Arches and Canyonlands in One Day

After our epic road trip to Vegas, Imperial Beach and Mexico, not to mention Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Bryce, the Grand Canyon and Zion, anything seemed possible.

It would have been insanity to leave Arches and Canyonlands on the table, right? Nobody dared say no to the idea of doing both parks in one day. In fact, Chloé, when I suggested leaving at 4 am, countered with,  "Why not 3 am?"

The student becomes the master! Challenge accepted!

By 7:30 in the morning, there was some fine dining happening in the parking lot of the Arches National Park Visitor Center.

An hour after that, we were at the famed Delicate Arch. It was a short, tough hike, and so worth it.

We stayed in the shadow of the arch for at least an hour. If you make the effort to get there, you'd better enjoy It! I felt a lot of satisfaction that we'd gotten there. It's on our license plate. How could we not show our friends?

Speaking of friends, I accosted more Chinese tourists this summer than any other American. After spending 4 years in violin making school working and living with Chinese guys, I can recognize Mandarin. And every time I do, I whip out a picture of Golda Gold and start telling people that she's moving to Hong Kong. I was eyeing this woman as a target as Araceli and I took selfies.

I like this picture that I took by accident.

Sofía posted a picture like this with the caption, "Getting up early is our thing." So true! Everything is 4 hours away from Kaysville! The downside of getting up early is that you're drooling with fatigue by noon.

Victor looks good carrying Ruby's purse, no?

By the time we made the exhausting hike down from Delicate Arch, nobody gave a damn about anything red, rocky or remarkable. So we went to Wendy's in Moab, where they have free WiFi.

Feeling somewhat rejuvenated, we took on Canyonlands. Our destination was Mesa Arch. Why? Because we stopped at the visitors center, and while everyone was using the bathroom, I cornered a ranger and said, "Look.  I have a car full of tired teenagers. What is the closest, most majestic thing we can see?"

This guy won my admiration when he answered, "You could probably trick them into hiking to Mesa Arch. It's only t miles away, it's a short hike and it's the biggest payoff in the park." Done. He was absolutely right, even if we didn't see any kangaroo rats.

Shoot, I didn't get the most important animal in this picture. The kangaroo rat? It's a rodent whose kidneys are so efficient, it pees crystals. The things you learn at national parks!

And then the drive home. Araceli's sign sums up why we do these things. The drive was nice. Everyone was sleepy but me, traffic was light, and the landscape was incredible. I never get tired of driving to see new vistas, or old ones, for that matter.