Our Journey West...Day 13 - Colorado River Adventure

Another day in Moab, and another morning to sleep in late.  If you need any breakfast, there are still some hashbrowns in the fridge.  Our rafting adventure was not until later in the afternoon, so after getting ready this morning, we set off to visit the shopping area in Moab.  We did quite a bit of shopping, but it seemed like each store had about the same stuff.  But it was a different thing to do, and Mom was definitely happy, so we shopped until lunch time, and went in Zax's on the main strip for lunch.  

After lunch we headed over for our rafting adventure.  We were fitted for our life vests, and sat and waited for the buses to depart.  On our bus trip along the Colorado River with steep drops down, the tour guide told us about a lady that had once been a bus driver, but drove so fast and dangerously that she wrecked into the River.   She was sent to prison for this driving, and later became a driver for the prison system and had a similar wreck with convicts inside.  Later, that same lady was released from prison and could not get a job anywhere, so the rafting adventure place was kind enough to offer her a job, and then the tour guide announced that she was our new driver of the bus.  Big set up for a very small laugh, but funny nevertheless.  But the funnier thing was Belle, Ruby, and Davis later telling Magan in all seriousness that they weren't sure if the "prison lady" should be driving our bus.  

On the water, the rapids were rather mild, but the views all around us were amazing.  Me and the boys did get to jump out during one set of rapids, and I realized quickly that I don't need to be in any rapids.  I am not good in the water, and this was my first time in what most would not even call rapids, but I was having a hard time breathing.  Anyway, if anyone is counting the horrible deaths that happen in my dreams, number one should come as no surprise, it is a fall from great heights, and easily at number two is drowning.  And if I ever fall off a cliff into a pool where I drown, please read this at my eulogy.  It will be tragic, but should get a laugh, even tho it might also take a big set up.  

After the rapids tho, it was great to get out and swim in the cold water.  Ruby and Belle jumped out, and while Ruby held onto the boat, Belle did come out and swim with me for a bit.  That was probably the favorite part was being out of the boat in the water.  But in the boat, we saw deer, and mountains all around, we learned about Hannah Lacy of Northern CA that once met the guy that climbed in the movie Free Solo.  She also showed us "Gummi Bear" mountain that is in the background of a group shot below, and told us how she had climbed to the top.  Not free soloing!  And just like that we were getting out of the boat and back on the bus for a ride home.  Ha, we did capture a picture of Davis' blowout shoe below as well.  and that is him down in the water chilling while everyone was waiting for the bus.  

Back at the house, the kids wanted more water time, so Magan took them over to the pool.  Granddaddy and I went to tell them we were going out for pizza, and it was so funny because I was yelling thru the fence and Magan never heard me or saw me, but the kids relayed the message to her.  They were so excited to tell me later that mom had gotten in the pool with them.  So kids, one day if you are reading this, and you have lost your love for swimming pools (no, I am not talking to Davis, as I don't think that is a possibility), but your kids want you to jump in...jump in.  They will love it.  

And our last night in Moab ended with some weird local pizza (one was pistachio) and a movie "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" that has never caught my attention.  I simply can not watch that movie start to finish.  But it cracks me up to watch Sam watching it.  That funny wheezy laugh just keeps going during this movie.  Somewhere in this day we also heard Ruby's classic never ending "Water Bottle Song", which still has us singing "RUBY, don't forget your water water bottle".  

Our Journey West...Day 12 - Arches and Canyonlands

 We woke up in our own room for the first time on this vacation.  Magan and I had one room upstairs, Sam and Davis took the second bedroom, Ruby and Belle had the upstairs den sofa bed, and Granny and Granddaddy had the bedroom downstairs.  This VRBO home was a slight upscale from the previous night's tent.  And one Ruby kept saying "This is my favorite hotel".  One thing about sleeping late with Granddaddy is that when you do get up, you have coffee from McDonalds, breakfast and a super big pile of hashbrowns in the kitchen when you come downstairs.  I grabbed some pics of the amazing views out of the windows of this home...it looked like they were photoshopped or just a painting on the wall.  Even the shower upstairs had a window with an amazing view.  

