Return to Arches

We had planned to stay a couple of nights at the OK RV Park near Moab, so since we were only a few miles away, we decided to make a quick return trip to Arches National Park. After last night's thunderstorm, it rained off and on all night. We even got a few sprinkles this morning as we were unhitching Toad II for the drive to the Park. (We are sitting in such a pretty spot with the Moab Rim in the background.)

The impressive formations start before you even enter the Park (note the raindrops on the windshield).

Entrada Sandstone makes of the bulk of the park formations with iron oxide giving the red color.

 

These formations are known as the Courthouse Towers --

 

 

And these are the Three Gossips --

You have to wonder what keeps one like this from toppling over --

While this is called Balancing Rock --

As we drove deeper into the Park, we began to spot some of the 2000 cataloged arches in the park --

 

 

What an incredible sight, with the still snow-clad mountains in the far distance --

These "fins" are what are left after water and wind do their work on the softer rock in between --

Last time we were here, I hiked back into this slot between the fins to see the Sand Dune Arch. It was tough going with sand over my ankles. With last night's rain, it was much easier going. And this time Forrest went along.

After the narrow portion, the rocks opened up for this view --

 

I took a picture of a young couple with their camera and they returned the favor --

This is the arch we are actually standing under. You could not get back far enough to picture the whole thing --

The last time I came through here, I had to slide out on my posterior as the sand was so slippery and slick. This time with the rain, it was a bit easier going -- and Forry was there with a steadying hand!

Our seventy-plus years caught up with us a bit. It was nice to find a place to rest when we came out!

This is Skyline Arch--

It was a fun, but tiring day. I took lots of pictures of Spring wildflowers, but I'll save them for another day.

A Rainy Drizzly Drive

This is the view we woke up to this morning --

It drizzled and lightly rained off and on the whole trip as we traveled from Farmington, New Mexico on Highway 64 to 550 which took us into Durango, Colorado. From there we took Highway 160 over to Cortez, then 491 to the Utah border. It was good two lane highway most of the way, but it gets very high. We topped out at over 8500 feet and my ears could tell you all about it.

Since these highways are not Interstate routes, they do not have the big truck stops for fueling up. We kept looking for a place that we could diesel at that we could also get in and out of. Forry pulled into a station that looked pretty good, but turned out to be a dead end (they had built a car wash across where the exit area had been.). We ended up having to disconnect Toad II so that he could turn Auntie Violet around. I had to run the credit card twice in order to get $100 worth of fuel ($50 with each use of the card). It's so much less hassle at a Flying J or Pilot! Then, of course, we had to go through the whole hooking up the toad again...

We went past Mesa Verde National Park and decided to put it on our list of places we want to come back and explore. Hwy 491 ends at Monticello, Utah. From there we took Highway 191 on north to Moab.

This part of Utah is adjacent to Canyonlands National Park and we began to see more and more of the incredible land formations that make up the park.

The red rocks and the abrupt cliffs abound --

There are fantastic formations all over --

As we descended from the high plateaus, we began once more to see signs of spring such as the pale greens of these cottonwoods --

The OK RV Park sits below these incredible cliffs. When we arrived, the sun came out and we were able to set up in beautiful 68 degree weather --

About seven o'clock, the clouds moved in again and we are now in the midst of an old-fashioned thunderstorm!

Another Great Day!

It was another lovely day. We met Tina, Delcherie and Kaili at their church, Light of Life Mennonite, this morning. It had been a couple of years since we had been there, but the Pastor recognized us and made us welcome. This time, in contrast to the first time we were here, a portion of the service was in Navajo, both scripture and song.

Four of the congregants started with Jesus Loves Me in Navajo, then sang another hymn. Trying to follow along in their phonetic song book was most difficult. There is an incredible amount of linguistic annotations to each letter and syllable. It's a soft language with lots of complex tones that is beautiful to listen to.

We arrived home just in time to see the last inning of the Mariners game. After being solidly beaten the last two games, Toronto got their revenge today. It probably was just as well we weren't here to watch.

A long nap was in the offing in the afternoon for both of us. Afterwards Forry went ahead and got the black and gray tanks emptied in preparation for our journey tomorrow. I've made reservations for the OK RV Park in Moab, Utah, so we'll sleep in another state tomorrow night.