Arches

The Friday after Thanksgiving we headed over to Moab to enjoy a few days outside. On the way we stopped by Fisher Towers in Castle Valley and scampered around a bit to diffuse the grumpiness and punching going on in the back seat. It was beautiful!

 

The boys loved climbing up the sandstone rocks. They did this all weekend. I tried not to have a heart attack.

 

They had a lot of fun together.

 

Then we continued on to Arches and hiked up to Delicate Arch, that icon of southern Utah. It was a perfect family hike in perfect weather.

 

 

That's Nephi and the boys under the arch.

 

I couldn't resist a few portraits with the beautiful background, but the lighting wasn't quite right. Isaac was in no mood to have his picture taken by this point.

 

 

We thought it was a bit too cold to camp with the boys, so we got a hotel room which was the real highlight of the trip for them. They swam for two hours on Friday night, and another hour and a half the next morning. Nephi hung right with them, because he's that kind of a Dad. We got some Thai takeout for dinner, and then the boys watched Aladdin on TV and conked out.

 

The next morning we went to Devils Garden in Arches and hiked to Landscape and Double O Arches. The hike included lots of amazing scenery and sandstone hideouts for the boys. No one careened off anything and bashed their heads open, so I was happy. I think it must have been my constant nagging to "slow down!" and "be careful!" and "don't climb any higher!!!" that kept everyone safe.

 

 

 

 

By the end of this hike Nephi was doing more than his share of transporting small children, so we called it good and headed home.

 

It was a fantastic way to spend a few days. It's great living only two and a half hours from Moab; hopefully we'll get lots of opportunities to go back.