I had read and been told that if you don't get to Arches by 9AM, then don't come until later in the afternoon.  And I positively didn't want to be anywhere on this morning by 9AM, so we had planned to just visit Canyonlands NP first, then moving to Arches in the afternoon.  But as we were leaving town, Arches did not look to bad, so we turned in to see that Arches was closed...full...no more guests at this time.  Can you believe that?  National Park is closed.  Anyway, that wasn't our plan anyway, but we quickly got back on the road and drove out to Canyonlands.  Surely it is not closed, then we passed the NP sign saying we will get that picture later, turned the corner, to a long long line of cars waiting to get in the NP.  Ha, but at least it was just one line, and no luck of me picking the wrong line.  I don't think the wait to get in was too long, maybe 45 minutes, but time for Davis to explore the bushes.  And about the time he went out to explore, the line starting moving.  

Inside the park, we went to the visitor center, where you could tell immediately we were not in CA anymore, as there appeared to be no limits to the numbers inside these places.  We saw our first bathrooms that cater to the Easterners that apparently squat over a hole to do their business.  Canyonlands was nice, and a cool place to see while we waited for Arches.  It helped us check off another NP, and the girls earned another badge.  The main lookout was hear at the front of the park, but then we drove out to Mesa Arch, which was a short hike from the road.  Maybe not as cool as some of the arches we saw later in the day, the picture showing beneath the arch was amazing to behold.  It was easy to see why this picture ends up in so many of the brochures we saw.  

After Canyonlands, we were watching the front gate cam, and it looked like cars were moving in again, so we headed that way, and even caught a picture of Blackberry (the Black Van...third one back) at the front gate NPS camera as we were heading into Arches NP.  The weather was perfect on this day, overcast with no sun to worry about, but we did have to work around some rain, which in hindsight was pretty fun, and made the day a lot more exciting.  We began our tours at the balanced rock, and I think took way to many pictures that looked like we were holding the rock...but it was a requirement, as that is what all the park rangers told us they do in their spare time.   

I don't remember the name of all the arches, but I think we began with the window arches, and started to get some rain on this tour.  Magan got her favorite picture of Granny and Granddaddy on this tour, catching them in a perfect un-posed glance (do you believe that?)  at the arches.  We then decided to skip the double arch, even tho it looked the coolest, but it was raining, and it was a long walk out to them.  We drove out to the Garden of the Gods (was that the name?) or something like that.  We didn't see much, it looked like this would have been a great area if you had time to walk for a while, and did not have rain coming down on you.  

Then came our amazing visit to the Delicate Arch.  We did not want to take the 2 mile hike out to it, but drove instead to the viewpoint.  I had bought a shirt for the Delicate Arch, as this is what seemed to be what "the people" talked about.  And we headed up the trail to the "viewpoint" (I am going to now use quotes as the "view" to which we went to a "point" to see, was humorous).  As we started the trail, we started to feel rain, but at this point in our day, we had to either see things or not see things, and we knew it could not be too far to the "viewpoint".  Well it was much farther than we thought, and since Granny had done this before, she knew about the "view" and her and Granddaddy just waited in the car.  We all made it finally UP to the "point" where Sam and I just started busting out laughing, and were joined in that same laughter as each of the others joined us at the "viewpoint" to look out the delicate arch standing proudly at a distance that made it look about the size of my thumb (the top part with the nail, not the full finger).  Umbrellas in hand, we did get a family picture, Magan and I also got a selfie, and if you zoom in, you just might see the delicate arch.  It became a fun running joke tho for the rest of the trip...as when Davis put together a nano-block version of the delicate arch, and we all thought it was built to size.  Oh well, on to our last arch, which was everyones favorite.  Featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, we made it back to the Double Arch.  This was a fun place to end where all the kids were able to climb around and explore.  I made it up to where Davis was at, then realized that at 41, getting down was not as easy as he did hopping around with no shoes on.  We did see a little boy slip to his butt, his dad laugh, then the dad slip to his butt at the same place.  

On our way out, as we did at Canyonlands, we got the pictures at the NP signs which is a must (except for King's Canyon or Yosemite who apparently don't like to have signs).  And finally got the girls what they have been waiting for...Mexican.  But we ordered the wrong cheese dip as an appetizer.  And we had a really "happy" waiter that seemed like he was ready for us to leave the whole time.  Oh well, out of the meals we have had, this one was one of the better ones.  Later in the car I remember seeing Granny's hat beside me and almost started talking to Granny before I realized it was just on the headrest.  Me and Ruby thought it was funny, so maybe she will remember out little laugh together.