We woke up about 6:00 a.m. On vacation. It was actually not bad. Packed up the tent, took showers and we were on the road by 7:00.
First thing we did was drive on the Valley of the Gods road, which was a dirt road which took us back into a very scenic area. The views were breathtaking. A lot of movies have been filmed in this area because of the wonderful desert rock monuments that are there. We had fun looking at the formations and deciding what they looked like. John was very sweet and stopped every time I asked him to for pictures. I tried not to ask too often.
Next we went to Natural Bridges. We stopped at the visitor's center, where I got my National Parks passport and first stamp! We talked to the Rangers, and the first thing the young man said was that the first two hikes were rather strenuous and that the third was a little easier, but if we wanted to just go to the overlooks we could see the three bridges from there. John explained that we had in fact been training for Half Dome so these hikes would be fine for us. We did go to the lookout of the first one - Sipapu, then hiked the second one (Kachina) down to the bottom. It was 600 feet elevation change and 1.5 miles round trip.
At the bottom of Kachina we went around to see the canyon and enjoyed the echo. We saw a few petroglyphs. The altitude made me stop a few times, but when I got back to the top I said "Now, what Ranger Boy!" John laughed.
The third bridge, Owachoma was a shorter, easier hike. We did not go all the way down but instead just far enough to see sky through the arch and take some pictures.
Next we filled our water bottles and headed to Canyonlands! We went specifically to the Needles portion and stopped for another stamp of the ol' Passport. We watched the film but there was this weird guy who was filming the film, who stood right behind us and even leaned on me a few times. Personal space dude!
We drove past Newspaper Rock which had a lot of petroglyphs, then followed the advice of the handout the rangers gave us. We drove to the very end of the road to see the Needles from there and then turned back and stopped at the Potholes and took the hike. We were able to see the Needles, the Maze and the Island in the Sky areas of Canyonlands from that viewpoint. Then we took a scenic dirt road to Elephant Rock which showed us a whole lot of the needles and other formations. Way cool!
Finally we headed to Moab and our KOA. The site they gave us had NO shade, so we very politely but firmly asked for a different site. Luckily for us, we got the one girl of the two who was willing to move us. We got a wonderful site with lots of shade. We went swimming in a VERY cold pool, which was so refreshing. I'm not saying John screamed like a girl when he got in. Nope, not saying that. John made tuna steaks for dinner which were so very yummy. He is such a great cook.
Dark came quick. Tomorrow - Arches and Dead Horse Point (for the sunset)!
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