Arches National Monument & Colorado

When you have been staying in a camper for going on 2 weeks, it is very hard to get kids to leave a hotel room.  Justin and I learned that today.  The kids did not want to leave the beds, the WIFI, or the TV.  But the day was wasting, so we "encouraged" them to get up and pack their things so we could move on.

Since we were so close, we hit Arches National Park on the way to Durango.  It wasn't in the original plan, but leaving Yellowstone a day early gave us some time to do a few other things.  We bought a National Parks Annual Pass before we left, so this visit was free.

We are definitely glad we made the time to stop.  There are some amazing sight to see at Arches.  We didn't have much time, so we couldn't do the big hikes, but there are quite a few things you can see from the car tour.  This is us at Balanced Rock, one of our favorite formations.  Very cool to see up close.

We also wanted to see Delicate Arch, but didn't have the 3 hours necessary to hike to the base.  So we took the Upper Viewpoint Trail.  This was our view of Delicate Arch.  Not great, right?  We made plans to come back in the fall and see it up close.  The park is really beautiful, and we wanted to get a better look at all its wonder.

We also hit the Visitor's Center for some in depth learning about the formation of the arches.  The kids have learned so much on this trip, and I'm glad that all three of them enjoy learning all about the places we've been.  They are like sponges and soak up everything around them.  Arches has a fantastic Visitor's Center, and there was much more to soak up that we had time for.  So, after about 30 minutes, we hit the road again...

Everyone was excited when we caught sight of this sign.  We are starting to lose track of how many states we've crossed, but this is our first visit to Colorado.  We called the campground where we had reservations and asked if they had room for us a day early.  We were excited to discover they did, so we headed to camp.  We were meeting Grandpa John and Grandma Linda there, and were excited to show up early to surprise them.

We hit camp about 30 minutes before they did, and were waiting in their site when they arrived.  It was fun to see the look of surprise on their faces when they pulled up.  We spent the evening around the camp fire making s'mores and telling them all about our trip.  The kids are happy to be with their grandparents, and life is good.