Tim & Cassie's Visit, Part 1

Tim and Cassie brought their family to Utah for a few days and we decided to take them on an overnight to Moab!  On the way down, they wanted to stop at the ancient history museum in Price, which turned out to be a pretty great little museum!

Then when we arrived in Moab we decided to take advantage of the hotel pool during the hottest part of the day before going to dinner at a Mexican place Ben chose, since it was his birthday.  

That evening we took a little time at Arches National Park.  First we stopped at Double Arch and let the kids climb and explore for a while.  It's such a cool place!

Then we walked around Balanced Rock as it got dark.  It was kind of crazy to look at the mountains just beyond Moab and see wildfires blazing at night - we could see the smoke during the day but no actual fires.

The next morning we'd planned to go to Arches again and hike to Delicate Arch first thing before it got hot.  I guess we weren't the only ones with that idea because by the time we pulled up to the gate at 8:39 there were so many people in the park that the rangers were literally turning cars away.  We regrouped and decided to drive to Dead Horse Point State Park instead.  It was such a cool view, and the kids had fun just climbing on rocks and exploring!

We went back to the hotel and ate a picnic lunch outside then let the kids swim a bit more before heading into town for souvenirs and ice cream.

When we tried again at Arches, they let us in!  So we drove straight to the Delicate Arch trailhead and started our hike.  We were impressed with the T&C family that they were such troopers - especially with it being so hot and dry!  On the way back we took a minute to check out the petroglyphs near the trailhead.

We had a yummy dinner at a place called Zax in Moab, sitting in an open-air upper level looking out at town and some mountains.  It was a late-night drive home with another view of wildfires on the way (in Price), and a 1am arrival.  It was a great little trip!