Family Trip to Arches 5-27-2010

Last Thursday, we got up early and headed to Arches National Monument which is only about a two hour drive for us. We first hiked the upper viewpoint to Delicate Arch. We wanted to hike to the arch, but we weren't sure how the kids would do. This is really our first hiking trip as a family. The kids did pretty well hiking the half-mile up trail to see the arch. I on the other hand fell behind partly because I am packing some extra 'baby weight' literally and partly because I would stop and take pictures. It also was about 95 degrees and the wind was blowing pretty hard. We all made it though and enjoyed taking in the beautiful view.

After lunch, the next hike we went on was around The Windows. We took the long route which was just over a mile around. There were loads of other hikers and a few were amazed to see Jaxton climbing and hiking like the other kids. He hiked the whole way we didn't have to carry him at all. At one point along the trail Adam got out a tool he uses at work to measure wind speed, humidity, and temperature. The wind speed was 35mph. Crazy! Nearly enough to knock both he and I off our feet. Needless to say it was difficult wearing our hats.

Adam and the older kids also hiked around Balanced Rock which only took about 15 min. I was wiped out and Jaxton was also getting sleepy so we stayed in the van where it was nice and cool.

By this time I think we had all had enough hiking for the day. We decided we would have to explore the rest of the park another time. My friend Kim works at Dead Horse Point so we drove up there to find her. She ended up not working up there that day so we went and found her preparing for a lecture she was giving at the Info Center in Moab. She gave us a quick run through of her slide show and we learned a little about Dead Horse Point. It was good to see Kim and will have to visit her another time when she can go hiking with us. All in all it was a fun trip.

Surprisingly, none of the kids slept on the way home, but all went right to bed and slept in Friday. Not bad for the first day of summer vacation!

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