Utah!

Hello Utah!

Oh my goodness! What is it about the eastern side of these states? There is nothing! There was nothing in the eastern part of Colorado, and there is nothing in the eastern part of Utah! We had to go 40 miles inside the state just to get to the welcome center. Middle of nowhere - we were there! We passed multiple exits that said "Ranch Exit, No Services", and to look around you saw NOTHING! The landscape is pretty, but it is just amazing to see long stretches with nothing.

So today, we drove to Arches National Park. Absolutely breathtaking, stunning, and gorgeous!

This is a rock formation that greets you as you enter the park. It is called the Three Penguins.


Driving further into the park, this is Baby Arch. I did my best to not over-expose today. I think I did a bit better, but the sun is just so bright!!

This is one rock - two different kinds of rock, the top one smooth and hard and the bottom soft and lumpy. Don't ask the names of the rocks, it is all Greek to us. But we do know the soft and lumpy rocks erode faster, so you get formations like this. It is called Balanced Rock.


Ahhh, North Window. You can hike right up under this one....

which we did. Standing in the middle and looking straight up, that crack is a little intimidating!

This is across from North Window, Turret Arch.

And if there is a North Window, there must be a South Window, which this is.

And lastly, Delicate Arch.

Dempsey loves it out here. He so wants to go into the back county and just hike. He keeps saying he is going to propose boy scout trips out here. He LOVES the outdoors. He would be in his glory to hike and camp for days out here. Instead he has to be happy with little hikes within eyesight.

Driving to our hotel, we got to see another of God's wonders. When we were at Arches, Dempsey said he thought that the park was the result of God making a sand castle. He poked His fingers in the sand for windows, and voila!, arches! Dempsey's explanation of how the park was formed is way more fun than what the Park Rangers told us!

We are finding out about the dry heat out here. It is really nice, and more tolerable. But you need to drink oh SO much more. You don't even notice sweating, that's how dry it is. I don't know how people who live here do it. For us, it is a constant-in-the-back-of-your-mind-obsession - drink water, drink water, drink water! People from here must die when they come east!

Dempsey says, "Arches was very beautiful."

Palmer is a bit too worn out to think!