The Waterwheelers: Second Spring Break (this year)

Since we missed Arches on the university spring break, we decided to go there on the public school spring break and take the family.

Mar 31, 2014 (Mon)
We took off for Moab on Monday morning (the last day of March). We had a lunch stop at McDonald's in Spanish Fork then continued on to the Red Cliffs condo we had reserved just south of Moab. It was very nice: three bedrooms, 2 baths, living room, laundry, and kitchen/dining area. We were able to fix dinner and relax for the evening.

In front of our condo

Apr 1, 2014 (Tue)

Tuesday morning we headed to Arches National Park. We started with the obligatory 3-mile hike (round trip) to Delicate Arch. The kids did well on the hike. It was windy and cold when we got up there.

Ready for hiking

The happy rock sitters

Is this what we came to see?

Arch on the way to the arch

Inside Delicate Arch

Huddled masses yearning to keep warm

We then went to Sand Dune Arch, but the wind blew sand in our eyes so we didn't stay long.

Under Sand Blow (opps - Sand Dune) Arch

Trail from Sand Dune Arch

We went to a picnic area to have lunch. It was cold so most of the kids got their lunch and returned to the car.

Lunchtime

We then decided to go to the Visitor’s Center to warm up.

Hanna at the Visitor's Center

After that we let the kids go shopping in town. We then went back to the condo, had dinner, and watched “Frozen” (as if we weren't cold enough).

Apr 2, 2014 (Wed)

We woke up Wednesday morning to snow. We knew it might rain, but we were not expecting snow. By the time we had breakfast and got ready the sun was coming out. We went back to Arches National Park.

We started by hiking Park Avenue, which meant driving a car to the end and trying to catch up with the group. We caught up with Andrea at about half way. It was a very nice hike and brought back memories from years ago when Paul was carrying Kohler on his shoulders and tripped, dropping Kohler on his face and breaking two of Paul's toes.

Park Avenue

Catching up

Where Grandpa tripped during last visit to Park Avenue

We then went to the Windows area and had fun climbing up the arches.

The Windows

Close friends?

On top of the world!

Smile, you're on a fun hike

Going to Double Arch

Alyssa, that's not an arch!

Kamary, the Windows, not Oh, the wind

We then went to a picnic area. It started hailing when we got there. We decided to try another spot, but it was hailing more the farther we went so we went back to the first place and the sun was out.

Lunchtime again

Storm clouds

After lunch we went back to our condo. We relaxed. We grilled chicken for dinner.

Apr 3, 2014 (Thu)

On Thursday morning we got up, packed up, and checked out of our condo. We really enjoyed the condo we had for a few days and were glad we weren't camping. We stopped in Price for ice cream cones then continued on to Salt Lake. All of the kids have been asking to go to the zoo so we ended our spring brake at Hogle Zoo.