focus because I was shivering too much to hold the camera still), but the sun had not set yet, so they weren't much different than what I took the day before.  We could have waited for hypothermia to set in, but there were a few other people there who were braving the frigid cold and waiting patiently for a spectacular sunset.  We felt kind of rude, since we were the only ones there with a screaming banshee, so we ended up leaving.

I did end up getting this picture on the way out.

and I didn't have to get frostbite in the process.
Bonus. : )