Moab Coronacation, Part 1

When things were falling apart all around us March 11-13th, we decided we had a small window of opportunity we wanted to take advantage of.  Coronavirus had less than a dozen cases in Utah at the time, none of which were in Utah County or in Southern Utah.  The kids didn't have school on 3/16-3/17 while the teachers prepared materials for the kids to use to learn from home beginning on 3/18.  Ben was working remotely and could thus work from anywhere with an internet connection.  And we figured that travel would be restricted in the near future.

We'd been talking about making a trip to Moab some time this year, probably closer to the end of the school year, between Spring Break and summer, but decided to go ahead in March instead.  So we did something we've never done before: on Saturday, 3/14 we booked a hotel for the following two nights.

That Sunday, 3/15, I went up to Salt Lake to record several pieces to be used at General Conference.  When I got home, we had lunch, held our first Sacrament Meeting at home, then got changed and packed and loaded up.  We drove straight to Arches, arriving in time for a picnic dinner and a walk (and fun photo session) around Balanced Rock.

We had our picnic dinner on the side of the road, right in front of Tower of Babel.

With the sun setting on this cool formation, the colors were really bright
and it looks like a green screen, but the girls really in front of Balanced Rock.

Add caption

(Cat was experimenting with fun pictures)

We woke up early Monday morning so that we could all have breakfast and the kids and I could head to the park first thing, both so that we could avoid the crowds and so that Ben could have the full workday in the room.

We tried to check out the Visitors' Center but we were too early, so we headed right up to Devil's Garden to see Landscape Arch.  This is a 2-mile roundtrip hike but there are several other trails that connect to the main trail, where you can see other arches.  We ended up seeing Tunnel Arch (a double), Pine Tree Arch, Landscape Arch (the longest in the park), Navajo Arch, and Partition Arch (also a double).  Since we had no schedule, we walked at a leisurely pace, the kids explored and climbed rocks to their hearts' content, and we ended up spending over 3 hours in this one area.  This included a mini-CFM lesson when nobody else was around at Navajo Arch, talking about Jacob 6:5 and comparing how we need to "cleave unto God" to how we need to hold onto something to keep us safe when climbing steep rocks.

Tunnel Arch

Pine Tree Arch

Landscape Arch

Navajo Arch

Partition Arch

  

After we had thoroughly explored the Devils Garden trail, we walked back to the car and pulled out our picnic lunch.  We sat on a patch of dirt in front of the van and ate, enjoying the food and sunshine.  Then we loaded up and drove to Skyline Arch, which was just a short walk from the parking area.  The plan was to explore a bit, then go to the Visitors' Center to watch the park's film.  But after we'd walked to Skyline, past Skyline, and even into a campground in search of another arch I thought was nearby, we went to the Visitors' Center only to find that they weren't showing the film in an effort to keep people from coming in close contact due to the virus.

Skyline Arch

  

So we drove back to the hotel, changed into bathing suits, and took advantage of the fun heated pool and the hot tubs on the property.  We were so glad we had good weather!  And the kids loved just being in the pool and playing around.  

When we were finished at the pool, we walked to a nearby store and got some treats before showering in the hotel room.  (The kids huddled in the closet watching a show when they weren't showering, since Ben was still working and spends a lot of time on phone calls.)  As soon as it was quitting time, we enjoyed a dinner of pizza delivered to the hotel before heading back out to the park with Ben.